NBA Notebook: Celtics rookie Jordan Walsh continuing his Alopecia advocacy

Celtics rookie Jordan Walsh is figuring everything out. He doesn't know the name of the area around the Celtics' practice facility where he now resides yet. Derrick White returned to the Auerbach Center to teach him a one-on-one lesson on Friday. Assistant coach Ross McMains shows him film daily, but Walsh and head coach Joe Mazzulla haven't discussed a role or goals for this season. 

Still, he's become the team's top choice for community events following his standout Summer League. Walsh screamed when a student named Kobe hit a three and won basketballs for his school in Worcester that Walsh attended after battling White in Brighton. The students at Union Hill lined up behind the school to welcome Walsh, then swarmed the rookie after he spoke to them on the middle of the floor. He admits his Twitch video game streaming schedule hasn't grown consistent yet, but many Celtics fans found him anyway, flooding the comments with well wishes and intrigue. 

"I just want people to get to know me more as a person than just a basketball player," Walsh told Boston Sports Journal this week. "So I feel like if I can connect with the fans on that level,  that makes it better for a community, an active room…they all come in and chat and show love. Tell me, 'good luck on the season.' Tell me how they're expecting big things for us and me as a player. It's been good. It's been a good journey so far." 

Walsh took steps toward playing this summer, listening to lessons Al Horford and Payton Pritchard told him about riding waves of good and bad play during his first season. He learned about Mazzulla's system and focused on playing off Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum while trying to build his 200-pound frame. The rookie entered the league with off-the-court ambition too, pledging to become the face for Alopecia areata advocacy, follwing his mentor Charlie Villanueva. The condition, which makes the immune system to attack hair follicles, caused Walsh's bald appearance beginning around second grade in his native DeSoto, Texas near Dallas. Walsh partnered with the National Alopecia Areata Foundation this month, supporting its charity walk during the month dedicated to Alopecia awareness. 

The first sign of the condition impacting him came in patches of hair loss as he looked in the mirror, known as areata. He wore them at first, then later decided he couldn't and decided to shave his head. The jokes already began hurling in his direction in class and at games. They bothered him at first, he wears beanies in public to this day for protection. His mother Sandra still occasionally worries what opposing fans might say when it comes off for games. The court, despite shining the brightest spotlight on his appearance, gave him an escape. 

"I feel like it's difficult for everybody. It's something that hits you randomly, out of nowhere," Walsh told BSJ earlier this summer. "Something you can't control. Something that never happened to your family or anything like that. So it can hit you suddenly and it can really take a toll on you. For me, that's what it did in the beginning ... now, it's way different. I'm way more in tune with myself, way more connected with myself than I was back then ... as a kid, everybody wants to be funny and be the class clown, so you'd get made fun of a lot for that ... at first, my response was always to get back at somebody. If they made fun me, I made fun of them back, and then it got to a point where it was like, 'I'm a basketball player, so imma let everything I do speak in basketball.' Let my narrative be, he's a great basketball player, and that's what pretty much everybody thinks about me whenever they see me (now)."

Villanueva did the same. As Walsh's profile heightened closer to high school, he began to draw comparisons to the 7-foot star who played for one decade in the NBA between the Raptors, Bucks, Mavericks and Pistons teams that battled with the championship Boston Celtics. Kevin Garnett infamously played on the big man's appearance when he allegedly called Villanueva a cancer patient, trash talk that Garnett later called a miscommunication. The combination of ridicule Villanueva faced while struggling with Alopecia, and pulling cancer into the conversation, led Villanueva to go public with Garnett's comments. 

He also heard about the teenager in Texas that fans started comparing to him, so he connected with Walsh within two years of retiring and began mentoring the young forward. They've talked basketball, life and Alopecia since connecting through his agent Ramon Sessions, Walsh able to go to Villanueva with whatever questions he has and the retired veteran hosted Walsh's family and friends on draft night in June when the Celtics selected him No. 38 overall. Villanueva started Alopecia Community in the years since he retired, writing and building a community for those struggling with the condition and connecting them. 

"Enough people said (we look alike) to where it caught his attention and he came into my life and started giving me advice and telling me about his story and everything. He's been where I've wanted to be, he's played in the NBA and he's also been through the same struggles as me, so for me to be able to confide within him, it means a lot," Walsh said. "I really just wanted to take over and do what C.V. did, and then obviously I want to expand it and eventually create my own thing, but I want to be able to have my own community at the end of the day." 

"He was like, 'I'm gonna come to your school, we're gonna play one on one and we're gonna shoot against each other,'" Walsh remembered. "And I was like, 'Bet. I running for nothing.' We started playing against each other, started shooting with each other and kind of had a competitive relationship at first, and then it turned into (him) being more of a mentor for me.” 

Walsh said his focus working with NAAF will be inspiring children facing insecurity over their hair loss to feel comfortable doing the things he did, whether his basketball career, streaming and community work. He wants to become the visible face of the condition, so fans watch him, identify Alopecia and learn about it, instilling understanding within those who don't have it and confidence in those who do. The NAAF started in 1981 and collects funding for research into treatments and a cure for Alopecia, along with creating an empowered community that can embrace having the condition in the meantime. No cure currently exists for the estimated 6.7 million people in the United States and 160 million people worldwide with Alopecia. 

Brandon Thomas, who coached Walsh in high school, saw Walsh grow more comfortable after initially struggling to process living with Alopecia. He focused on his passions, gaming and roller coasters among them, along with his aspiration to reach the NBA that began early. Walsh realized that the condition wouldn't hold him back from achieving his goal, and Thomas never heard Walsh talk about himself as a victim. Once he became more vocal, Thomas could tell that it had no impact on Walsh before he ascended from Faith Family Academy in Dallas to prep school in Missouri and the University of Arkansas, where he met a women's basketball player named Rylee Langerman who had a similar experience with Alopecia. They would host an event for local author Tracy Peterson's book Beanies, Ball Caps, and Being Bald: Different Isn't Bad, Different Is Just Different, about a child named Matthew Shelby's experience with Alopecia. Walsh and Langerman, who now attends Oklahoma State, spoke with Little Rock children who attended the event. 

"I've met a lot of people younger than me, but it wasn't until I met (Walsh) where I saw someone in the same phase of life and near the same age as me with the same condition," Langerman told BSJ. "We met through basketball, sharing the same practice facility, seeing each other in the training room ... we honestly never really talked about Alopecia, I think it was more of an understood thing. Neither of us wanted to point it out, so we both had the same point of view on that. He's a really nice guy, really supportive of the women's team ... (the event) was super cool, because all the little kids going through the same thing were able to talk to us and meet us, and I know that's super inspiring to them, to see people who look like them accomplishing cool things ... that's a big part of why I do what I do, being able to try to instill some self-confidence in people younger than me, because I know what I struggling with at that age. So I'm trying to be for them what I needed and inspiring them to not let what the world thinks or what people tell you hold you back." 

At Arkansas, Walsh's constant hustle stood out on film before his bald appearance, Brad Stevens describing how he engulfed ball-handlers with his long arms. He hit 40% of his threes at Summer League, flashing the ball-handling and offensive capabilities he admitted playing a role on a talented Razorbacks team hid as he fell from first-round pedigree into the second round, where Boston had traded back to select him while accumulating future picks. Analysts agreed Walsh stood among the most impressive players in the Vegas showcase, but opposing guards challenged him with quickness. 

His partnership with White and Pritchard, whom Walsh said on Friday he spent significant time with this summer, comes as no surprise as he'll likely draw assignments covering guards. Pritchard and Horford mentored him this summer on what to expect in the league, from Mazzulla and typical rookie season challenges. As Walsh stood at Union Hill School in Worcester, the Celtics signed another defensive wing in Lamar Stevens, adding to the already uphill battle Walsh faces to earn playing time and attention toward his cause in year one. An impressive summer on and off the court makes it impossible to rule him out completely. Walsh, still 19, is focused on listening for now. 

"I’m a rookie. So it's a little bit of everything...learning the system, getting stronger, getting ready, getting to know everybody, getting to know people's tendencies, getting to know how to play in a system with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and all those guys. So it's been a learning a learning thing for me. I'm kind of just taking every bit of information I can and just trying to soak it all up ... the professionalism they have and they take within their everyday actions. Obviously, J.T. has a choice to come in and work with us with us young guys and he chooses to do that. So for him, giving us that time and giving that energy, I take great pride in that because everything he does, I can mirror that. And if one day I could be where he is, that would mean the world." 

Here's what else happened around the NBA this week...

Boston: Signed Lamar Stevens to their 15th and final standard contract spot, adding a wing who started 25 games for the Cavaliers last year before Cleveland sent him to San Antonio in the Max Strus sign-and-trade. Stevens will compete for backup wing minutes alongside Sam Hauser, Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk. Multiple reports indicated Malcolm Brogdon, who hasn't returned to Boston yet with the rest of the roster beginning training camp workouts early, was angry over a near trade to Los Angeles and how the Celtics handled his arm injury. It's unclear where his recovery stands. Training camp opens one week from Monday, where free agent signings DJ Steward and Taylor Funk will participate and likely end up in Maine.

Charlotte: Miles Bridges fired back at Ringer podcaster and free agent Austin Rivers, who ripped the Hornets for not surrounding LaMelo Ball with talent that'll help him reach his potential, calling his supporting cast troubled youth. Rivers, who offered his services to Brad Stevens and the Celtics this summer, contrasted Ball's career since winning rookie of the year to fellow top draft pick Anthony Edwards, who led Team USA's World Cup team while Ball recovered from ankle injuries. Bridges' domestic violence charges and ensuing suspension, Brandon Miller's proximity to a murder while at the University of Alabama, which he was cleared for, along with erratic social media behavior by Kai Jones defined the past year in Charlotte before Michael Jordan sold majority share of the team. 

“Gotta love peer-to-peer hoop drama,” Kyrie Irving tweeted, responding on Twitter out of nowhere to Bridge's rebuke. “@ who you're talking about next time.”

Chicago: Emerging as a surprise contender for Damian Lillard, according to Jake Fischer, though the Bulls can offer Portland little return as DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine don't likely appeal to the rebuilding Blazers. It's worth wondering if Chicago's interest could foreshadow a different move to shake up their core as Lonzo Ball recovers into 2024, as their two other stars struggled to coexist last season. James Harden could make some sense, but the Bulls' stars probably can't generate enough interest even in those scenarios. As a middling team, their picks might not appeal to teams either. 

Cleveland: Brian Windhorst reported, as previously speculated, that Donovan Mitchell will not sign a long-term extension with the Cavaliers this fall, setting up a critical season ahead of his final year under contract in 2025. Chatter regarding Mitchell's interest in playing for New York continued beyond his trade from Utah to Cleveland, which excited, but admittedly stunned him one year ago as he expected to land with the Knicks. The Cavs can do little more than they did this offseason to appease him, bringing in a variety of wings who can improve on the team's poor play at forward. Evan Mobley will need to accelerate his growth, Jarrett Allen needs to provide playoff impact and the team needs to pull off the long postseason run it appeared capable of before going down in the first round against New York. A similar result seems bound to lead to the end of Mitchell's brief time in Cleveland. 

The Cavs signed 2016 champion and former big man Tristan Thompson after he joined the Lakers late last season. Police arrested GM Koby Altman and charged him with OVI, which he plead not guilty to. The Cavs said in a statement that they'll monitor the legal process. 

Dallas: Reportedly underwhelmed the Suns with an offer of Tim Hardaway Jr., Richaun Holmes and JaVale McGee for Deandre Ayton before waiving McGee earlier this summer. The Mavericks clearly tried to upgrade their center spot significantly after moving on from Christian Wood and will now rely on Holmes and Dereck Lively II providing impact alongside Dwight Powell in their first seasons in the Mavs front court. A healthy Maxi Kleber season would help too, and Grant Williams previously played some small ball center in Boston. Phoenix commanded an Ayton replacement in any deal. 

Golden State: Appeared on the verge of signing Dwight Howard after workouts and approval from the team's stars after Howard shined in Taiwan last season. Draymond Green effectively confirmed the reports while complaining about leaks online, but Shams Charania followed with a report that the Warriors will maintain flexibility to sign a big man later in camp or into the season rather than adding Howard. Golden State met with a variety of veterans, some years out of the NBA like Dion Waiters, but inevitably agreed to deals with none of them. Dario Šarić and rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis enter camp as the team's only backup bigs.

Houston: ClutchFans tracked the warning signs and past transgressions that made the Rockets' investment in and extension of Kevin Porter Jr., who's accused of felony assault on his girlfriend, and placed blame on GM Rafael Stone. Houston, Stone specifically, viewed Porter as part of the team's core through sporadic play and behavior. Now, the team awaits the results of an NBA investigation and scrambled to trade Porter's contract for a rotation player, a difficult task as the NBA's handling of domestic violence falls under criticism. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Porter's future in the league is in doubt. 

Indiana: Will work with sharpshooter Buddy Hield on finding a trade before the season after extension talks between the 30-year-old, who hit 42.5% of his threes last season, fell apart this week. Hield will play this season on a $19.3-million deal he signed with the Kings before he landed with the Pacers in the Tyrese Haliburton-for-Domantas Sabonis trade. Hield remains one of the league's most dangerous shooters, but brings few other skills to the table. He'll likely join the vast array of contracts that'll form the eventual Damian Lillard and James Harden deals across multiple teams. Indiana reportedly has interest in taking on Deandre Ayton's contract, which they initially offered and Phoenix matched last season after clearing Malcolm Brogdon's contract.

Clippers: Zach Lowe suspects the Clippers and 76ers will eventually resume James Harden talks that ended in August and haven't picked up since. Marcus Morris nearly landed in Washington in the same trade that reportedly angered Brogdon, and The Athletic noted that Morris will return to training camp despite that uncertainty regarding his future. The Clippers played him as an everyday starter last season before his play declined and made doing so impossible into the playoffs, where he averaged 22.7 minutes and started twice over five games. He'll return to starting if LA retains him. Kawhi Leonard praised the team's decision to bring back Russell Westbrook this summer in his first reaction to the move -- in Kawhi fashion. 

“It’s very important having him back,” Leonard said. “Now we got a Hall-of-Fame point guard that’s been through it. I think that’s going to be big for us coming into the year.”

Lakers: Count me among the enjoyers of Winning Time, canceled this week by HBO after a second season capped by the Celtics winning the 1984 championship. Many criticized the show's looseness depicting events accurately, focusing on drama away from the court and its basketball focus might've proven niche for others. The acting was enjoyable, and while Slate made a strong case for why the ending point made for a more interesting story, I hope it'll return. ... Some view the 2023 Lakers as a landing spot for Buddy Hield. Spacing can never hurt a LeBron James team, but I'd hold onto contracts for a bigger star. The everlasting Kyrie Irving dream might lead them to do the same. They lined up contracts like D'Angelo Russell nicely to add up for potential mid-season trades, if necessary. 

Memphis: Numerous past and present Celtics attended Marcus Smart's wedding after a stunning trade sent him to the Grizzlies in June. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown attended, Brown calling Smart a brother for life, as did Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck, coach Joe Mazzulla and GM Brad Stevens, alongside former Celtics Ime Udoka, Daniel Theis and Terry Rozier. Smart returns to TD Garden to face his former Celtics on Feb. 4. 

Miami: Reportedly growing desperate to acquire Damian Lillard as training camp nears amid a flurry of mixed messages clearing aiming to empower each team's leverage and Lillard's desire to land with the Heat. It became clear late this week, for the first time, that outside suitors could threaten Miami for Lillard despite his camp's threats that any team outside Miami that lands him would acquire an unhappy star. Throughout the process, the Blazers sat unimpressed by the Heat's assets and eventually talks between both sides died and seemingly haven't picked up since. While losing Lillard would cast enormous doubt on the team's ability to contend this season, maintaining and growing trade pieces could lead to a bigger splash next summer as a pair of star big men's futures in the east become more uncertain in Milwaukee and Philadelphia. 

"While a collection of NBA personnel expect Portland to engage Miami before finalizing something with another suitor, the Heat have not factored primarily in the Blazers’ recent dialogue surrounding Lillard," Jake Fischer reported. "Additionally, the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz have materialized as peripheral teams that could factor into larger deals that help facilitate Lillard’s departure from the Blazers."

Milwaukee: Mark them down as the most likely team to trade for Buddy Hield after Giannis Antetokounmpo held the franchise's feet to the fire with a pair of interviews indicating that he could leave the Bucks if they don't present the best chance to win a championship. The Bucks emerged alongside the Mavericks and 76ers as teams interested in Hield in the past, and while Milwaukee traded most of its draft picks for Jrue Holiday and Jae Crowder, Giannis' directive will push them in the most aggressive position possible compared to rival suitors who might show more caution. Hield fits well here. 

New Orleans: An ankle injury placed Jose Alvarado's training camp availability in question this week in the latest of a long run of bad injury luck for this Pelicans core. Alvarado suffered the injury in a workout last week following Trey Murphy III tearing his meniscus during an offseason session. New Orleans can compete without them if the Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson star duo can stay on the floor. It's hard to expect that.

New York: Knicks owner James Dolan considered buying additional teams in other sports beyond the Knicks and Rangers, the teams he's infamously run for decades, but told the New York Times he doesn't like overseeing franchises. The comments ring painfully for two fanbases that have largely suffered during his tenure running Madison Square Garden. An end doesn't appear in sight, with Dolan remaining defiant despite criticism of his practices, ranging from banning a critical Knicks legend in Charles Oakley to using facial recognition technology to survey outspoken fans who entered the arena. New York is also suing numerous members of the Toronto Raptors organization, accusing a former Knicks staffer of funneling basketball info to Toronto.

“As I’ve said previously, our only rules are that they comply with local law. And from everything we understand right now, Madison Square Garden is complying with local law,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in February in response to the surveillance. “And at least so far, we have not deemed it appropriate that we should be stepping into those situations.”

Oklahoma City: Aleksej Pokusevski sprained his right ankle and will miss six weeks, likely missing time into the regular season. Another injury might place the former first-round pick's future in Oklahoma City in jeopardy as the Thunder must make three cuts on a packed roster ahead of training camp. Pokusevski makes $5 million before becoming a restricted free agent next summer and it wouldn't hurt the Thunder financially to part ways with him. Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Jack White will also battle next month alongside numerous other talented perimeter players like Aaron Wiggins. Victor Oladipo enters training camp injured after coming over from the Heat in a trade, making him another likely player cut on an expiring contract. 

Orlando: Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley called reigning rookie of the year Paolo Banchero a combination between Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Jayson Tatum following one of the best rookie scoring campaigns in recent NBA history in 2023. Mosley appeared on the HoopsHype podcast talking about a favorite young roster to make a leap next year, drafting two rookies in the lottery and watching Moe and Franz Wagner lead Germany to the World Cup gold medal. 

“Because the game has changed so much over the years with players getting more talented and higher IQs, you have to give combinations," Mosley said. "Paolo is a combination of Carmelo (Anthony), LeBron (James) and (Jayson) Tatum. There are different combinations of things they possess. The passing skills. The ability to score in different areas. The power that they possess...You don’t want to label them as just this or that person. There’s a combination of each one that they possess because they study the game and they watch all these great players.”

Philadelphia: Signed veteran wing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a veteran's minimum deal after a strong scoring season with the Hornets. He'll supplement the team's wing depth in a smaller role, testing his ability to fit in on a winning team after struggled to do so in a recent stint with the Warriors. 

Phoenix: Surprised to read they could enter a larger Damian Lillard deal by trading Deandre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic. Portland's desire to move off Nurkic's three-year, $54.4 million deal in any Lillard trade long went underrated in conversations about how the Heat and Blazers could come to a deal. Nurkic packs a scoring punch, averaging 13.3 PPG, 9.1 RPG and 2.9 APG while hitting 36% of his threes last season. He also misses games regularly, appearing in only 153 over the past four seasons, and doesn't exactly bring the defensive backbone described in reports this week. I'd rather have Ayton.

The real reason could be -- surprise -- Phoenix could move off Ayton's average $33 million salary over the next three years. 

Portland: The Damian Lillard trade could finally happen sometime over the next week with the Blazers reportedly ramping up efforts to provide clarity to head coach Chauncey Billups and the team's young roster without having the Lillard uncertainty shadowing over media day. It's more likely than ever that Portland could play ball with a team other than the Heat, Chicago and Toronto rumored, but I'd keep an eye on Brooklyn as the mystery team that Marc Spears referred to earlier this month, given its assets, picks owed to Houston and precarious contending position with its current roster. Lillard previously expressed interest in playing for the Nets before his trade request. No Lillard trade remains imminent as of Friday, Adrian Wojnarowski reported. 

Toronto: An unsurprising team in the Lillard race given Masai Ujiri's 2018 risk to trade DeMar DeRozan and others to the Spurs for Kawhi Leonard, who won a championship in his lone Raptors season before leaving. The Raptors would risk adding an unhappy Lillard and it's unclear how they can get a deal done without giving up Scottie Barnes, which they don't intend to do. Given that Toronto rejected multiple first-round picks for OG Anunoby in the past, it's possible he becomes viewed as a way for Portland to consolidate more assets in the future, especially if the Blazers can retain the wing on a long-term deal ahead of his free agency next summer. Gradey Dick, Toronto's first-round pick this year, could also go to Toronto in a deal. 

Utah: Named by Fischer as a potential facilitator in a Lillard deal, they hold a variety of different-sized contracts and picks they could move on from in any deal, including John Collins ($25.3M), Collin Sexton ($17.3M) and Kelly Olynyk ($12.2M). Could Danny Ainge sneak out of a multi-team deal with another cornerstone draft pick or prospect? It's hard to bet against him given his run to begin his career with the Jazz. 

Washington: Wes Unseld Jr. previewed the Wizards' rebuild in his first interview since the team moved on from Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis.