The Boston Celtics have reportedly signed former lottery pick Devin Carter to a training camp deal, according to HoopsHype's Michael Scotto.
On the surface, this is just a low-risk, high-reward move for both sides. Carter gets an opportunity to showcase his value, work on his shot (he's a career 27.4% shooter from deep in two seasons), and carve out a role on a contending (right?) team. And the Celtics get some much-needed backcourt depth and don't need to rely on a 95-year-old Mike Conley to play real minutes for them.
But assuming Carter actually makes the team, having another point guard in the rotation may give Boston the opportunity to move Payton Pritchard into the starting lineup, which is something that fans should get excited about.
Celtics may make Payton Pritchard a starter after Devin Carter signing
Following the Jaylen Brown trade, the Celtics are going to need as much shot creation as possible in the starting lineup.
Jayson Tatum is going to be the clear-cut focal point of their offense for the first time, and they need to be able to take some pressure off of him. Paul George can help with that, but at this point, he's at his best as more of a connector, in a complementary type of role (and he's practically guaranteed to miss at least 30 games at this point). And Derrick White needs to be no better than the third scoring option (we saw what happened last season when he took on a bigger role).
This is where Pritchard comes in. He was fantastic as a starter for most of last season in Tatum's absence (he averaged 16.9 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.3 rebounds on 45.6/34.8/86.7% shooting splits in 50 games as a starter, according to StatMuse.com), and he's always been a threat with the ball in his hands.
The Celtics are going to need Pritchard more than ever next season, but it's not an obvious decision to move him into the starting lineup full-time. Doing so would make their bench scoring (which was already a huge weakness) even worse, and it would leave Conley as their only backup point guard.
Signing Carter won't fix all of Boston's problems, but it will at least give the team a better opportunity to insert Pritchard into the starting lineup and unlock his full potential. This would be the best move for him and the team, and right now, the Celtics need to do whatever they can to make it happen.
Add us as a preferred source on Google