The Boston Celtics have been steamrolling most of the other ball clubs in the NBA so far this season, with a few key exceptions giving the team trouble. Those teams tend to be long athletic, and disruptive — or know how to get under the Celtics skin in ways that make them their own worst enemy.
And when Boston gets tight on the offensive end, they tend to lean onto ISO-heavy styles of play that have done them no favors in the past. An argument can be made that in those moments, a little more playmaking might be the answer.
This is the tack taken by Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, who suggests getting a two-way playmaker ahead of the league’s 2024 trade deadline.
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“Payton Pritchard’s first season as a full-time rotation player has been a smashing success,” writes Buckley. “It’s still fair to question whether he can handle the role come playoff time.”
“He clearly has the offensive game to cut it. It took a while to get his shot going on, but he’s up to a 37.9% splash rate from the perimeter. He’s made a habit of making really good decisions, too, as shown by the canyon sitting between his averages in assists (2.9) and turnovers (0.6).”
“Offense has never been the worry with him, though,” he suggests.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 15, 2024
“Rather, it’s that opponents will mercilessly target him as a (6-foot-1), 195-pounder with less than elite athleticism,” writes the B/R analyst.
“That concern isn’t exactly lessened by the fact his matchups are shooting 4.5 percentage points better against him than they do on average, per NBA.com. That’s why Boston might find itself in the market for a bigger ball-handler who can make plays at both ends.”
We’re less concerned than Buckley is about such a concern given Pritchard is not likely to play in the postseason outside advantageous matchups and for stints short enough that game-planning against him won’t matter so much.
But it would not shock us if the West Linn native finds himself in a new uniform as part of a trade to improve Boston’s bench — whether it brings back another ball handler or not.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 12, 2024
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