After two blockbuster deals brought Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to the Boston Celtics over the offseason, attention inevitably shifted to the team’s depth as a potential vulnerability.
The unease stemmed from the fact the Celtics had exchanged four rotation players (Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, and Grant Williams) for two.
Fast forward 50 games and those concerns haven’t been nearly as bad as fans expected. In fact, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser have been two of the most impactful players in the NBA coming off the bench.
Pritchard’s +218 plus-minus is tied with Josh Hart for the third-best in the NBA, closely followed by Hauser at the fourth spot. Pritchard and Hart share the top mark within the Eastern Conference, while Hauser claims the second spot. Pritchard posted a team-best +92 in January, a category typically dominated by Jayson Tatum (+77) and Derrick White (+65). During that stretch, the C’s posted a +14.7 net rating with Pritchard on the floor.
“Just go in there and win the minutes that I’m in,” Pritchard told WEEI.com when discussing his mindset and what’s enabled the second unit to be so successful. “I think that’s our mindset. Just, you know, winning every minute, every quarter. And that’s kind of how I look at it.”
The numbers don’t lie. Pritchard and Boston’s bench unit have done just that. Boston’s reserves have outscored their opponents by a league-best 153 points this season. With such a talented top-six, Boston’s reserves have ensured no drop-off when they check-in.
“It’s been great,” Pritchard said on the second unit. “I think we gel really well, and we’re just gonna keep getting better and better.”
While the bench as a whole has performed admirably, Pritchard’s season calls for individual recognition.
After serving as a meaningful contributor during his first two years in the league and playing a significant role off the bench in Boston’s 2022 NBA Finals run, things took a turn for the former 26th overall pick in year three. Pritchard appeared in a career-low 48 games, averaging just 13.4 minutes per contest, which was also a career-low.
Around this time last year, Pritchard sought a trade out of Boston to fulfill a more significant role as he fell victim to the logjam the Celtics had at guard behind Smart, White, and Brogdon.
However, amidst all the roster changes this offseason, an opportunity presented itself for Pritchard to assume a role similar to what he was aiming for – a responsibility he was prepared to embrace.
“I didn’t even need to mentally prepare,” Pritchard said. “I was already ready from the years of work already put in.”
After a busy off-season in the gym, Pritchard turned heads early in training camp. Hauser remarked that he believed Pritchard was “out for blood.”’
In October, Pritchard, who was eligible for restricted free agency in 2024, inked a four-year $30 million extension with the Celtics, giving him a feeling of stability, not necessarily a boost of confidence.
“I was already confident in myself,” Pritchard said. “But it was just more for the stability and to be locked in.”
To most fans, the early returns on that deal weren’t positive. After an impressive preseason, Pritchard, known for his shooting, hit a cold spell, knocking down just eight of his first 34 (23.5%) attempts from the field and 3-of-20 (15.0%) from deep.
Naturally, as he worked through the slump, his confidence began to wane. Yet, head coach Joe Mazzulla’s confidence in him never faded – which spoke to Pritchard’s growth.
“He’s been making an impact all year,” Mazzulla said after Pritchard snapped his shooting slump in a win over the Nets in November. “It’s easy to look at the scoring of the bench and be like, ‘They’re not producing,’ but there is so much other stuff they do for us””
The coach told Pritchard to keep shooting, so that’s what he did, and shortly afterward, his shot returned to form.
Since then, water has found its level, with Pritchard now averaging 7.8 points per game on 42.0% shooting from the field and 36.8% from beyond the arc, but that slump highlighted a recurring theme for Pritchard this season: His ability to impact winning even when he’s not scoring.
The 26-year-old is making an impact all over the court, as evidenced by his +11.6 net rating, which is third best amongst players who have appeared in at least 20 games and average at least 20 minutes per contest. The three names behind him? Paul George (All-Star), Kawhi Leonard (All-Star), and Donovan Mitchell (All-Star).
One of his most impressive areas of improvement has been his playmaking.
His 145 assists and just 29 turnovers add up to a 5.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, good for fifth-best in the NBA amongst players who have appeared in at least 20 games and averaged at least 20 minutes.
Pritchard has a better assist-to-turnover ratio than Tyrese Haliburton (4.87), Tyrese Maxey (4.13), James Harden (3.37) and Kyrie Irving (3.36).
But most importantly, Pritchard has excelled in those energy plays, such as snagging offensive rebounds and diving for loose balls.
The 6-foot-1 guard is nearly averaging an offensive rebound a game, snagging 46 this season – the most by any guard on the Celtics not named Jrue Holiday. Additionally, Pritchard has recovered 26 loose balls this season, the fourth-most by any Celtic and the most by a Boston reserve.
And while there’s no way to measure this (at least to this author’s knowledge), Pritchard has to be near the top of the league in made shots at the end of the quarter. It feels like he beats the buzzer once a week.
“I just think that’s how I’m always gonna play no matter what role I’m in,” Pritchard said on those energy-infusing plays. “I’m gonna leave it all out on the floor every time.”
Boston’s second unit ranks third in offensive rebounds per game (5.3), first in plus-minus (3.1), and has the second-fewest turnovers (4.1) in the NBA this season, thanks in large part to Pritchard.
Brad Stevens and the Celtics bet on Pritchard this season, and he has rewarded them. From the contract to the bigger role, he has answered the call. Pritchard has already surpassed last season’s total games played (48), standing out as the only Celtic player to appear in all 50 games this season.
Although this year’s trade deadline will likely be much more relaxed for Pritchard, he won’t let those highs get too high, as he knows the job is not done until Banner 18 is raised.
“Just not riding the ups and downs,” Pritchard said when discussing how to apply past lessons to this season. “It’s a long season, but just staying consistent with my work every day.”
As we inch closer to the playoffs, Pritchard has carved out a meaningful position in Boston's rotation and will play a key role in their pursuit of the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
What a difference a year makes.
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