Boston Celtics: 3 young Cs who will be the most impactful

Boston Celtics young contributor #2: Payton Pritchard

Danny Ainge has had his fair share of hits and misses on draft night, but the fans’ reactions to him taking Payton Pritchard with the 26th pick was nothing short of furious. Draft experts and casual NBA fans alike went rants about how Ainge was a fool for taking an old, undersized, and unathletic point guard in the first round when he would have been there in the second round.

Pritchard’s draft placement concerns are still valid, but those questioning his abilities have been thoroughly silenced.

Pritchard had an outstanding rookie season from the jump despite the drama going on in Boston’s point guard room. Pritchard had no problem stepping up and starting for the Celtics and filed no complaints when he was asked to come off the bench as a second or even third-string guard.

Before his injury towards the end of January, Pritchard was averaging 7.7 points per game on 61.1 TS%, including 42.5% from the 3-point range. After returning from his injury, he experienced a minor slump but broke out after Jeff Teague was dealt, and Brad Stevens named him the Boston Celtics official third-string point guard. In the 28 games after the tradeline, Pritchard averaged 8.6 points on 58 TS%, and 41.1% shooting from deep and had four 15+ point games.

With a full season of NBA experience and an entire off-season to work on his shortcomings, the Celtics’ 23-year-old out of Oregon will come back stronger than ever, especially with Kemba Walker now gone. In 27 games without Walker, Payton Pritchard averaged 10 points on 60 TS% in just 23 minutes per game.

Pritchard can slide into a more prominent role and is more than capable of being the Celtics second-string point guard. It would be wise for Stevens to go out and grab another veteran point guard if one of Smart or Pritchard gets injured throughout the season, but it’s safe to stay a Smart and Pritchard point guard room is fine for what Boston is asking of them.

Pritchard will be a staple of the Boston Celtics floor spacing and be relied on to drive closeouts, both of which he displayed last season. This time around, Pritchard will receive an uptick in defensive attention, and he has to be ready for it.

Pritchard also needs to improve his defensive tendencies since teams will hunt him more with Walker gone. There’s nothing that supports Pritchard can’t meet these needs, so I’m a believer in Pritchard for this upcoming season, and I think he will have a sophomore break-out season.