I really don’t know how else to explain it. Pritchard has captivated the hearts and minds of all Boston Celtics fans. His heart, his tenacity, his basketball IQ, everything about him is Boston Culture. I’m sure that he would be a good locker room guy regardless of his playing time, but he has broken through the Brad Stevens Rookie Wall. Payton Pritchard has played the fourth most minutes on the team, and he’s played the most rookie minutes for the Celtics since Joe Johnson in 2001-2002. Now, part of this is from necessity. With Kemba Walker out, the Celtics are in need of a rotational point guard alongside Jeff Teague. Marcus Smart usually plays a lot of point for the C’s this season, but Brad Stevens has run a double backcourt of Smart and Pritchard, and boy oh boy is it fun.
He still needs to work on some things, obviously. Sometimes he’s out of position defensively, he has some careless turnovers, but other than that, this guy just knows how to hoop. Through 10 games, Pritchard is averaging 8.6 points, 3.1 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, but what I’m most impressed with is that as a rookie he is shooting the lights out. 51% from the field. 42%(!!!!!!!!) from deep, which this Celtics offense needs badly. He is the perfect player for this team, and that’s all there is to it.
There was a joke when Pritchard was drafted that Danny Ainge just went out and drafted a younger version of himself, which I totally understand. He’s just a kid from West Linn, and he has a similar play style to a young Ainge, but what I’ve also seen is shades of John Wall with his speed, Steve Nash with his dribbling, and Mark Price with his shooting. With Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum leading the team for at least the next five years, but hopefully their entire career or else I’ll cry, we don’t need another superstar player. We need players who will come in, do their job, and not try to play outside themselves. I’ve been really impressed with Pritchard, obviously. If you go to my Twitter it’s basically a Pritchard Stan account now, but other players are doing exactly what we need from them. Marcus Smart can do no wrong in my eyes. I would die for Marcus Smart, and that is not hyperbole. When it came out that Smart had COVID-19 back in March of last year, I literally looked up possible ways to give him my respiratory system so he get better. I’m not joking. Robert “TimeLord” Williams has proven to be a real weapon in a rim running role, and Tacko Fall continues to impress with every minute he plays.
I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here. Probably not this year, maybe not even next year, but my guess is that in the next two years, the Celtics will trade away Kemba Walker. Walker, who is 30 right now, coming off a year long battle with a knee injury, might not be in the plans for the future Celtics. I’d imagine that we’d work with him and get him to the Knicks or the Nets so Kemba can play close to home, but with Brown and Tatum’s continued growth each season, Kemba won’t be needed as a first option or second option. In a stat I saw last night that made me have to catch my breath, the Jays are only the third duo in the last 20 years to each have 250+ points in their teams first 10 games. The other two duos to accomplish such a feat? Only Shaq and Kobe, and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Those guys are good, right? I’m not just making this up?
I think Pritchard is a special player, to say the least. I think he has every bit of potential and opportunity to be the Celtic’s next franchise point guard. He plays the right way, he makes the right reads, and he doesn’t try to do too much. We’ve already seen what he is capable of in his rookie year. Game winner, momentum swinging plays, hustle, scoring ability, so much so that he has the second highest single game scoring outburst from a rookie this season with 23 (off the bench, mind you.) I wasn’t too high on Pritchard when we drafted him, just due to the fact that I hadn’t heard much about him. After ten games, I’m a fan. Nay, a Stan. I’m looking forward to what Pritchard will do for us in the future, and with getting way ahead of myself, maybe his number in the rafters.
Round The Game 
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