Boston Celtics: 3 players that balled out during Summer League action
Boston Celtics Summer League Standout No. 1: Payton Pritchard
While many players stood out on the Celtics Summer League roster, it’s clear that Payton Pritchard was the talk of the town as a result of his spectacular play. While he struggled like most of his teammates last night against the Kings, Pritchard controlled the proceedings of the first three games before missing the game against the 76ers so that he could go drop 92 points in a Portland pro am game.
Pritchard started things of with a 23 point performance against the Atlanta Hawks, which led all scorers. He followed that up with a near triple-double against the Nuggets, posting a 21 point, 12 assist, eight rebound performance. He nearly posted another double-double against the Magic with a 17 point, nine assist performance.
Anyone who followed the Celtics last season quickly picked up on Pritchard’s potential. He almost immediately took over Jeff Teague‘s role, and was typically one of the first guys off the bench. He has a knack for controlling the offense, and can score quite efficiently from all three levels of the floor.
Pritchard’s Summer League performance only confirmed what we initially expected. Pritchard was one of the more experienced players in Las Vegas given his role with the team last season, and he lived up to expectations by earning All-Summer League first team honors. His role should only continue to increase with the team this upcoming season.
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What that role will be in unknown. Despite sitting behind guys like Marcus Smart, Dennis Schroder, and Josh Richardson on the guard depth chart, Pritchard is arguably the only pure point guard out of the bunch. He proved as much by demonstrating his playmaking abilities, averaging 8.5 assists per game in Las Vegas. If the guys ahead of him struggle to initiate the offense, the C’s could turn to Pritchard as the potential solution.
Pritchard was the star of the Celtics Summer League roster, and he may very well be on his way to establishing himself as Boston’s point guard of the future. After being somewhat forgotten due to Boston reshaping their roster, Pritchard reminded everyone of his potential with his Summer League performance. If he keeps things up, he may end up with quite a substantial role by the season’s end.