In theory, naming Payton Pritchard a full-time starter next season should be an obvious move for the Boston Celtics. Without Jaylen Brown, the Celtics will need more shot-creation in the starting lineup to take some pressure off Jayson Tatum, and the Oregon alum has already shown what he can do in an expanded role (16.9 points, 5.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 45.6/34.8/86.7% shooting splits in 50 games as a starter last season).
Starting Pritchard will also take some of the offensive load off of Derrick White, who desperately needs the help after one of the least efficient campaigns of his career last season (39.4 FG% - lowest of career, 32.7 3FG% - second-worst of career -- shot 32.1% from the field and 27.3% from deep in seven playoff games).
The problem, though, is that moving Pritchard into the starting lineup full-time will cause Boston's bench scoring (which was already a big concern) to take a big hit. And right now, that's just not something the team can afford, especially with how important depth is in the modern NBA.
Boston can't afford to remove Payton Pritchard from his sixth-man role
It's not totally fair to him, considering that he deserves a starting job after last season's performance and because he has had a limited role for the majority of his six-year NBA career, but this is the reality for Pritchard. The Celtics can't "promote" the 28-year-old, who is going to become even more important to their offense after the Brown trade, because they don't have a replacement for him.
Let's pretend Boston ultimately decides to start him next season, and this roster is going to remain the exact same. The starting lineup would look something like this: Pritchard - White - Paul George - Tatum - Neemias Queta. That's a solid mix of shot-creation, playmaking, shooting, rebounding, and just general two-way play. But then you look at the bench, and it's borderline disastrous.
Having Pritchard in the starting lineup for most of last season worked because Boston had Anfernee Simons to essentially "replace" him. That's not the case anymore, so who is going to generate points off the Celtics' point, if not Pritchard?
Sam Hauser is an elite shooter (he's a career 41.2% from deep), but he's more of a catch-and-shooter than a shot-creator. Hugo Gonzalez isn't much of a scorer at this stage in his career. Jordan Walsh is improving offensively, but not nearly enough for Boston to trust him in a bigger role. Baylor Scheierman and Ron Harper Jr. might be the Celtics' best bets, but if those are your two best options (or at least most promising ones) off the bench, then you are not in a good spot.
There is still a lot of time left until the beginning of the new season, and Boston may have some tricks up its sleeve. But as it stands, there's a clear decision the team needs to make on Pritchard, and it's a little concerning that doing so could cause them more harm than good.
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