Easy to Overlook, Payton Pritchard Isn’t Too Small for the Celtics’ Big Moments

“When I entered the N.B.A., I was the most N.B.A. ready at the time to go in and play right away,” Pritchard said.

He had a good rookie year, despite having to play behind more established guards like Marcus Smart, Jeff Teague and Kemba Walker. In 66 games, Pritchard averaged 7.7 points per game and shot 41.1 percent from 3 in 19.2 minutes per game.

But this season was bumpy. In the first half, Pritchard was once again buried on the depth chart. When he did play, he couldn’t hit shots. He appeared in 71 of 82 games this season. In the first 49, Pritchard shot just 37.8 percent from the field and was playing only 12.3 minutes a game, down from his rookie year.

Some nights, he wouldn’t play at all. He said it was “very frustrating.”

Stoudamire described it as “mentally taxing” on Pritchard.

“His whole life, he’s been a focal point of most teams,” Stoudamire said. “Now, he can’t even get off the bench. He doesn’t really know why. As a staff, we tried to do our best to talk to him. Like I told him, it really doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s really just the numbers.”

This led to some difficult conversations between Udoka, also an Oregon native, and Pritchard. The two also had a relationship dating back to Pritchard’s youth.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/04/sports/basketball/payton-pritchard-boston-celtics.html