Community

Marc D'Amico

Jordan Walsh stepped out of the rain and into a sea of screaming children Monday afternoon amid his debut appearance as a Boston Celtic.

Walsh, just as every Celtics rookie since 2008 has done before him, made his first team appearance Monday afternoon at a community event put on by the organization. The 37th&nbsp;overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft helped to conduct a clinic with kids at the freshly renovated Cambridge Community Center before speaking to the Boston media for the very first time.

The 6-foot-7 wing emerged from a black van outside the community center and was greeted by a brief downpouring of rain. It was all sunshine just a few steps later, however, as he entered the gym that was full of excited screams. Walsh soon grabbed a microphone and returned the favor by showcasing his excitement to be in town as a member of the Celtics. The very first sentence that came off his lips was as follows: “Obviously, it’s a dream come true to be a part of the best organization in the NBA.”

Walsh’s feelings of gratitude continued to shine through as he met with the media about an hour later.

Walsh, who is just 19 years old, gushed constantly about landing with the Celtics. He is intrigued by the program and enamored by the history.

“I know what type of organization Boston is,” he stated with confidence. “I know that being able to be with guys like (Jayson) Tatum and (Jaylen) Brown, who can give me wisdom and who are in a winning environment, and been to the Playoffs so many times. An organization that has so many championships.

“To be in that environment, to grow in a place like that as your first place, so they set the foundation for your career? I feel like that’s the most important part is that foundation, and Boston has a great foundation for that.”

Walsh said he could feel that environment around him when he was inside the Auerbach Center for his two pre-Draft workouts.

“I got to be in the atmosphere of a Boston workout, and feel what it feels like to be in a winning culture’s workout in their gym. And you could feel it in everything you did,” Walsh said. “Even just doing ball handling drills and stretching; it’s always loud, people are screaming, people are always cheering you on.”

To think, that was just with the coaching and basketball operations staffs in the building for the workouts. Throw the likes of Tatum, Brown, Al Horford and Derrick White onto the court around him and the atmosphere will spike to a whole other level.

Within that atmosphere, Walsh said, he is hoping to be taken under Horford’s wing.

“I talked to Al Horford once,” he revealed. “We just texted, and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m coming to the city, I’m glad to be here, I’m ready to work. Hopefully I can be under your wing and you can show me the ropes.’”

One rope that no one will need to show Walsh is how to play hard. The rookie made it clear that he understands what Bostonians love and appreciate from their athletes, and that he’s going to provide such effort| every time he steps onto the floor.

Asked what the city is getting in him, Walsh responded without hesitation: “A guy who harps on defense. Who player super hard. Who is tough. Who is going to be consistent in that aspect of the game. Who is going to do the simple things that help winning, that maybe other people may overlook: diving on the floor.”

He continued, “I heard that Boston likes people who dive on the floor more than people who dunk the ball. So that guy’s going to be me.”

That surely is music to Bostonians’ ears. Truthfully, so was every other comment that Walsh made during his first appearance as a Celtic. This was an A-plus foray into the City of Boston. Some might even call it a slam dunk.

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Walsh Gushes Over Celtics While Making Debut in Boston

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BOSTON – The NBA announced today that Jaylen Brown has been named one of five recipients of the End of Season NBA Cares Community Assist Award for the 2019-20 season.

Joining him in receiving this season's award is Harrison Barnes of the Sacramento Kings, George Hill of the Milwaukee Bucks, Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Dwight Powell of the Dallas Mavericks.

Brown became the second member of the Boston Celtics organization to win the award, joining Isaiah Thomas, who earned it in 2017.

Brown, who serves as a vice president for the NBA Players Association, has maintained a loud and impactful voice throughout the NBA’s return-to-play process amid both the ongoing pandemic and the pursuit of social justice and racial equality in the United States. The 23-year-old Celtics wing has donated both his time and his money toward the causes over the last six months.

While progress has been made on each front during that time frame, Brown maintained in his comments Monday upon receiving the award, “There is so much more work to be done.”

That being said, Brown has put in quite a bit of work himself to nudge society in the right direction. Most notably, in late-May, he jumped in a car and drove 15 hours to his native Atlanta following the police killing of George Floyd. Brown organized a peaceful protest that was held May 30, at which he was joined by the likes of fellow NBA players Malcolm Brogdon and Justin Anderson, as well as rapper and fellow Georgia native Lil Yachty.

Brown marched with a sign that read “I CANT BREATHE,” [sic] and continued to relay the purpose behind his protest throughout his time inside the NBA’s bubble in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

“As a young person, you’ve got to listen to our perspective,” Brown said at the time of his initial protest. “Our voices need to be heard. I’m 23 years old. I don’t know all the answers. But I feel how everybody else is feeling.”

Those emotions were and are centered around Brown's frustration with the lack of equal rights and systemic accountability within the United States. He continued to publicly speak on those topics during his practice and postgame media availabilities, not only during the conclusion of the regular season, but also through the end of Boston’s playoff run, which extended into the Eastern Conference Finals.

“I think that this society, the way it was built, its intentions was to never protect and serve people of color initially,” Brown said Sept. 23, following Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which coincided with the public rulings that none of the police officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death would be directly charged with her death. “So when they were gearing up for what was about to happen, I knew that the wrong decision was probably being made.”

Brown added, “Until we dismantle, recreate or change this system that we have, it’s going to continue to have victims like Breonna Taylor and others that fall victim to oppression.”

While messages of this tone have reverberated off the walls from Brown for months, he has also dedicated his efforts toward the cause of helping others during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Many lives have been lost, and many more have been negatively impacted from physical, emotional and financial perspectives during the fight against this pandemic. Brown, who signed a lucrative contract extension prior to the 2019-20 season, wanted to assist that group of impacted individuals via a contribution to the Boston Resiliency Fund, which is an effort led by the city of Boston to assist residents most affected by the pandemic.

Brown’s contribution to the Fund led directly to meals for senior citizens and families most in need, new technology for students as they transitioned to remote learning, as well as continued support for first responders.

Brown chose to make the donation via his 7uice Foundation. Quenton Brown, Jaylen’s older brother, serves as a director of the foundation and spoke to Celtics.com about the reasoning behind the decision to contribute to the Resiliency Fund.

“Just basically being able to provide an educational or athletic or social impact that can bring people closer to, I guess, the golden rule: treat people how they want to be treated,” he explained. “Or be able to get the resources that they need, or be properly educated, so that they can know their rights or regulations for whatever the case may be. Knowing just to control your own narrative has kind of been the whole point of Jaylen’s career.”

Quenton also elaborated on why Jaylen opted to make the contribution via his foundation, as opposed to doing so through his own name.

“He wants the foundation to have the leverage,” Quenton said. “It’s not about our faces on anything that we’re able to do to help and give back. It’s about the brand, and the brand is faith, consistency and hard work pays off. So the more that you put the brand out there, the more you’re spreading a different word than just putting your name out there, which is basically just giving you a social shout out when we need social justice, we need social education, we need things spread with the right positive intellect.”

Jaylen and his foundation have clearly accomplished those goals throughout the last several months. His words and actions have generated traction throughout the country and inspired countless others to follow suit.

Brown may have received an individual award from the NBA, but the award stands for so much more. It stands for making a difference in the world, which Brown will continue to do well beyond his playing days, according to many who know him best.

“Jaylen’s greatest impact, as good as he is in basketball, won’t be in basketball,” Brad Stevens said June 2, a message he relayed many times before and after that date. “He’s a special guy. A special leader. He’s smart but he has courage. He’s got a lot of great stuff to him.”

Simply put, Brown makes the world a better place. Now he has earned a coveted NBA award to show for it.

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Brown Earns NBA Community Assist Award for His Impact on Society

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Photos: Fit for a Cause – September 17, 2019

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2019 Fit for a Cause Renovation

ROXBURY, Massachusetts – The scent of freshly-cut wood emanated from a glossy floor, and the sound of high-pitched cheers bounced off of sun-soaked walls.

This was the setting for a day that four young men and 80 children will never forget.

Four days after the Celtics selected Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters in the 2019 NBA Draft, the four draftees were already in Boston to carry on a nearly decade-long tradition that has garnered admiration from around the league.

Since 2011, the Players’ Choice Grant has stood as one of the marquee programs within the Boston Celtics’ community engagement department. Each season, members of the team vote on a location to receive a $50,000 professional-grade renovation, courtesy of the Shamrock Foundation. Months later, it is the newest members of the team – the draftees – who immerse themselves into the Boston community by unveiling the completed project during their first day as Celtics.

This year’s draftees completed their introductory press conferences and immediately made their way over to the Tobin Community Center in Roxbury to celebrate the renovation of the gymnasium with 80 Boston Celtics Youth Foundation members. To the youth members, this was an opportunity to closely interact with and listen to NBA players. For the athletes, it was an opportunity to be introduced to their new city while making an impact on young lives.

“It’s amazing, just being able to see I have this type of impact with just the slightest thing of having my own time and just being here,” said Edwards, the No. 33 overall pick out of Purdue. “Because I can remember times where I was in situations at basketball camps and saw guys that I looked up to and wanted to be one day. So to see that I’m near that, where people can look up to me and see that I have an impact, is amazing.”

Williams, too, basked in the opportunity to put smiles on so many faces in his new city.

“These kids, you never know what they’re going through,” he told Celtics.com. “If you can improve one kid’s day even for just an hour, that can change their emotion, their feeling for the entire week, or even how they treat people in life.”

Doing so was a motivating factor behind the creation of the Players’ Choice Grant program. It allows one season’s players to select the renovation site where so many smiles will be generated, and the incoming draft class gets to carry the program on and deliver those smiles. At its core, the program serves as a passing of the proverbial baton from one roster to the next class of Celtics when it comes to involvement in the community.

This year’s renovation at the Tobin Community Center incorporated the following upgrades: a refurbished court with new designs and an NBA 3-point line, a wireless shot clock system, six new backboards and rims, and new wall graphics. The facility had a new-gym smell and a brand-new look for all of the youth to soak in during the event.

After the players were introduced to the BCYF members, the entire group got to know each other by playing a large rock-paper-scissors tournament and exchanging handshakes that included a few hand slaps and a finishing hip-bump. Williams, who stands in at 6-foot-7 and nearly 240 pounds, joked about the exchange with kids who were less than half his size.

“I was trying to hold back,” he said with a laugh of the hip-bumps, “but then there were a couple of kids who were going pretty hard, so I made sure to give a little pressure, but not too much where I knocked them over so they felt it.”

The youth were then put through a series of basketball drills to promote their growth on the court. The players served as coaches who were doing everything from instructing, to passing, to setting screens for the youngsters.

Lastly, the event concluded with a question-and-answer session, during which the four newly-minted NBA players were able to relay their advice on basketball and life in general. Waters, in particular, felt compelled to take advantage of that session.

“My parents and the older adults in my life always told me that when you grow up you view the world differently,” he said. “I didn’t necessarily understand what they were saying while I was a youngin’, but now I look at [the kids] and I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve been through a lot that I can actually tell them about.’

He continued, “You’ve got to be able to appreciate your parents and just know that every day is a day for you to get better at something. It doesn’t have to be basketball every day. On that day, it could be cleaning the house. Always have the mindset of getting better and you’ll never go down the wrong path.”

The youth members of the Tobin Community Center are in a far better environment to get better on a daily basis now that the 2019 Players’ Choice Grant renovation has been completed. As it does every year, this event served as a loud-and-clear statement to the newest Celtics that this franchise is here to make a difference in the community.

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