Payton Pritchard can thrive in a 6th man role. He had the best season of his career and just won 6th Man of the Year. Pritchard averaged 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 47% from the field and 41% from three with a true shooting percentage of 63%. He averaged career highs in points, assists, rebounds, field goal percentage and true shooting.
Pritchard has played in 347 career regular season games and he only started seventeen times. In 69 career playoff games, he has zero starts. However, this season has created an opportunity for the Celtics to try things out and starting Pritchard would be the first thing I would try.
Let’s be honest: Anfernee Simons will likely not be in Boston for a long time. I don’t think the Celtics would be in any rush to re-sign him as a free agent this summer. They have been trying to trade him since acquiring him from the Blazers. Thus, why would the Celtics start Simons at point guard when Pritchard could be the long-term option at the position anyway?
Another reason to start Pritchard is that he is a better player than Simons is. Simons isn’t as good of a shooter than Payton is and he is a worse defender than Pritchard is.
There are a good number of people that believe with a bigger role, Pritchard could become an All-Star, with Celticsblog’s own Not Dalzell being the first.
I am not sold on the matter that Pritchard can become an All-Star or Isaiah Thomas-lite, but I think the Celtics should want to find out if it is a possibility. Boston needs to allow Pritchard to spread his wings and see what can happen if given real runway to do more than he ever has throughout his Celtics career.
With Jayson Tatum set to miss possibly all of next season, Pritchard is probably the 3rd best player on the Celtics behind Jaylen Brown and Derrick White and he is likely to have the ball in his hands more than anyone, aside from Brown.
Maybe they’ll find out that he isn’t good enough to be the starting point guard on a true contender. Maybe he’ll spread his wings too wide and put too much on his plate and he struggles as a full-time starter. Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla should want to find out what Pritchard can be at his fullest potential.
He is going to need to become more of a creator on offense and shoot more shots off of the bounce than he ever has and it is important that the Celtics learn if he is capable to do these things. Payton Pritchard is a good player, a really good player. It is time for the Celtics to discover just how good he can be.
