Celtics broadcaster Mike Gorman talks Pritchard, Nesmith as bright spots in a tough season

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/celtics-broadcaster-mike-gorman-talks-200859296.html



Celtics broadcaster Mike Gorman talks Pritchard, Nesmith as bright spots in a tough season





Justin Quinn
Fri, May 14, 2021, 1:08 PM



In the midst of an especially tough — perhaps the toughest — season for the Boston Celtics, a handful of fans of the team with ties to Boston media decided to inject some positivity back into the fanbase with their own telethon-style event to raise money for Celtic veteran guard Marcus Smart’s YounGame Changer Foundation.

Having raised over $39,000 in just a few days with time left on the clock to donate for those so inclined, the event sparked by a conversation between The Riffs Man — perhaps best known as the man who dubbed Robert Williams III “Timelord” — and “Winning Plays” podcast host Rich Levine has been a resounding success.

The event itself featured a number of Celtics-related guests including longtime broadcaster Mike Gorman, who shared his thoughts on a number of issues including the two new rookies on the team.


marcus smart
@smart_MS3
Best fans in the world.

Mike Zarren
@mikezarren
·
18h
No other fans are like
@Celtics
fans. On less than a week's notice, two random celtics twitter personalities organize a 3-hr telethon with numerous current and former celtics, raising ~$38k for
@smart_MS3's foundation just because they love him & Tommy Heinsohn. #GoodVibes


"They've done a very good job," opined the Celtics veteran play-by-play man. "[Payton] Pritchard especially at first, but certainly after the way Aaron [Nesmith] has played over the past week or two, he has suddenly emerged."

"That's why they picked him [with the 14th overall pick]. I think we were all influenced on draft night by [draft analyst] Jay Bilas talking about how this was the best shooter in the draft. So, I think we all got this image in our mind on some guy who's planted out beyond the three-point line all the time, just kind of waving for the ball, [saying] 'Give it to me and I'll shoot it'. Nesmith has turned out to be so much more of the athlete than we thought he was."


"In fact, he might be the most athletic person we have next to Rob Williams," added Gorman, "so it's been very fun to watch him over the last couple of weeks emerge as an athletic player and not just a shooter." https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1393174829512241153?s=20

"Pritchard has been solid from day one," he noted. "I'm a big fan of four-year guys."

"I think guys who say in college for four years and come out turn out to be much better players than we ever thought they were and if you're winning the Bob Cousy award and you're the number one player the last two years in the PAC 10 you know how to play the game. I don't care if you're six-foot1 [and weigh]180 pounds -- you know how to play the game. And it's very obvious Pritchard knows how to play. From the time he steps on the court ... he inevitably makes the right basketball play."

"It may not be successful, but it was the right pass to make at the time," suggested Gorman. "So, I'm a big fan of it and fast becoming a fan of Nesmith, because I think we needed athleticism coming off the bench." https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1392993091565637633?s=20

The duo have truly come into their own as one of this season's silver linings in a campaign filled with accidents, mishaps, and stormclouds. In that sense, they were a natural topic of conversation in an interview and event accentuating the Celtics' positives this season. While injuries, losses, and other such negativity may be hard to avoid of late, for veterans like Mike Gorman and rookies like Pritchard and Nesmith, there's plenty to be optimistic about if you only know where to look.


Bob
MY NOTE:  I'm all for giving props to PP and AN, but I think it's not fair to say they are the silver lining.  This was also the year that Jaylen Brown blossomed into a no-two-ways-about-it All-Star.  Tatum's game also took a tick or two up, his problem being that he was already up there and was closer to any realistic ceiling at this point in his career.  For all our bitching ("our" includes "me") about Tatum's turnovers not only are his assists at career highs but his assist-to-turnover, a measure of his efficiency, is at his career high.  Jayson has more total assists (274) this season already in just 63 games played than he had last year (200) with 66 games played.  He only has 14 more turnovers this year than last and I'll bet his usage rate, how often the ball goes through him, is much higher this year.  It's like an infielder in baseball.  The more touches you have, the more fielding and throwing errors you're gonna have.  This is the value of stats, they bleed the emotion out of our eyes and heart.  As crazy as his play has sometimes made us, over the course of a season, he's doing better than last year in almost every statistical category and he was an All-Star last year.  How many years do you think it'll be before he starts getting considered for MVP?  If he makes an All-NBA team this year the talk will start in October.  Injuries and COVID killed us this season, but there are plenty of what Sam called 'glimmers'.

marcus smart
@smart_MS3
Best fans in the world.

Still think Marcus Smart wants out?


.

Bob MVP is the best player on the team with the top record usually, if not the top, top 2; the guy that carries that team, that’s usually the criteria and I know you already know this....