The highly anticipated 2023–24 season of the Boston Celtics will begin in a few days.
Payton Pritchard stood out in Boston’s preseason, which served as a showcase for a Celtics club that had undergone a complete makeover. On the other hand, it also raises a crucial query before to Opening Night: Is Pritchard up to the task?
During preseason action it was evident: Pritchard was the reserve unit leader, very similar to Malcolm Brogdon’s role with the team last season. Without Boston’s starters on the floor, the newcomers off the bench deferred heavily to Pritchard for offense, especially from beyond the arc — which is understandable.
Aside from the All-Star-studded starting lineup, Pritchard is Boston’s most reliable outside threat. Albeit undersized and not a defensive force, but still a well above-average outside shooter, connecting on 40% through his career. There just wasn’t an opportunity to utilize that off the bench after Pritchard was back seated behind Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Brogdon, playing a career-low 13.4 minutes a night.
Pritchard signed a four-year, $30 million extension with the Celtics and instantly worked to prove that contract a worthy investment.
In the preseason opener, against the Philadelphia 76ers, Pritchard dropped a team-leading 26 points, draining 6-of-11 3-point attempts all while looking flat-out unstoppable. Then again, it’s only preseason so there’s no reason to overreact, but regardless, Pritchard needs to be someone the C’s can lean on.
“It’s a good opportunity for a lot of us to step up and show what we’re capable of and how we can impact winning,” Pritchard said during Celtics media day. “So I’m looking forward to that.”
According to Pritchard, “I definitely think I matured a lot through last year.”
Pritchard might be Boston’s reserve unit floor general with newcomers like Oshae Brissett, Lamar Stevens, Dalano Banton, and Svi Mykhailiuk in the mix, depending on how head coach Joe Mazzulla switches a highly adaptable Celtics core.
