The NBA season is fast approaching, with each team having its schedule released. For the Boston Celtics, the team will look a lot different due to the losses of Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Luke Kornet, and potentially Al Horford, with Jayson Tatum set to miss the season rehabbing a torn right Achilles tendon.
While this could be viewed as a negative, this gives the Celtics the perfect opportunity to hit a small reset and evaluate some of the younger and unproven players on the roster and see if they can contribute. If the Celtics look to compete this year, one player would have a big role in determining how far the team will go.
Payton Pritchard Will Determine Celtics Success
This most recent season saw another leap from Payton Pritchard. He saw the most minutes of his career, playing 28.4 minutes per night, where he went on to average career highs in points(14.3), rebounds(3.8), assists(3.5), steals (0.9), and field goal percentage 47%). Pritchard also brought home some hardware this past year as he won the 6th Man of the Year award. Going into this upcoming season, Pritchard is set to take on a bigger role.
Entering his sixth season in the NBA, the former Oregon Duck is set to start on opening night for the first time in his career. This is well deserved for Pritchard, as he has constantly improved each season when he's been given the chance to play. Now that he's set to start on opening night, his responsibility has just become a lot bigger.
If the Celtics want to compete this year, then Pritchard taking another leap will be important in making that happen. While I'm not expecting him to become an All-Star caliber player, I think it's fair to expect his number from last year to rise again. While some defensive match-ups will continue to give him issues due to his height, Pritchard has been a pesky defender during his career, and with a bigger offensive burden, he still needs to keep his defensive energy.
While the Celtics roster will compete each night, the team won't be as strong as they've been in recent years. While they might not be as competitive, the growth of members of the roster will be an important story to follow. The Celtics training camp and media day start on September 29th, with the first official regular-season game is Wednesday, October 22nd, when the Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers at 7:30.