Source: Live broadcast
Translator's Note: The original text was published in The Athletic. The data in the article are as of the time of publication of the original text (September 18, local time), and the dates and times involved are local time. The viewpoint in this article has nothing to do with the translator and platform.
Petton-Pritchard didn’t spend much time celebrating the Best Sixth Man of the Year award he won in April.
When he was announced as the winner, the Celtic was in the first round of the series of post-season games against Magic last season. Furthermore, never satisfied was his character. Getting this honor further strengthened his belief that unremitting efforts will continue to reward.
“It’s just a sign that I feel I’m on the right track,” said Prichad at the time, “and my hard work, hard work, and everything has been rewarded.”
Will such an effort allow Prichad to make another leap? After a changing break in the season, the Celts will be the main candidate for a more important role. With Jason-Tattoo deadline undetermined and a few other key players leaving, the other players of the Celts will need more to stand in front of the table. Jeron-Brown will be the first scoring choice. Derrick-White should have more to hold the ball than ever before. Thro the entire lineup, players will have new opportunities. Prichad, who just played his best season, is likely to have the biggest leap again.
Prichad’s past performance showed that when the Celts lacked key players, he was able to seize the opportunity. In the last 10 matches in Tatum’s absence, Prichad was able to score 19,0 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 basketballs, with a scoring rate of 47.3% (the scoring rate was 37.3%). In these matches, he scored four matches not less than 20 points, of which two scored more than 30 points. Though one of the highest scores was on the final day of the regular match against a squad of bees (not the NBA’s highest level competition), Prichad’s new high 43 points against the pioneer in March were worthwhile. During the defensive strength of the pioneer at the time, this team was typically able to lock off a three-line opponent
Prichad always boosts his score when the Celts need it—and, unlike most other players, he has little or no sacrifice when he does so. Overall, his last season’s effective scoring ranked 11th in the league, which is a remarkable achievement for his body-like defender. Prichad’s third-point score (40.7%) ranks 20th in history among players who scored at least 250 three points in a single season.
Most of the names ahead of him on that list are the top players in the field of three-point shooting, including Stephen Curry (9 times), Klay Thompson (6 times) and Ray Allen (1 time). Even if the lack of All-Star teammates around him will lead to a drop in his shooting percentage, he still has some room for fault tolerance, while maintaining his status as one of the best high-yield shooters in the NBA.
With Tatum injured and most of the auxiliary lineup falling apart, the Celtics should be asking more of Pritchard. And they should adopt a style of play that is more favorable to him.
In the case of Tatum’s indefinite absence, they should have played at least a bit faster than they did last season—their competition rhythm was ranked 29th in the league last season. Brown, who has been asking for acceleration for years, would like this. He was ranked 2nd in the 2023-24 season, but last season with the Celtic’s competition rhythm slowing, he slipped to 12th on the data.
Other off-line players may also benefit from this shift, and this shift seems likely to happen. The Celts no longer have enough height or experience to play half-field battles most of the time. They should strive to make a shift offensive and look for a three-point chance in the shift to take advantage of the numerous Gods in the lineup. Prichard, White, Anfinney-Simon and Sam-House, who are still lucky to have some of the most talented shooters in the league, even though they will miss the ability of Tatum to create an advantage.
A potential downside for Pritchard: new signing Simmons will compete with him for playing time in the backcourt, and possibly for a starting spot. Still, the addition of Simmons may not necessarily cut Pritchard's chances. There should be enough room in the rotation for White, Pritchard and Simmons to get a lot of playing time, especially if the new lineup structure prompts head coach Joe Mazura to prefer to use a smaller lineup. Despite his talent on the offensive end, Simmons has yet to prove himself on the defensive end. It should take him time to win Mazura's trust on both ends of the attack and defense, and Pritchard did this a long time ago.
Even if Pritchard doesn't start, the Celtics should give him more freedom than last season-and he actually has considerable freedom when he averaged nearly eight 3-pointers per game last season. Tatum's absence should help boost that average. Pritchard's usage jumped from 17% to 21.5% last season when Tatum wasn't present. Another sign that he will have unlimited firing rights this season is that when Tatum is out, Pritchard averages more than 10 three-point shots per game. Pritchard could usher in a leap similar to the one Fred Van Vleet took in 2019 when Kawhi Leonard left the team after leading the Raptors to the championship.
Although Prichad will benefit heavily from the increased responsibilities, these responsibilities will also bring some challenges. He and the other Celtic holders need to react chemically with the revitalizing front line. Last season’s in-line players made the games very easy for the defenders by pulling up space on the pitch, attracting defence attention and matching high-profile teammates.
Without Crystal-Burzings, Al-Hawford and Luke-Connett, the team’s lineup talent would be severely diminished. This would put more pressure on the Celtic defenders, who would not only miss the presence of Tatum, but also those experienced veterans who left in this season (Joe-Holdy is also one of the key league players). If the front line of Nimes-Cotta, Luca-Garza, Chris-Busch and Zevil-Tilman became a disaster, the burden on off-line players would be extremely heavy.
Even if they were more than expected in the first place, the Celts were no longer one of the top winners. They lost too much talent. This is not a good thing for their number of wins, but should help Priscilla play a better season.
Author: Jay King
Translated by: Gwayne