EDITORIAL
The Pulverizing Start of Payton Pritchard
Pritchard’s emergence as the Celtics’ rotational playmaker has the shot to redeem Danny Ainge’s awful non-lottery pick record.
When the Boston Celtics drafted Aaron Nesmith out of Vanderbilt with their 14th overall pick via Memphis, I thought he would give a sure-fire, instant impact to the team with his perimeter skillset, something the Celtics lacked last season as they ranked 23rd (19.4%) in spot-up plays. While Nesmith keeps on making promising progress in finding his ground, a fellow rookie steps up to give Boston the instant impact they’ve been wanting to have.
The Celtics used their own pick (26th overall) to select Payton Pritchard from Oregon. As a relatively unknown name, especially with no college basketball to watch during the COVID-19 pandemic, I found it hard to see the value in Pritchard especially when they already acquired free agent Jeff Teague to solidify the backcourt. Our good friends from ATTL Basket rated this pick as a good one but I am skeptical about the Celtics’ first-round picks.
Over the last decade, the Celtics had 20 first-round draft picks and only three have considerable success. Marcus Smart has been the defensive stalwart that other 29 teams hate to go up against, Jaylen Brown emerged as an efficient ball-handler and scorer, and there’s the tantalizing Jayson Tatum. Meanwhile, other names like Jared Sullinger, James Young, and Guerschon Yabusele are unfortunate draft picks that fans would want to forget.
Pritchard turns out to be an outstanding addition to the team. The former Pac-12 Player of the Year is currently playing a healthy 22.9 minutes per game, with 8.6 points from an effective field goal percentage of 60.2%, 3.1 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. He has been an effective ball-handler on the court with an assist to turnover ratio of 3.44, and his 42.3% three-point field goal percentage has been the talk of the town among pundits and fans.
One game that Pritchard would remember throughout his career was when he came up big and recorded a career-high 23 points and eight assists, breaking a record Antoine Walker held as a rookie in a game on April 18, 1997. Pritchard did everything right; he did not force bad shots, made his chances count, found his open man, and used his undersized body well to protect the ball while attacking the rim.
Pritchard had another great game today against the Orlando Magic, where he scores 16 points with a 50% three-point field goal percentage, four rebounds, three assists, and one block. Many may see Pritchard as a conventional and limited player, but it doesn’t mean that he does not possess any kind of flair, as he nailed this skip pass:
And a one-hander dime to Daniel Theis as a homage to the White Chocolate:
Payton Pritchard’s development with the Celtics will be interesting to monitor. Brad Stevens is known to be able to bring the best out of smaller point guards, by sketching a defensive scheme that will hide them and open up the opportunity for them to flourish as a main ball-handler like what he did to Isaiah Thomas and Kemba Walker.
You won’t see flashy techniques, nor sheer athleticism from Pritchard. He’s just a small player doing everything right coming from his third year of college, earned his shot at the highest level of basketball to the point people regarded him as a late-bloomer, and kept doing it with the Celtics. It’s about making every opportunity count for him. He makes his open look threes whenever given the chance, patient when handling the ball, and passes to his open teammates instead of chasing for glory, and that is what he needs to survive or even have an established career in the NBA.
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