Payton Pritchard has been completely up and down for the Boston Celtics to start this season, and he needs to figure it out and be more consistent.
The Oregon native may be in line for a career year this year. With Jaylen Brown no longer on the roster, Boston is going to need Pritchard's incredible shot creation and microwave ability more than ever. To be fair, he has shown some great flashes so far (28 points on 10-for-16 shooting against the Chicago Bulls, 30 points on 9-for-17 shooting in another game against the Bulls), but he's also had a lot of duds.
It's a long season, and Pritchard will likely figure it all out. But early on, the Celtics need more out of him. He's going to be a big part of whatever success they have this season, and if he can find his groove and perform more consistently, then that will greatly raise Boston's ceiling.
Payton Pritchard has had some bad performance this season
Pritchard has played in seven games for the Celtics this season. Of those seven games, four of them have been either disappointing or outright bad.
Against the New York Knicks, Pritchard recorded four points (1-for-5 from the field, 1-for-3 from deep), four assists, one rebound, and two turnovers in 30 minutes. Two games later, he recorded four points (2-for-7 from the field, 0-for-3 from deep), six assists, two rebounds, a block, and three turnovers in 24 minutes against the Brooklyn Nets. Against the Orlando Magic, he recorded seven points (3-for-11 from the field, 0-for-7 from deep), seven rebounds, three assists, one steal, one block, and a turnover in 27 minutes.
And probably his worst performance so far came on Monday night against the Houston Rockets. Paul George missed the game for rest purposes, and this would have been a great opportunity for Pritchard to carry more of the offensive load and get some points.
But that didn't happen.
In the loss, the 28-year-old scored just four points while shooting 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-5 from deep (he is 0-for-12 from beyond the arc in his last two games). He also recorded three rebounds, three assists, one steal, and a turnover in 30 minutes.
Payton Pritchard's best is likely yet to come
We have seen what Pritchard is capable of over the past few years, and it's a lot more than what he has shown so far.
He's slumping right now, but it's still early in the season, and chances are that he is going to find his shot again. Whether it happens the next game, the game after that, or maybe even the one after that remains to be seen, but Pritchard is too good to keep putting up these horrible performances.
This is a role he has excelled in before (the last time he was a consistent bench player, he won Sixth Man of the Year), and despite his slow start to the campaign, Celtics fans should feel confident that he will return to form eventually.
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