Assessing Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman—Who Will EMERGE Next?

Summary

Locked On Celtics - April 7, 2026

Episode: Assessing Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman—Who Will EMERGE Next?

Host: John Karalis (with guest Tom Westerholm)

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Episode Overview

In this bonus episode, John Karalis and guest Tom Westerholm dive into one of the Celtics' more intriguing long-term topics: the development and future ceiling of younger and lesser-known players on Boston's roster. They particularly focus on Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, and Baylor Scheierman, while also discussing what age, opportunity, and team context mean for role players hoping to emerge as meaningful Celtics contributors—or to thrive elsewhere in the NBA.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Celtics’ "Young" Players and the Age Curve

• Context Setting: The Celtics are not a "young" team relative to the league, but several players are still in the potential growth phase.
• Roster Breakdown by Age (01:05):
  • Hugo Gonzalez: 19
  • Jordan Walsh: 21
  • Baylor Scheierman: 25
  • Other notable ages: Pritchard (28), K (26), Garza (27)
  • “Guys that we may think of as like these role players, whatever, they’re not...they’re not kids. Ugo is young. Jordan is young. Everyone else...they’re all young in basketball terms." — John Karalis (02:19)
• Ceiling Relative to Age: Key players are older than fans might assume, impacting their perceived ceiling and potential role expansion.

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Baylor Scheierman: A Late Bloomer With a Unique Ceiling

• Versatility and Adaptability (03:32–06:13):
  • Tom sees high potential in Scheierman despite his age because of his adaptable playing style and non-reliance on athleticism.
  • “He brings out little bits of [his flair] a year that, you know, you can just tell...there’s a little swagger to the way he plays.” — Tom Westerholm (03:36)
  • Scheierman has successfully toned down his college "flair" to fit a role-player mold on a contender, which is seen as maturity.
• Role Player With Panache:
  • Even as a plug-in role player, Scheierman stands out for his confidence and unique approach. “There’s a certain je ne sais quoi to the way [he plays].” — Tom Westerholm (04:48)
• Opportunity as a Limiting Factor:
  • “With Baylor, like, the opportunity is going to be key. It’s going to be key for all these guys,” — John Karalis (06:47)
  • If opportunity aligns, Scheierman could be a high-level sixth man or better, but age reduces the window for growth (08:21–09:04).
• Basketball "Chess" Analogy:
  • Baylor is likened to a knight on the Celtics’ chessboard: valuable but not indispensable (08:42).

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Hugo Gonzalez: The Next-Generation Hope

• Youth + Tools = High Ceiling (09:04–10:19):
  • Hugo, at 19, is viewed as having the most promising future among the young Celtics.
  • "I think he’s going to be, you know, all world. Everybody knows I’m off, off the charts on Ugo.” — John Karalis (01:17)
• Timing of Opportunity:
  • As the Celtics’ stars age out, Gonzalez will enter his prime, setting up a real chance for him to seize a larger role.

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Role Clarity, Confidence, and Coaching

• Comparisons to Pritchard (15:01–17:05):
  • Scheierman is compared to Pritchard as a potentially elite sixth man with “weirdness” that makes him uniquely effective.
  • “That guy is just a Hooper. He’s just good. You put him out there and...he passes, he shoots, he’s got like weird stuff to his game.”— Tom Westerholm (16:23)
• Basketball "Folk Hero" Potential:
  • Scheierman could become a Boston folk hero, not just for his game but also for his personality (17:17–18:53).

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The Depth Guys: Ron Harper Jr. and Beyond

• Late Roster Surprises (19:35–22:06):
  • Ron Harper Jr. described as impressive despite low expectations:
    • “He’s just a good player...he’s gonna get DNPs. I don’t know what his ceiling is, but given the opportunity...you can get something out of Ron Harper Jr. in a seventh, eighth man role.” — John Karalis (28:02)
• NBA Is a Tough Club (21:14):
  • “Even the worst guy that triggers you is better than 99% of the basketball players out there. Maybe more.” — John Karalis (20:46)
• Importance of Situation:
  • Right context can help "fringe" players (like Banton, Harper) thrive for stretches, yet consistency and a niche are hard to sustain.

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Jordan Walsh: Raw and Intriguing

• Walsh’s Profile (28:48–32:07):
  • At 21, Walsh has “decent ceiling” but may benefit more from a different setting; he “gives a lot of [Aaron] Neesmith vibes.”
  • “He’s not a one-story ranch…there’s some height there.” — Tom Westerholm (29:58)
  • He's seen as a likely success story if he leaves Boston for a better fit or bigger role elsewhere.

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The Harsh Realities and Opportunities of NBA Development

• The "High Ceiling, Low Opportunity" Problem (32:21–33:54):
  • Many talented players fail to reach their ceiling due to luck, timing, or confidence drained by poor situations.
  • “Every single one of these guys in the Celtics…has a real chance at being a useful rotation player on Boston, away from Boston. It's just, will they get the situation to survive?” — John Karalis (32:38)
• Rooting For All But the Bad Apples:
  • “I root for everybody, man. This is…unless you prove yourself to be an absolute jerk, I'm root for [all].” — John Karalis (30:33)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Baylor Scheierman’s Style:
  • “There’s a certain je ne sais quoi to the way [he] plays.” — Tom Westerholm (04:48)
• On NBA Difficulty:
  • “[You] don’t get to the NBA without being really, really good.” — John Karalis (20:46)
• On Role Player Impact:
  • “If anybody's going to pull that off, it's Baylor...the sixth man with the weirdness.” — John Karalis (17:05)
• On Opportunity:
  • “Given the opportunity in the NBA, all of these players will likely, in the right situation, look good.” — John Karalis (25:58)
• On Why Some Players Don’t Succeed:
  • “A lot of people who don't live up to high ceilings…because the league has beaten them down, they've lost their confidence, they've got a jerk for a coach, they've got a bad situation...there are a number of things that can go wrong.” — John Karalis (32:38)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Ceilings and Age Context: 01:05–03:32
• Scheierman's Ceiling and Style: 03:32–06:13
• Basketball Chess Analogy: 08:27–09:04
• Hugo Gonzalez Future Outlook: 09:04–11:08
• Role Comparison to Pritchard: 15:01–17:05
• Boston Folk Hero Talk: 17:17–19:16
• Ron Harper Jr. as a Role Player: 19:35–22:07, 28:02–28:38
• NBA Difficulty and Player Pipeline: 20:56–21:46, 24:38–26:36
• Jordan Walsh’s Trajectory: 28:48–32:07
• Why Some Players Don’t Succeed: 32:38–33:54

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Summary

This episode offers an inside look at the real-world challenges and opportunities for Boston's young and fringe players. Karalis and Westerholm break down both the tangible (age, opportunity) and intangible traits (confidence, adaptability) that will decide who “emerges” next for the Celtics—if not at TD Garden, then somewhere else in the league. Expect candid, thoughtful, and often humorous takes on where players like Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh might land on the NBA's ever-shifting chessboard.

Transcript

[John Corrales]

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[John Corrales]

The Celtics are not the youngest team in the league. They've got some young players, we think. What are their ceilings? It's bonus content here on the Lockdown Celtics podcast, talking about player ceilings. Some of these guys that are, you know, two, three years in the league, but maybe older than we think. It's, it's a conversation that was spawned from the Nish Kada conversation, which means I got Tom Westerholm here, everybody. Tom Westerholm.

[Tom Westerholm]

Applause, applause, applause. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[John Corrales]

Enough, enough, enough of those applause. So, okay, we're, we're sitting there talking about Nish K and his ceiling and still haven't exactly figured that out. But one of the conversations, the, what spawned this is Neemia is 26 and he's going to be 27. And so when you talk about ceilings, we, we think about a lot of these guys like they're 22, 23, and they're not. So I just filtering by age this roster. We have Ugo Gonzalez, 19 years old. I think he's going to be, you know, all world. Everybody, everybody knows I'm, I'm off, off the charts on Ugo. Okay.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Even though it looks like he's gonna be out of the playoff rotation. So tough limb for me to be out on right now, but I still believe it's sturdy. Jordan Walsh is 21. Okay, then you gotta go. Let's see. Max Shulga, Josh Minot. He's not there. Anyone? John Tanji, Amari Williams, rookie, 24 Ron Harper Jr. Just got upgraded 25. Baylor Scheireman is 25. K is 26. Garza is 27. Pritchard is 28. So guys that we may think of as like these role players, whatever, there's, they're not, they're not kids. No, they're not young. Ugo is young. Jordan is young. Everyone else, I mean, in the grand scheme of life, they're all young. Nicola Vic is 35. I'm 53 almost. I would kill to reverse those numbers and be 35 again. That's very young, vibrant. I would still be playing basketball. So in real world terms, they're all still young in basketball terms. You brought it up before we started recording, talking about Baylor shireman's ceiling. He's 25.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

How much better is he going to get?

[Tom Westerholm]

He's, he's my favorite of these conversations, I think because he's such a weird one. He's, he, I think to me his ceiling is still pretty high even though he's older. And the reason is he has changed his role so much from where he was in college. But he still brings out little bits of it he year that, you know, he's still got a little bit of that, that flair that he had in college that just like, you can just, you just tell. There's a little, there's a little, there's a little swagger to the way he plays that's got, oh yeah, you know,

[John Corrales]

like confident people I've ever seen.

[Tom Westerholm]

And when I say a little, I only say that because he has toned it down so much. But it's still because he's had to. Right? Because he's got, he's got to be a role player. And he's, it looked enormous credit to him. He has toned it down enough to be a role player and be a useful player on a team that's trying to win a championship where he's just a role player. But even as a role player, there's still just this little bit of like he does his role in a way that's got a certain panache to it. You know what I mean? Like there's a certain, you know, there's

[John Corrales]

a little, a little to his game.

[Tom Westerholm]

There's a certain genesis qua. To the way that languages that are for sure heard in Aurora, Nebraska all the time. But no, I, I, he's, he's the only, he's so interesting to me because the other thing is his game is not predicated on athleticism at all.

[John Corrales]

Right.

[Tom Westerholm]

So it's like as he gets older and he plays more and more in the NBA. It's like, I mean, he, I think his ceiling is actually, you know, we talked about Nemi and it's like, okay, I think, you know, Neemi's best way going forward is just to sharpen himself up the way that Jalen did. Yeah, I, I think Shireman's ceiling is actually pretty darn high. Like, still, like, I think, I mean, I don't, I don't. Again, like you were saying with, with cadets. Like, I don't want to put, I, I don't, I don't know how much like concrete stuff I want to start putting on there. But it's like as he gets better, as he gets more con. Confident, more comfortable, you know, in NBA systems, as he learns how to play the game at this level, I think we're going to start to see, you know, some of that, some of that flash that he brings to playing role player is just like talent. You know, he's just, he's just good at basketball. He's good at a lot of things in basketball. He was an excellent, excellent passer in college. I think we could start to see some of that, I think we could start to see some of that like him run a pick and roll and make a pass that you're just like, that guy was a quarterback. That guy, that guy's used to reads, you know what I mean? And this is, anyway, I, I, I'm, Shireman's a fascinating one to me. I think, I think his ceiling is actually pretty high still.

[John Corrales]

This is where the situation matters. And you.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yes.

[John Corrales]

Going back to the Nene conversation. Nene started basketball so late and was so raw.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

That he had a lot of room to improve. Right. It's like, if you ever want a

[Tom Westerholm]

fun little, fun little side mission, go read his scouting reports and hear every. Because scouting reports from, from college, they're always like, you know, oh, maybe he could be this. But, you know, I don't know. Keda actually achieving all of the things that are in those scouting reports of like, maybe he could be. This is actually kind of, it's kind of fun to go back and look,

[John Corrales]

okay, it'd be worth doing. But it's like, it's like, you know, when, you know, I, I put on a few pounds and like the first 20 pounds comes off very easily. And when, when you're as raw as Neemi was the first, like 20 things that you need to shave off to get good, that comes easily because you're learning such fundamental things. And he is a tremendous athlete. So when you kind of just mold the clay, you get a block of clay, you can just take off big clumps of it and get down to. But what you're talking about with him, the refinement of it all, is where you get to see the finished product of the player. With Baylor, like, the opportunity is going to be key. It's going to be key for all of these guys that we talk about, because Baylor, in this role that we see him today, is very much supporting. Hey, get in there. Just go work your ass off. Go offensive, rebound, grab, grab. Defensive rebounds, hustle, dive, whatever. It's almost like, yeah, you dive. If you break your finger, that sucks. But thank you for your service. Next man up, right? You know, disposable in a way. Not to be in a disrespectful, but like, hey, we. We gotta. We got a Jordan Walsh right here. If you go down, we got Jordan, and we'll just. We'll just keep firing these guys out there. That's his role, right? He's in on the chessboard. He's not. He's not the queen.

[Ross Jackson]

He.

[John Corrales]

You know, he's. He's. He's the. You know, he's the pawn. And so, yeah, he's almost not.

[Tom Westerholm]

He's not a pawn, but he is, like, you know, you're. But, yeah. And he's not the queen. Yeah, that's. That's all right. Yeah.

[John Corrales]

I don't know enough about just him to go much deeper.

[Tom Westerholm]

You. You wouldn't say he's like. Like a knight, maybe.

[John Corrales]

Maybe. Maybe he can do, like.

[Tom Westerholm]

He can kind of go a weird direction. You might not see him coming.

[John Corrales]

Sure, sure. Okay. Yeah, I'll give you that. I'll give you that. You know, he gets to make the little L, but then, you know, you. But you. You'll give them up. You'll give them up to. To. As part of the game, as part of a bigger.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, for sure.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. You know, and so that. Yeah, okay, fine.

[Tom Westerholm]

That's.

[John Corrales]

We've settled on that. I never thought I'd be making a chess analogy, but anyway. But it has to be. If we're gonna see the full baler, it's gonna be. Opportunity has to be part of that. And this is where being 25 gets. Gets in. Gets him into some trouble here. Because I can go out there on a limb and talk about Ugo being part of that next generation of Celtics. When Jalen and Jason are done, Ugo will be there because Jalen and Jason are 28 and 27 or 29 and 27. And in five years, Ugo will still be 24.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And those guys will be somewhere in the tail end of their careers. And so I can sit there and be like, Hugo will get. But before he's even Baylor's age, he will get a different level of opportunity and a chance to grow into that kind of role, which is why I get so high on his ceiling. Because he's so young and flashes so much and has that so much that's still raw that you can build and sharpen.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

In the next two, three years, like, Jalen is 29. He's, you know, 32, 33. He'll still be very, very effective. Jason at 30, 31 is looking to be very effective. And Baylor Shireman is going to be 29.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Does he have in that, like, how much bigger is his role gonna grow?

[Tom Westerholm]

Okay, so I'm glad you said that, because what I'm saying, to be clear, I'm not saying, like, I. I agree with you. I. I think Ugo's ceiling, obviously, I think. I think we're in full agreement that Ugo's ceiling is. Is you're. You are more optimistic on Ugo hitting his absolute ceiling than I am. I. I'm not that I'm, like, pessimistic about it. Just, I think it would be very hard to be as optimistic as you are.

[John Corrales]

It is. You hate Ugo Gonzalez.

[Tom Westerholm]

Is that what you just said? Correct? Yes. No.

[John Corrales]

Gonzalez.

[Tom Westerholm]

By the Internet's parlance, I hate Hugo Gonzalez. No, I'm. I'm also, like, very, very, very high on Hugo Gonzalez.

[John Corrales]

I'm.

[Tom Westerholm]

I'm less optimistic that he reaches his absolute pinnacle than you. But, like, I'm not gonna be stunned if he does. Like, I think he's.

[John Corrales]

I think he's gonna be awesome.

[Tom Westerholm]

Sure.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

And I think we agree on what his ceiling actually is. Right.

[John Corrales]

Today's show is brought to you by. Indeed. You need to hire and you need to find somebody to fill this job while you're going through all your workplace chaos. Indeed. Sponsored. Jobs is going to be that element that gives you an advantage, because just like Celtics and NBA teams, they. When they need to fill a roster spot, they go out and find the players, the people who check a bunch of the boxes that they're looking for. You're doing the exact same thing. You don't have a bunch of advanced scouts and a team full of assistant coaches. You have indeed sponsored jobs. And they're going to find the candidates that fit all the things you're looking for. Skills, experience, location, all of that stuff so you're not just sitting there hoping that the right candidate falls into your lap. Here's a stat that says it all in the minute that I'm talking to you here. Companies like yours will make 27 hires on Indeed Worldwide according to Indeed data. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who will check all those boxes with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, Indeed Sponsored Jobs is going to step up and they'll give you a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status that it deserves. And@ Indeed.com podcast just go to Indeed.com podcast right now. Support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Today's show is also brought to you by Wayfair. Way Day is here. Did you know we're all celebrating Way Day? You've been thinking about getting an upgrade for your space. This is the time to do it. They're the best deals of the year on furniture, decor, outdoor essentials, everything you need to refresh your home during Wayday. Wayfair is offering up to 88.0 80% off with fast and free shipping on everything, making it easy to find pieces that fit your style in your budget. It's super easy to filter by style, size and price so you're not wasting time scrolling the reviews and photos help you feel confident in what you're getting. I know that the photos I get links whenever my wife gets the itch to redecorate. It's almost always Wayfair links and very easy to kind of scroll through everything and filter. And with Wayfair Verified products, they're vetted by specialists. You know what you're getting and it's high quality stuff. Wayday is the sale to shop the best deals in home and we're taking we're talking about 80% off with fast and free shipping on everything. Head to Wayfair.com April 25 through April 27 to shop Wayday. That's W A Y F A I R.com Wayfair Every style, every Home thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Joining me five days a week plus Bonus Podcast I have a bonus podcast out right now, so if you didn't see it, I have a full podcast reacting to Bill Chisholm's comments in the Boston Globe. Full interview there. So I broke out three interesting quotes from him. So check that out. Bonus podcast on the weekend. Tons of podcasting here. So the only way to get it all is to become an every day or join me every Monday through Friday for all of these shows. If you don't know who I am. If you're new to the show, I'm John Corrales. I cover the Celtics for Sports illustrated's Celtics on SI. I've been covering the Celtics for 20 years, and I've been doing this podcast for 10.

[Tom Westerholm]

But, like, Shireman's interesting to me because I'm not saying that I. I think. I think you look at Peyton Pritchard and obviously a very different player, right? I'm. I'm not comparing Pritchard and Shireman as players, but like, the Pritchard role of six man who could for sure start on a lot of teams, you know, gets, like, does a lot of really productive things on the floor. You put him in there and it's like, man, that guy can. That guy can play basketball. I, again, very different player, very different ways of going about that. But to me, I could see Shireman having a similar ceiling of, like, man, that guy is just. That guy's just a Hooper. Like, he's just good. You put him out there and it's like, you know, he. He plays defense, he passes, he shoots. He's got, like, weird stuff to his game. Like, you know, Pritchard's, like, brought out all this weird, like, oh, yeah, I can just like, burrow my way into the paint like. Like a mole and then just kind of like spring back and shoot over you. And it's like, for some reason, it's like the most effective play on the team. Like, is there. Is there a more guaranteed bucket than freaking Peyton Pritchard just driving into somebody's stomach and then backing up?

[John Corrales]

No, that is literally the. The Peyton Pritchard burrow into a big. Yeah, turn around, fade away from 12ft is money.

[Tom Westerholm]

It's like 75% shot, 170% on it. So you get like. So you got. You got Pritzer doing that. I could see Shireman having similar kind of weird little quirks to his game where it's just like, oh, man, he's just so good at. At that one weird thing he does. And, like, just kind of putting that all together and just being a Hooper. Like, that's where I see Shireman ceiling. Not. Not like the. Not the All Star stealing. Like, because Pritchard's not an All Star. Pritchard's a really good player, but he's not an all star. Yeah, I think I could, I could. My. That. That's kind of where I see Shireman going. Is that that? Man, that is just a. That is just a dang good role player who just goes out there and does. Does a lot of really good stuff. Like, I'm high on him. I think he's good.

[John Corrales]

I. No, I agree. I think, I think it's going to be interesting. The six man, the sixth man with the weirdness is like, if anybody's gonna pull that off, it's Baylor.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like, Baylor.

[John Corrales]

Baylor has a chance to be one of Boston's like basketball folk hero type of players. You know, he's just, he's got, he's got a little bit of. He's got the Midwest.

[Tom Westerholm]

He's got the terrible haircut.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Although I actually know I like the mullet now. I, I hated his haircut before, but now that he's got the mullet, I'm with it. No, it's good, man. I think it's good. It's a good.

[John Corrales]

Why are mullets back? Why. Why are mullets back? I thought we bullied those out of existence.

[Tom Westerholm]

God forbid a white boy get a little motion is all I'm gonna say about that.

[John Corrales]

But come on, you keep it tight. You get, you get a little Johnny Bravo thing that you got with a big swoop in the front. You could, you don't have to do the whole, I don't know, like, like he plays with the T shirt. Like, one of these days I expect him to come out there with a pack of Marlboros rolled up in the sleeve. I mean that.

[Tom Westerholm]

We need more dirt bag in the NBA. We need more of it.

[John Corrales]

Like just coming out full hayseed with a big piece of like grass in his, in his. Like, like make it a WWE wrestling entrance. Like, Kristaps wanted to do the WWE style. Baylor should just do the. Just wear overalls and chew on the piece of grass and have a pack of cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve and just.

[Tom Westerholm]

I don't know about the hasty, but I think coming in in like, like a car heart with like oil stains on it. Like that could, that could be. That could be a look.

[John Corrales]

Okay.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

I mean, just. I'm just saying own it. Just own it. You're gonna do it. Own it, man. Yeah, he. He's. He, he. He fits the profile.

[Tom Westerholm]

He's a.

[John Corrales]

This is, this, this joke is only

[Tom Westerholm]

going to make sense to like, maybe three people watching, but he needs to come in. He's to start coming in with like Casey's General Store shirts on. Just if, you know, you know. All right, continue.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I do not know.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, I know.

[John Corrales]

Clue.

[Tom Westerholm]

And it's a Nebraska, Iowa thing. Thank you. Thank you. That's way too many people. There are not Iowa. Nebraska does not have enough people to have that many people laughing.

[John Corrales]

All right, so that, okay, so, so Baylor six. Man, I, I can see it. I, I, I can see it. Yeah, I don't know about. Okay, so ron Harper is 25. He's, he's come in and he's just a good player.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like, I don't know what good, solid player.

[John Corrales]

Right?

[Tom Westerholm]

Like, where was this guy? Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Like, all of a sudden, and I sat there, I was like, when they first signed him, like, he's, he's not doing, he's not doing anything. Ron Harper Jr. Is not going to make this team. And, you know, he didn't, he didn't and then he did. And it's, it's wild. It's wild to me. It's, I don't know.

[Tom Westerholm]

Also, he's another guy who just like, I'm like, like, he'll have like, these drives and finishes where I'm just like, you did what, dog?

[John Corrales]

Like, okay, so this is, this is what's happening with these guys. Every single basketball player that makes it to the NBA is really, really good.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

You know, we joked about Hassan Whiteside on that podcast, and it drives me crazy. And I'm still triggered by it, but you don't get to the NBA without being really, really good.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And so even the worst guy that triggers you is, is better than 99% of the basketball players out there. Maybe. Maybe more.

[Tom Westerholm]

So, yeah, there's that. Yeah, there's that. That video of, of Mike Miller and his, like, one of his Memphis players. And he's just like, giving this kid just hell, Right? It's just, he is just destroying this kid. It's like, that's a D1 player. And it's like that there's levels to this game, man.

[John Corrales]

You to, to make the NBA is. You're in a stratosphere that.

[Tom Westerholm]

I don't know.

[John Corrales]

It's, it's hard, it's hard for me to comprehend. And like, I played professional basketball in Greece. I was, I'm closer to the people who have never played basketball than the people who made the NBA. That's. Yeah, you can be paid to play basketball and be like I and still not be anywhere in that stratosphere. Yeah, that's how good these guys are. Like, Ron Harper Jr. Is barely hanging on in the NBA and he's a really good, good basketball player.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yes.

[John Corrales]

They just, they just signed Delano Banton to a 10 day contract and he came and went. Delano Banton is a really good basketball player and he cannot stick anywhere. Charles Bassey just left, is playing for his fourth team this season.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

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[Ross Jackson]

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[John Corrales]

[e-mail] oh, thank you for making lockdown Celtics, your first listen. Every day. You're in every day. Are you with me? Every Monday through Friday, you're with me for five, six, seven, ten podcasts a week. Whatever it is. That means you probably want to be an everyday or club member. You get the show ad free on the everyday or club@lockdown celtics.supercast.com 5 bucks a month or 50 bucks for the year ad free audio compatible with all major podcasting apps. Also access to our members only Discord server. So check it out. Lockdown celtics.supercast.com yeah, I think it's always

[Tom Westerholm]

fun to look at. Like, all right, Delano Banton, right? Like, look at you. You go back and you look at his. Okay, so he was a four star high school player, right? He was a 92 on 247 sports. He was, you know, one of the. He was ranked in the top 100 by rivals. Like, he was. He was awesome. Right? Comes in. He had a. Okay. I mean, so, so his. I'm looking at it here. His, his, his college stats aren't actually that impressive, but his, you know, like most. A lot of these guys, you go back and it's like this guy can barely hang out in the NBA. It's like, oh, he was all Big Ten, you know. Oh, he was like Garza was. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Player of the year. Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, you got, you got conference players of the year barely hanging on in. In this league. Well, wasn't Sherman a Big east player?

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I mean, it was the biggest player

[John Corrales]

of the year, right? At Creighton.

[Tom Westerholm]

I don't. Yeah, he might have been.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Look that up. I am demanding you look that up. I will keep talking. The whole point of this whole, like, diatribe that I've been at is because the Celtics, when you, when you join a team, that gives you the. What's that?

[Tom Westerholm]

First team all Big East.

[John Corrales]

First team, all Big East. Okay, so close.

[Tom Westerholm]

But like, he's first team all Big East. That's a big. That's a.

[John Corrales]

Right, right. And, and like, we're still like, not sure is he, you know, whatever. So, yeah, given the opportunity in the NBA, all of these players will likely in the right situation look good. Again, I'll go back to Delano Banson because he was here last year and then he went to Portland and was. He rifled off a bunch of really good games. Right? You know, when you have an opportunity in a situation where you're like, okay, this. I'm comfortable here. Any one of these guys can go out and they can go ball. John Tanji.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Will go. If you give him 30 minutes in a pressure. In a low pressure situation where you just go, ball, he will go and get buckets.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And he's still nowhere close to getting minutes on a real team.

[Tom Westerholm]

So.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Ron Harper Jr. When given the opportunity to play for Joe Missoula and in a. In a very nurturing, demanding, but nurturing environment, playing next to Jaylen Brown, now Jason Tatum, Derrick White and all of these guys give an opportunity. Like the. The other day when. When he grabbed a rebound, I forget what was it. Memphis or wherever it was. He gets a rebound and he's, like, looking to give the ball up. And Joe yells from the sideline, ron, go. And Ron just. Oh, yeah, okay, I'll dribble. And he goes coast to coast for a layup.

[Tom Westerholm]

I think that's exactly the play I was referencing.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, that's. That's the. Yeah. When you're. When you're in that situation and you get minutes and you, like, in court. No, go, go. We want. Shoot the ball. You want me to shoot, but I play next to you. No, you're open. Shoot the damn ball. Okay, sure. Go out there. Play with confidence. Ron Harper also plays with a ton of confidence.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. He's a confident dude.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Very confident player.

[Tom Westerholm]

Love it. I really like him.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. And so. And. And here he is. He's gonna get DNPs. I don't know what a ceiling is, but he. Given the opportunity, I feel like, you know, you can get something out of Ron Harper Jr. In a seventh, eighth man role, a regular role. I can see Ron Harper Jr. Being like, yeah, his ceiling again at 25 on this team. Sure. Go out there, get it. Go out there and average eight points a game in a, you know, in a bench role. Have a couple of games. You pop off for 18, 20, whatever. Like, yeah, sure.

[Tom Westerholm]

So.

[John Corrales]

But I think that applies to any one of these guys that these older players, that you put them in this situation, they're gonna. They're gonna go. They have a chance to thrive.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah. And then. And what's funny, too, right, is that then you look at, like, a Jordan Walsh, and It's like he's 21. Like, we. We talk about him like, he's been around for a little bit. So, you know, but he's still really young, too. It's his. I mean, I. I kind of have come to the. I. I was big on Jordan Walsh earlier this year. I still am big on Jordan Walsh. I kind of have. He's got. He gives a lot of niecemith vibes to me where it's like, yeah, I feel like he goes somewhere else, and I think he's gonna stick. I think he's gonna go somewhere else and be pretty good. And then people are gonna be like, what? Why you guys gave up on Jordan Wallace? And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, dude, we. We gave away Josh Minot. You know what I mean? Like, this sounds like Brad Stevens. Just like we. We had to give away Josh Minot for nothing. Yes. I had to trade Jordan Walsh, and it sucks. But, like, like, that's kind of where I see him going. But. But even with him, it's like, I. I think that there's a. There's a decent ceiling there. Like, it's not a. You know, he's not a. He's not a one story ranch. That's you. You know what I mean? That's like a. There's some height there.

[John Corrales]

He's going to go to, like, Utah and come to Boston, rip Jalen clean and then. And then do a windmill on the bus against Boston and just. Just shove it in Jalen's face and be like, how's that for you? How's that windmill on the break,

[Tom Westerholm]

Jalen turns 30 and then just dunk on him and be like, who's old now?

[Ross Jackson]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, my God. That would be Now. Honestly, kind of would love to see that.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, it'd be funny.

[John Corrales]

Kind of. Kind of would love to see. I. I'm rooting, like, I. I root for everybody, man. This is. Unless you prove yourself to be an absolute jerk, I'm root for mild Bridges.

[Tom Westerholm]

There's a lot of guys. I. You know what I'm saying?

[John Corrales]

Yeah, Fair.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, fair.

[John Corrales]

Right. But again, if you're proven to be, like, a bad person, yeah. I'm like, okay, I'm done with you. Yeah. But all of these guys in the Celtics 100. I'm rooting for all of them. I know how much work they're putting in. I know how hard this is. This is tough. And, like, I want all of these guys to experience some level of success, which means. That means you're gonna have to go away. Some of you guys, like, some of

[Tom Westerholm]

you guys are gonna have to go.

[John Corrales]

I. I'm happy for Aaron Neesmith. I thought Neesmith, like, I enjoyed the brief Neesmith crash experience where there wasn't a game that went by that I thought he might die because of the way he played. I'm glad that he's doing well, I hope. I kind of. The way you laid that out, how fun would it be? What if he went to, like, Charlotte and became part of this Charlotte. This budding Charlotte Boston rivalry with Charles Lee and a couple of former Celtics and, you know, con. Canipple being great. And I don't know if LaMelo Ball will be part of it, but whatever. Not the biggest lamelo ball fan I am.

[Tom Westerholm]

I love lamelo.

[John Corrales]

I. Yeah. But anyway, not as a driver. That's a. Not as a driver. Roads.

[Tom Westerholm]

And I. And I enjoy watching him play basketball.

[John Corrales]

But anyway, how fun would it be for Jordan to just go up and defend Jalen and have those moments. Have Jalen rise up in those moments? Like, that would be. I would just. That would just be fun to watch.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

But. But yet Jordan's. All of these guys. I think the bottom line is all of these guys have very high ceilings. A lot of these guys have high ceilings. It's just the opportunity to play.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Where. Where is it? And a lot of. A lot of people who don't live up to high ceilings, high expectations because the league has beaten them down. They've lost their confidence. They got a jerk for a coach. They've got a bad situation. They got a bad front office. They're in a bad, whatever, tanking situation that didn't go right. There are a number of things that can go wrong for a player, but all of these guys have real, real opportunity. Every single one of these guys in the Celtics, no matter what their age, has a real chance at being a useful rotation player on Boston, away from Boston. It's just. Will they get the situation to. To survive like this? And that's what it boils down to. Every. It's. One or two or three of these guys is going to, like, fall out of the league because just the situation wasn't right and they couldn't handle it, and that's up to them to deal with. And maybe you go somewhere else and make your money, but all of these guys are good, so it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun to watch where they go.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, for sure.

[John Corrales]

All right, well, fun bonus podcast.

[Tom Westerholm]

Can we tell the listeners how many minutes of podcasting you've done today? Sure.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Well, let's see. We're at 28 minutes here. We just did 40 minutes on Mimi.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, that was. So you're. You're well over an hour today.

[John Corrales]

And. And this is also the day. I don't know when this podcast will air. And so. But on I also did the, the bonus Bill Chisholm podcast, which went.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Corrales]

Almost 33 minutes. So that's 70. 73. And we're at 28.

[Tom Westerholm]

You have locked on NBA today.

[John Corrales]

No, not tonight.

[Tom Westerholm]

Okay, okay, okay. No.

[John Corrales]

So I've done. I've done my.

[Tom Westerholm]

You've been yapping.

[John Corrales]

I've been yapping. I've been basically an hour sharing your

[Tom Westerholm]

gift of gab today.

[John Corrales]

Keep going, man. I could just keep going. That's the scary part. Just keep going. Yeah, but I'm not going to because at some point my wife is going to come down here and smack me and be like, where's our dinner? So with that, Tom, I will say thank you. Appreciate you as always. You know, hey, I'm here for you. I'm here for you, the public, the people, Celtics fans. I'm here for you so we can do. So we can talk and have all this. There's so much to talk about. Even on days where I'm like, ah, what am I going to talk about? There's always something to talk about. And clearly I can't shut up until somebody tells me to. So this is. The timer is telling me to. So thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Tom's mic is still on. So thanks for all of that. Thanks for sharing the podcast and telling everybody that they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It's your team. Every day

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[Ross Jackson]

It's tax season. And at LifeLock, we know you're tired of numbers, but here's a big one you need to hear. Billions. That's the amount of money and refunds the IRS has flagged for possible identity fraud. Now here's another big number. 100 million. That's how many data points LifeLock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, we'll fix it. Guaranteed. One last big number. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com special offer for the threats you can't control. Terms apply. Hey, everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast network. If your group chat's been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join ours. If you sign up for the Everyday Club, you get access to the members only group chats for your favorite teams, plus national chats for every sport. Personally, I love watching folks talk a little smack in the NFC south trash talk chat. You also get an ad free version of your favorite Locked on show and a whole lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes.