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

[cloverleaf]

Rozier has some elite physical tools, but I wonder if Pritch can have a greater Celtics career than Scary Terry did. Which would mean phenomenal value from a pick we almost all panned!

Greater Celtics career of course not the same as greater career overall.

[playa-hater]

greater career and greater fit are 2 separate things. Just thinking of Derrick Fisher, John Paxson and Steve Kerr were no where near top 10, or even top 20 PG during their days, but their fit was near prefect for their respective teams.

With PP, he rarely needs to dominate the ball, can create and make good decisions when needed and most importantly has galactic range to help our Js from getting doubled. Same as Kerr-Paxson-Fisher

[31to6]

Rozier has some elite physical tools, but I wonder if Pritch can have a greater Celtics career than Scary Terry did. Which would mean phenomenal value from a pick we almost all panned!

Greater Celtics career of course not the same as greater career overall.

I know, like Shak I said what I said

[zoyathedestroya]

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A bit of bright spot in this miserable season. At the very least, Ainge drafted himself a solid rotation player.

[Theocy]

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A bit of bright spot in this miserable season. At the very least, Ainge drafted himself a solid rotation player.

I doubt Payton will be a rotational player for too long - most likely our starter PG within 2 years. he won't be a superstar kind of player but a solid PG who will have a support role in a team. looking forward to him progressing through the ranks.

[Dogen]

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A bit of bright spot in this miserable season. At the very least, Ainge drafted himself a solid rotation player.

I doubt Payton will be a rotational player for too long - most likely our starter PG within 2 years. he won't be a superstar kind of player but a solid PG who will have a support role in a team. looking forward to him progressing through the ranks.

Perk considers Pritchard as part of the core four with JT, JB and The Lord of Time. Now if we can just move almost everything other than those four and bring in Bradley Beal...

[Hal14]

Watch on YouTube

A bit of bright spot in this miserable season. At the very least, Ainge drafted himself a solid rotation player.

I doubt Payton will be a rotational player for too long - most likely our starter PG within 2 years. he won't be a superstar kind of player but a solid PG who will have a support role in a team. looking forward to him progressing through the ranks.

Perk considers Pritchard as part of the core four with JT, JB and The Lord of Time. Now if we can just move almost everything other than those four and bring in Bradley Beal...

Still not sure if Pritchard can be a starting PG due to the combination of:

A) small size at 6'1"
b) limited in terms of being able to create off the dribble, beat his man off the dribble to penetrate and either score or dish/kick out to open man
c) defense...just defense, too small and too slow to defend people, especially when switches happen and then he's left defending a 6'8" dude and getting killed..

For context, comparing him to Kemba, our starting PG today (who is probably only the 19th or 20th best point guard in the NBA)...both Kemba and Pritchard are small but Kemba is much ore explosive off the dribble when penetrating and while both are liability on D, Kemba is 1st on the team in taking charges (by a lot) and has really picked up his D over the past few weeks whereas Pritchard hasn't been that great on D and really got exposed on D in that chicago loss where they kept going at Pritchard and abusing him..

Look, I love Pritchard. He plays hard, he makes some big plays for us on offense. He has been very good for a rookie, But because of the 3 limitations outlined above, just not sure he can be a starting PG on a contender..we'll see...

[cloverleaf]

I've seen enough to expect that, like TRo, Pritchard will be a starting guard somewhere in the league by the time of his second contract. I also think he could be a championship-team 5th starter here, with the Jays and Rob their top 3. Smart coaching could make it work.

[Parliament10]

I doubt Payton will be a rotational player for too long - most likely our starter PG within 2 years. he won't be a superstar kind of player but a solid PG who will have a support role in a team. looking forward to him progressing through the ranks.

Perk considers Pritchard as part of the core four with JT, JB and The Lord of Time. Now if we can just move almost everything other than those four and bring in Bradley Beal...

Still not sure if Pritchard can be a starting PG due to the combination of:

A) small size at 6'1"
b) limited in terms of being able to create off the dribble, beat his man off the dribble to penetrate and either score or dish/kick out to open man
c) defense...just defense, too small and too slow to defend people, especially when switches happen and then he's left defending a 6'8" dude and getting killed..

For context, comparing him to Kemba, our starting PG today (who is probably only the 19th or 20th best point guard in the NBA)...both Kemba and Pritchard are small but Kemba is much ore explosive off the dribble when penetrating and while both are liability on D, Kemba is 1st on the team in taking charges (by a lot) and has really picked up his D over the past few weeks whereas Pritchard hasn't been that great on D and really got exposed on D in that chicago loss where they kept going at Pritchard and abusing him..

Look, I love Pritchard. He plays hard, he makes some big plays for us on offense. He has been very good for a rookie, But because of the 3 limitations outlined above, just not sure he can be a starting PG on a contender..we'll see...

I think that it depends upon who the 4th Starter is.
I mean Rondo and Perk were essentially nobodies, when initially paired with the Big Three.

All Pritchard has to do, is basic PG stuff. He doesn't have to be like Kemba.
With JB, JT, and Timelord = You can slot in a 2, 3, or 4 into this lineup. Maybe situational?

I've seen enough to expect that, like TRo, Pritchard will be a starting guard somewhere in the league by the time of his second contract. I also think he could be a championship-team 5th starter here, with the Jays and Rob their top 3. Smart coaching could make it work.

Definitely. Pritchard just has to be the 5th-Starter out there.
He Can replace Kemba. = It just brings in different side-effects.

[Fencer reregistered]

Recall that Pritchard got this good in part by spending a long time in college polishing his skills.

[playa-hater]

Don't want to be redundant, but while PP is not a build your franchise level PG like Dame or CP3, his Fit with what the Js/Boston needs, great range with shooting, IQ and doesn't need the ball often to be a big factor can not be understated. and none of his so called weaknesses are no where near as glaring as some seem to think.

PP will become a quality level starter IMO even if he never reaches all star level.

[djFan71]

Don't want to be redundant, but while PP is not a build your franchise level PG like Dame or CP3, his Fit with what the Js/Boston needs, great range with shooting, IQ and doesn't need the ball often to be a big factor can not be understated. and none of his so called weaknesses are no where near as glaring as some seem to think.

PP will become a quality level starter IMO even if he never reaches all star level.

I think you mean can't be overstated, but other than that I'm with you for now. The shooting and confidence and scrappiness are great. It will be interesting to see how he holds up in the playoffs with teams targeting him on switches. That used to be one of my big things, but heck this year offense is king, so it may not even matter as much as it used to - as long as he can help get it back on the other end.

[31to6]

anyone want to put together a comparison to BJ Armstrong?
He can't be Ron Harper, but maybe he could be BJ-lite?

[playa-hater]

Don't want to be redundant, but while PP is not a build your franchise level PG like Dame or CP3, his Fit with what the Js/Boston needs, great range with shooting, IQ and doesn't need the ball often to be a big factor can not be understated. and none of his so called weaknesses are no where near as glaring as some seem to think.

PP will become a quality level starter IMO even if he never reaches all star level.

I think you mean can't be overstated, but other than that I'm with you for now. The shooting and confidence and scrappiness are great. It will be interesting to see how he holds up in the playoffs with teams targeting him on switches. That used to be one of my big things, but heck this year offense is king, so it may not even matter as much as it used to - as long as he can help get it back on the other end.

which ever makes PP sound better

[playa-hater]

anyone want to put together a comparison to BJ Armstrong?
He can't be Ron Harper, but maybe he could be BJ-lite?

Mark Price-lite is my vote.

[GoGreen]

Big fan of PP. Don't need top tier PGs to win in this league. Let the Jays develop and hope we can get another piece.

[Fencer reregistered]

anyone want to put together a comparison to BJ Armstrong?
He can't be Ron Harper, but maybe he could be BJ-lite?

Mark Price-lite is my vote.

The only thing Pritchard has a good chance to excel at by NBA standards is shooting. In everything else, his upside is to excel so much by general human-being standards that he's adequate in the NBA.

[BostonCouchGM]

glad people are jumping on board. Still chuckle at the holdouts who think he's a role player. The day Brad wakes up and starts Pritchard and moves Kemba to his more appropriate bench role to be our 2nd unit scorer, we'll be improved dramatically. Pritchard has the highest BBIQ on the team. He can be a top 10 PG in the league and imho will be our 2nd best player pushing Jaylen to his more appropriate #3 with Nesmith at #4 and Williams #5. This will only happen if they run the offense through him instead of continuing all the ISO from the Jays. He wouldn't have the necessary affect on the game that he should. But if he does? He'll be our 2nd best player. Just have to hope Brad wises up. I wonder if Kemba would accept the new role and that's what's holding things up?

[Hal14]

glad people are jumping on board. Still chuckle at the holdouts who think he's a role player. The day Brad wakes up and starts Pritchard and moves Kemba to his more appropriate bench role to be our 2nd unit scorer, we'll be improved dramatically. Pritchard has the highest BBIQ on the team. He can be a top 10 PG in the league and imho will be our 2nd best player pushing Jaylen to his more appropriate #3 with Nesmith at #4 and Williams #5. This will only happen if they run the offense through him instead of continuing all the ISO from the Jays. He wouldn't have the necessary affect on the game that he should. But if he does? He'll be our 2nd best player. Just have to hope Brad wises up. I wonder if Kemba would accept the new role and that's what's holding things up?

LOL. No. Pritchard is not anywhere close to being top 10 PG in the league, he's not anywhere close to being as good as Brown. And as far as starting over Kemba:

Kemba = far more experience as an NBA starter, 4 time all-star including all star just last season. Far better ball handler. Pritchard scares me, makes me nervous when dribbling the ball, trying to set up offense or bring it up the court vs heavy defensive pressure, Kemba is one of the best in the league at this. Kemba is a bad defender but even he is much better defensively than Pritchard, as Kemba is much quicker to rotate and close out on shooters and also no. 1 on the team in drawing charges (by a lot).

Kemba is also a far better passer..which isn't even a strength for him but he is still much better than Pritchard, when have you ever seen Pritchard make plays like this?

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Kemba is also much better at creating offense, driving into the lane, penetrating. Kemba is far better at finishing through contact.

Literally the only thing Pritchard does better is shooting efficiency. But a) Kemba's shooting efficiency has gotten much better over the past month or 2 as his knee has gotten healthier and b) Kemba is. much more of a focal point of the offense which means opposing defenses put much more emphasis on stopping him, whereas no team is going to game plan around stopping Pritchard, he's an afterthought so he is left. open a lot since teams are focusing on stopping Kemba/Tatum/Brown.

I like Pritchard and he's played even better of late. But this take is just taking it too far. Top 10 PG in the league? LMAO, today's NBA is a PG dominated league. There's more elite PGs than ever before. You know how good you have to be to be top 10?

1. Curry
2. Doncic
3. Lillard
4. Harden/Irving
5. Chris Paul
6. Trae Young
7. Westbrook
8. Ja Morant
9. Ben Simmons
10. De'Aaron Fox

That's not even counting Mike Conley (all star this season), Lamelo Ball (Charlotte's franchise player), Jamal Murray, Collin Sexton, Lonzo Ball, Dejounte Murray, Malcolm Brogdon, etc.

[Hal14]

anyone want to put together a comparison to BJ Armstrong?
He can't be Ron Harper, but maybe he could be BJ-lite?

Mark Price-lite is my vote.

It's a much different league today than the one Mark Price played in. The game is faster and the players are more athletic now than they were back in Price's era. They are also taller. In price's era, average height of NBA PG was 6'1. Today it is just about 6'3.

Pritchard is below average in terms of height, quickness, athleticism, passing, defense and ball handling compared to other NBA starting point guards in today's game.

Mark Price was still a top 5 or 10 PG in his era. His height was average for a PG back then (Pritchard's height is below average for a PG today) and while Price was slow and un-athletic, the league as a whole was slightly slower and less athletic so it was less of a hindrance back then.

The league back in 1991 was far less spacing. Less 3-point shooting, more of pounding the ball into the post. Today's game with all of the spacing, the 3's, the faster pace. You need to be quicker, you need to be more athletic. And you need the height/length to be able to actually contest those shooters on the perimeter...and to be able to more easily get your shot off over taller defenders.