One of the big talking points of the offseason in Boston has been whether or not Payton Pritchard would get promoted to the starting lineup after the exit of Jaylen Brown. Obviously, they don’t play the same position, but with JB’s heavy offensive usage no longer in the starting lineup and being replaced by a guy who’s more of a spot-up shooter at this point in his career, Paul George, giving Pritchard more reps makes a ton of sense.
We’ve seen Payton thrive in the Sixth-Man role, but at this point in his career, he’s firmly established as one of the Celtics’ premier offensive players and will likely be their number two option behind only Jayson Tatum this season.
Mazzulla has given no indication he'll start Pritchard
With Pritchard’s recent contract extension, it looked even clearer that the team is heavily invested in his future with the club, and the notion of making him the starting lineup came up yet again. But still, Joe Mazzulla was steadfast in his lineup and kept Payton on the bench for all of his preseason appearances.
We’ll see if that changes or not once the regular season starts on Tuesday, but one thing is evident, and that’s what’s most important: regardless of his new contract or role, Pritchard is completely fine with coming off the bench.
Bobby Manning of CLNS Media talked to Pritchard about it on Sunday, and it was great to hear that Payton is confident in his role and his place on the team, whether he starts or not.
"Obviously, you start the game, but to me, a starter is the amount of minutes you play, you finish games ... how do you impact the game is what really matters ... I don't really care to hear my name called at the beginning of the game."
This is a great outlook, and it’s absolutely true. There’s a perception and narrative around starters versus bench players, but at the end of the day, it matters much more who closes games and who plays the most minutes, and there’s zero doubt about Pritchard in that capacity.
Starter or not, Pritchard will be in Celtics' closing lineup
When the chips are down and the game is on the line, Pritchard will be on the floor in crunch time, and he’ll be heavily involved in the offense. He’s right up there with Tatum as the team’s best ball-handler, playmaker, driver, shot-creator, and shot-maker. Furthermore, he has always played exceptionally well next to Tatum, and that duo is 100% going to be leading the way at the end of games.
The same is true of Pritchard’s minutes. Two seasons ago, Pritchard was the clear sixth man behind Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, and still played 28.4 minutes per game. Last season, with Holiday out of the picture, he was bumped up to 32.4, which was the fourth-highest on the team.
Brown led the team at 34.4, and PG isn’t going to fill that entire void. D-White could see a decline as he enters his age-32 season, and with the increased need for on-ball reps, it makes too much sense for Payton to get yet another bump.
At the end of the day, I’d expect Pritchard’s minutes to be in the mid-30s, which should be very close to the team lead. I’d also imagine he’ll be in the closing unit almost every night, and his stats and usage will be right there with anyone not named Jayson Tatum. So, will he start? Maybe. But does it matter? Not really. And nobody understands that better than Payton.
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