No one is fooled by Payton Pritchard anymore. His lack of vertical athleticism or straight line speed may have lulled opponents into a false sense of security early in his career, but in his sixth season, he's near the top of the scouting report every night. That's not actually helping anyone stop him, though, especially when Pritchard isolates — when he becomes one of the most dangerous players in the league.
Among qualified players with at least 1 isolation possession per game, Pritchard is No. 1 in the NBA in points per iso possession (1.22). That's more efficient than James Harden, SGA, Anthony Edwards, etc. The only problem (if you want to call it a problem) is that Pritchard doesn't isolate as frequently as any of those guys.
As we approach the playoffs, and games start to slow down, would it benefit the Celtics to let Pritchard iso more than his current average of 2.1 times per game?
Celtics should let Payton Pritchard iso more in the postseason
Probably. Even with Jayson Tatum returning, Pritchard coming off the bench in the playoffs and getting some isolation buckets is exactly the kind of offensive infusion that teams require to make deep playoff runs.
Two years ago during the C's championship run, Pritchard did that in the second round matchup against the Cavaliers, where he averaged over 11 points per game. He wasn't used much in the other series en route to a ring, but that won't be the case this year, when he's been the team's third-leading scorer.
Of course, the Celtics don't want to turn into an iso-heavy offense where the ball gets stuck. That's what convinced people the C's would never win a title a few years ago. This year, they're in the middle-of-the-pack in total passes, and the ball slowing down could be the difference between winning and losing games in the postseason.
So Pritchard doesn't need to be clearing out one side of the court 15 times per game — but he's so effective taking a defender off the dribble, that if his volume increases in the postseason (when guys are forced to isolate more anyway) that would be a win for the C's.