Welcome to Boston, Payton Pritchard! – (Re-signed: 4yrs/$30M)

[Bohemian]

Teague is so talented on offense that he's shooting 27% from the field and gets more shots blocked than he makes them. He throws the ball to the other team on simple entry passes, and his idea of defense is casually swiping at the ball as his defender blows him by at walking pace. I would rather play Semi at point guard than Teague.

Wow. Seriously. Read again what you wrote. It hurts anyone's eyes.

[Scoonie]

I don't think Pritchard looks anything like Eminem, but he definitely looks like Vinny from Jersey Shore.

We'll see if the "8 Mile" nickname sticks. I don't think it will.

[ballup]

Pritchard was compared to Jalen Brunson during draft time. That seems kinda accurate as both are great at operating the floor without being spectacular shooters or athletes. He's one of those guys you watch and you say "he makes things happen" even though you can't always pin point why.

I liked the one play last night where Pritchard got the switch on Turner, drove, and when he saw Turner was on his hip, he pulled it back on the baseline. Then he faked out Turner by driving into the middle, not to score, but to give Rob Williams a lob over the smaller defender. That's good real time situational awareness. Lot of guys would try to ISO after the pull out

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[Fencer reregistered]

Hopefully Pritchard's breakout means Ainge can cut Teague very soon and replace him with a wing.

You gotta be kidding. One of the few vets and with offensive talent and poise and you want to cut him. That's foolish.
If you want to cut someone to sign a wing I can give you some names for sure:

Semi
Carsen
Tacko
Waters

Remind yourself of how two-way contracts work. Cutting Tacko or Waters does not make room for a normal FA.

[hugepatsfan]

Early in his career but he shows lots of skills you like to see. He plays with good pace and understanding of his own skill set/limitations and how defenses are playing him. He just looks natural out there initiating and creating offense for himself and others. Defensively, seems like he's always going to be a liability but gives enough effort and plays smart enough that scheme can manage it the way we've always done for other PGs. Not sure I see huge upside but feeling pretty good about him being a guy who can give us good minutes off the bench. Having a late 1st rounder like this being able to give you even just 15-20 minutes a night goes a long way in building the rotation.

[ddb]

Like many on this board I really like what I'm seeing from Pritchard so far. He doesn't look like much out there but he clearly understands how to play the game right. He has made a few Marcus Smart-like hustle plays which is exactly how you earn the respect from your teammates. He shoots it well. He plays with confidence and plays like he belongs out there. He doesn't seem afraid to make a play which has been really nice to see. And the fact that he's earning substantial minutes and getting crunch-time minutes shows that his coaching staff already believes in him.

Now....with that said. He's a rookie so I expect him to struggle at times. Scouting reports on him will start to get out there...

[Ernest]

Prichard looked pretty good out there. Still some mistakes on D, but he's really active on D. Much better to be making mistakes actively than passively. I hope he keeps this up. I think he will too. It feels a lot different than a rookie getting a few high scoring games where you know he can't keep it up. PP is playing with a lot of confidence and doing a lot of little things right.


To turn this into a Teague bash-a-thon is pretty dumb. Teague is pretty good too. I guess some people like to pick who they don't like right away so they have more time to bash them.

[Half-Full]

Early in his career but he shows lots of skills you like to see. He plays with good pace and understanding of his own skill set/limitations and how defenses are playing him. He just looks natural out there initiating and creating offense for himself and others. Defensively, seems like he's always going to be a liability but gives enough effort and plays smart enough that scheme can manage it the way we've always done for other PGs. Not sure I see huge upside but feeling pretty good about him being a guy who can give us good minutes off the bench. Having a late 1st rounder like this being able to give you even just 15-20 minutes a night goes a long way in building the rotation.

Payton is not a lock down defender, but he is not such a liability either. Admittedly, four games is not a large sample, but I have not seen him being abused. He is a committed player with a high BBIQ who makes the most of his skills. Over four games, he has 6 steals, and they all came due to his defensive efforts. As for his minutes, apart from the first game where he got 13 minutes, he has been averaging 25 minutes/game, and seeing time in the closing minutes when the game is on the line. He does not look out of place at all, and plays with the confidence of a veteran. As you say, he looks natural out there, and is earning his minutes, as well as the respect of his teammates and coach.

[Bleeding Green]

Teague is so talented on offense that he's shooting 27% from the field and gets more shots blocked than he makes them. He throws the ball to the other team on simple entry passes, and his idea of defense is casually swiping at the ball as his defender blows him by at walking pace. I would rather play Semi at point guard than Teague.

But his floaters, though.

Imagine how awful he will look when he isn't shooting 75% from three. I'm genuinely scared.

[hugepatsfan]

Teague ain't gonna shoot 75% from 3 but he's not going to shoot 36% from 2 either. I don't see anything that indicates as sample size goes up he'll stabilize at what he's been recently. He'll end up 35% from 3, mid 40s% from 2 and be a decent facilitator. He'll just be a solid bench piece.

I think he could get squeezed from the rotation though. Maybe in the regular season he'll play but in a playoff rotation you're not going to play Kemba, Teague and Pritchard. So far, Pritchard looks poised to be better than what Teague is at this stage of his career. And that's more about Pritchard playing well than it is Teague.

[themoneyteam2]

I laughed when everyone clowned this pick lol.

He’ll be really dangerous once he gets a bigger role and confidently hits those mid range pull ups. He was open a few times last night to take jumpers but passed on it and if he’s going to be aggressive and hit those it unlocks another part of the offense

[Bohemian]

Hopefully Pritchard's breakout means Ainge can cut Teague very soon and replace him with a wing.

You gotta be kidding. One of the few vets and with offensive talent and poise and you want to cut him. That's foolish.
If you want to cut someone to sign a wing I can give you some names for sure:

Semi
Carsen
Tacko
Waters

Remind yourself of how two-way contracts work. Cutting Tacko or Waters does not make room for a normal FA.

Thanks for the info, I forgot about it.

[Fencer reregistered]

Like many on this board I really like what I'm seeing from Pritchard so far. He doesn't look like much out there but he clearly understands how to play the game right. He has made a few Marcus Smart-like hustle plays which is exactly how you earn the respect from your teammates. He shoots it well. He plays with confidence and plays like he belongs out there. He doesn't seem afraid to make a play which has been really nice to see. And the fact that he's earning substantial minutes and getting crunch-time minutes shows that his coaching staff already believes in him.

Now....with that said. He's a rookie so I expect him to struggle at times. Scouting reports on him will start to get out there...

Also, due to physical limitations, he HAS to be a high-intensity player. So the physical part of the rookie wall could at some point hit him hard.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[TheSheriff]

Read on Twitter

Im still not sure why’d you’d ever get so upset about the 26th pick in the draft. Think there are better players? Ok. Say you’d rather have someone else? Sure. But some of those people seemed angry.

[Theocy]

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Someone needs to edit this montage and close it with PP taking destroying opponents

[Froob]

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[nic4747]

Prichard has a high BBIQ and plays with confidence. He’s pretty good with his shot selection. I’m not expecting too much, but it already shows that we can be a better team than last year, when we had no impactful rookie at all.

[FeedReed]

first off, 8 mile is the worst nickname i’ve ever heard. secondly, pritchard is money, and most of us know it. he plays advanced for his age, advanced for any nba player really(other than him stepping out of bounds fifty times). he just gets basketball. that’s important, because his height and the fact he isn’t super athletic might hurt him in the long run, but i think pritchard is going to be a tremendous short run player.

[TheMartian]

Finally, Ainge drafts an undersized point guard that's actually good.