With the roster shakeup this offseason, Boston Celtics fans knew the starting lineup would look different this coming season. Kristaps Porzingis/Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, and Jrue Holiday will all be missing from the starting lineup come October. The frontcourt will likely be determined by practice and preseason performance. The Jrue Holiday replacement was coming down to a battle between Anfernee Simons and Payton Pritchard.
Per Grant Afseth of FastBreakJournal.com, fans won't have to wait to see that battle take place during the preseason. The starting job is reportedly Pritchard's.
Pritchard has started sparingly throughout his career because the Celtics have typically been loaded at the guard position. Off the bench, he has become more effective every year, culminating in last year's Sixth Man of the Year Award.
Some players thrive in the sixth man role, most notably Manu Ginobili, Jamal Crawford, and Lou Williams made careers out of coming off the bench. But typically, winning the award propels players into the starting lineup. Pritchard now follows that trend. Now that one position is settled, what does it mean for the Celtics heading into the season?
Payton Pritchard Is Part of the Celtics' Long-term Plans
Pritchard is on a cheap contract. He has three years remaining on his deal and only has approximately $23.5 million left on the deal. Compare that to Malcolm Brogdon, who won the Sixth Man award in 2022 with the Celtics, who is five years older than Pritchard and was costing $15 million more per year. The Celtics would need an incredible haul to move Pritchard.
Elevating him to a starting role shows their faith in Pritchard's continued growth. Slotting Pritchard next to Derrick White gives the Celtics the offense that they will surely need if they wish to sniff the playoffs. Assuming he gets 33-35 minutes a game, there is no reason to think that Pritchard won't see another significant increase in production, assuming his shooting efficiency doesn't drop off.
Part of the reason for Pritchard's elevation is that he "has earned the starting job through years of steady development. His familiarity with the system and readiness to handle expanded responsibilities." (h/t Fastbreakjournal.com). That makes plenty of sense with so many new faces on the roster. No offense to Anfernee Simons, but if two guys are ranked as similar in their stature in the league, the guy with more experience in the system wins out every time. So where does that leave Simons?
Anfernee Simons Is as Good as Gone Once the Celtics Find the Right Deal
In one of the worst-kept secrets of all time, the Celtics are still looking to move on from Anfernee Simons. This offseason has been a financial reset for the Celtics after Jayson Tatum's injury. Without Tatum, the Celtics weren't going to be serious contenders, and that made the tax payments unsustainable. The return of Simons in the Jrue Holiday trade was intriguing, as Simons provides instant offense, and his scoring could have replaced some of the offense lost.
However, the Celtics may be on the verge of completely digging out of the luxury tax. The Celtics are only $12.1 million above the luxury tax line and moving from Simons would resolve that problem, where trading Pritchard or Sam Hauser doesn't quite get the Celtics there.
Simons started for the Trail Blazers last year, so this will likely be viewed by him as a step back. However, the roster construction in Portland has been a mess for some time. In normal circumstances for a competitive team, Simons likely comes off the bench. This season, he may have anyway if he were in Portland with the emergence of Scoot Henderson.
The Celtics made the right choice in elevating Pritchard. It shows the league that they develop and reward growth and talent. Simons will have to adjust to his bench role, but he'll still see plenty of action rotating with Pritchard and Derrick White. He'll get traded this season for sure; his performance depends on whether that ends up on a contender or if he simply is traded for his expiring contract.