Can Payton Pritchard go further? Analysis of his continuous breakthrough capital

After winning the sixth man of the season in April, Prichard did not indulge in celebration—in fact, he had no time to do so.

At that time, the Celtics were in the early stages of the first round of the playoffs against the Magic Series, and he was preparing for the game with all his heart when the awards were announced. What's more, satisfaction has never been his personality trait. This honor only further confirms his always firm belief: the never-ending struggle will eventually give back to life.

"This proves that I am on the right path," Pritchard said at the time, "All the efforts, hardships and persistence are rewarding. Therefore, I will continue to move forward and continue to work hard. "

Will this persistence drive Pritchard to achieve a new round of explosions? After roster changes in the offseason, he has become the top candidate for taking on more important roles. With Tatum missing indefinitely and multiple core players leaving the team, other Celtic players need to step up further: Jaylen Brown will be promoted to the top scoring option, Derek White's holding time will hit a career high, and players in the entire lineup will get unprecedented opportunities. Pritchard, who just scored his best career performance, is likely to achieve the largest leap again.

Pritchard's past performance proves that he can always seize the opportunity of core players being absent. In the 10 games that Tatum missed last season, the defender averaged 19.0 points, 5.3 assists, and 5.0 rebounds per game, shooting 47.3% from the field (37.3% from three-point shooting). Four of the games scored 20+, including two 30+ points - although one of them was the final game of the regular season against the Hornets (limited gold content), the career high of 43 points he scored against the Trail Blazers in March was completely unfathomable: the Trail Blazers arrived at TD Garden with a momentum defensive system, especially at blocking the opponent's three-point line, while Prichard broke through the defense with a terrifying efficiency of 14 of 20 shots (10 of 16 three-pointers). He and White (41 points) became the first combination of the Celtics' history to score 40+ points in the same game.

Pritchard always improves scoring output when the team needs it - even more rare, unlike most players, he almost never sacrifices efficiency while doing it. His real shooting percentage ranks 11th in the league last season, which is a miracle for a defender of his height. Its 40.7% three-point shooting percentage ranks 20th in history among players who hit at least 250 three-pointers in a single season.

The ones ahead of Prichard on this historical list are mostly the creators of the three-point era - including Stephen Curry, who was on the list nine times, Klay Thompson who was on the list three times and Ray Allen who was shortlisted for one time. Even if his shooting percentage may decline without the restraint of All-Star teammates, his efficiency still has plenty of room for buffering to maintain his position as the league's top high-profit shooter.

With Tatum's injury and several supporting players leaving the team, the Celtics deserve to ask him for more output and adopt a tactical system that is more suitable for Prichard.

With Tatum's absence indefinitely, the team should play a faster offensive and defensive transition than last season (ranked 29th in the league) - this is just in line with Brown's wishes for years to call for speed-up: he ranked second in the conversion offensive scoring list in 2023-24, but when the Celtics' pace was slightly below the league average last season, his ranking fell to 12th. Such tactical changes such as

will also benefit other outside players, and this change seems to be a foregone conclusion. Today's Celtics lack both height and experience, and it is difficult to rely on half-field positional battles for a long time. They should be committed to pushing the transition offense and using the many sharpshooters in the lineup to create three-pointers-although they miss Tatum's ability to create offensive advantages, with Prichard, White, Anthony Simmons, Sam Hauser, they still have the league's top shooting talent group.

A potential challenge for Prichard is: new player Simmons will compete with him for backcourt time and even starting positions. But Simmons's joining may not necessarily squeeze his chances - the rotation lineup can completely accommodate White, Prichard and Simmons to get a lot of playing time at the same time, especially when the new lineup prompts Mazula to use a smaller lineup more frequently. Despite Simmons' offensive talent, his defensive ability has not been proven yet, and it takes time for him to win Mazula's trust on both sides of the offense and defense like Prichard.

Even if he does not serve as the starter, Prichard should have greater firepower than last season (averages of nearly 8 three-point shots per game). Tatum's absence will surely further improve this data: when Tatum was not on the court last season, Prichard's usage rate jumped from 17% to 21.5%; the more obvious signal is that Tatum averaged more than 10 three-pointers per game during the quit. Pritchard is likely to replicate Van Vleet's leap trajectory after Leonard left the Raptors in 2019.

While the increased responsibility will bring opportunities for Prichard, challenges will follow. He and other Celtic ball handlers need to complete the running-in with a new frontcourt lineup - last season's insiders have created great convenience for the defenders through space pulling, defensive restraint and high-ball dealers.

With the departure of Porzingis, Horford and Connett, the talent fault will be extremely obvious. This will put more pressure on Boston's backcourt, both losing Tatum's dominance and saying goodbye to many experienced veterans who left this summer (Ju Holiday should also be included in the key departure list). If the frontcourt performance is disaster composed of Nemias Quita, Luca Garza, Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman, the burden on the outside players will be at its peak.

Even if the frontcourt performance exceeded expectations, the Celtics have withdrawn from the first tier of the championship contender. They lost too much talent, which, while not conducive to performance, could create a stronger season for Prichard.