Pritchard Moves Up In Redraft

https://hardwoodhoudini.com/2022/09/12/boston-celtics-2020-redraft/



Bob Cousy Award winner climbs rankings in 2020 redraft


by Sam LaFrance
22 hours ago


Danny Ainge was criticized greatly on his drafting ability during his time with the Boston Celtics. Critics will cite picks like Fab Melo, Kelly Olynyk, James Young, Romeo Langford, and Aaron Nesmith when making the argument against Ainge’s drafting ability.

In recent years, Ainge really knocked it out of the park. From 2015 on, the man quite simply hasn’t missed (excluding Langford and Nesmith). Danny drafted Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams III, Grant Williams, and Payton Pritchard. All of which, except Rozier, played a big part in the team’s recent NBA Finals run.


In his final draft as Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations, Ainge drafted Pritchard at No. 26. Very quickly, Pritchard made an impact for the Cs, converting on a game-winning layup to beat the Miami Heat early in his rookie season. Since then, he’s given Boston a nice scoring punch off the bench.

Bleacher Report showed some respect towards Pritchard in their recent class of 2020 redraft. B/R’s Andy Bailey moved the 2020 Bob Cousy Award winner up 10 spots in his redraft board, writing:

“Payton Pritchard probably isn’t going to be a star. Because he’s undersized (6’1″ with a 6’4.5″ wingspan), he may never be a plus defender, either. But there’s plenty of value in what he does.

During his two NBA seasons, Pritchard has a top-40 assist-to-turnover percentage (among players with at least 100 assists) and is tied for 11th in three-point percentage (among players with at least as many attempts as him).


Having a reliable creator who can run the second unit is important, but Pritchard brings the added bonus of being able to space the floor when sharing it with ball-handling starters.”

Pritchard had a nice hand in Boston’s NBA Finals run last spring. He scored 10+ points off the Celtics’ bench 6 different times. Unfortunately at the end of the run he seemed to lose his legs, shooting just 3-14 from deep in the Finals. The poor shooting and below average defense really limited Pritchard’s time on the floor against the Golden State Warriors. Over the final four games of the series, he cracked 10 minutes just once.

With the addition of Malcolm Brogdon, it will certainly be interesting to see where he fits into this year’s rotation for Boston. At the very least he’s a great piece to have in case one of the other guards goes down with an injury.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Eddie House was 6'1", 180# with a 6'3 1/2" wingspan.  Payton Pritchard is 6'1", 195# with a 6'4 1/12" wingspan.  I'm not sure it's fair to compare 3pt fg%, since the shooters are better now than they were 12-15 years ago, but Payton is already a better career 3pt fg% shooter than Eddie.  How much worse would our 2007-2008 Championship team have been without Eddie House?  NOT a good defender, but he did his job and that was to keep the defense honest.  Pritchard can do the same, he just needs to shoot when he's open and not always defer to the Js.


.

I’ll give Danny props for RW, Grant and Rozier. Brown Tatum and Smart were no brainers.
If Pritchard ends up being close as reliable a shooter as House was I’d be very surprised.

Ktron,

I'll take that bet on Pritchard.  With the change of direction for DG, there's a space available for more bench scoring, size notwithstanding.  

What I'm getting at is despite PP's contributions, and they were needed and greatly appreciated, the bench needs more reliable scoring.  I'll push all-in he got the message loud and clear and has quietly gone overboard in the gym and weight room and with his nutrition ala Ray Allen.

I understand your skepticism because Eddie House was ridiculous (in the top of the charts sense) and irreplaceable.  Pritchard's going to have to heat up quickly like EH and the original microwave, Vinnie Johnson with no lapses.  No trips to Brick City will be allowed.

In addition, I'll bet Peyton's going to be more of a defensive pest ala Pat Bev, just not as big an a-hole.  He'll be fun to watch.  Boston fans will really love him and what he's done in the off-season.

As usual...we'll see!  

db

P.S.  I had recently recorded the 2008 Game 6 and watched it.  I had forgotten how crazy talented and successful our bench was that year.  No wonder we beat the crap out of the Lakers.  

Eddie House
PJ Brown
James Posey
Leon Powe
Glen Davis
Tony Allen
Sam Cassell
Scott Pollard
Gabe Pruitt
Brian Scalabrine

I say, Come On, Man!!  That's #@$^^&ing ridiculous, Gus!!