Crisis is also a turning point! Can Prichard seize the opportunity to become the new offensive core of the Celtics?

Translator's note: The original text was published in The Athletic, and the data in the text were as of the time of the original text (September 18 local time). The dates and times involved were local time

Payton-Prichard did not spend much time in April to celebrate the Sixth Person of the Year award he won. In fact, he didn't have time to do so.

When he was announced as the winner, the Celtics were in the middle of the first round of the playoffs last season against the Magic. In addition, never satisfied is his character. The honor of this strengthened his long-standing belief: unremitting efforts will continue to pay off.

"It just shows that I feel like I'm on the right path," Prichard said at the time. "The hard work, hardship and everything I put in has paid off. So it tells me that I will continue to do what I'm doing and will continue to work hard." Can such efforts make Prichard make another leap? After a changeable offseason in the Celtics, he is the main candidate for taking on a more important role. With Jason Tatum's return date and several other key players leaving, other Celtic players will need to stand in front of the stage more. Jaylen Brown will be the first scoring choice. Derek White should hold the ball more than ever. Looking at the entire lineup, the players will usher in new opportunities. Prichard, who just played his best season in his career, is likely to make his biggest leap again.

Prichard's past performances show that when the Celtics lack key players, he is able to seize the opportunity. In the 10 games Tatum missed last season, Prichard averaged 19.0 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game, shooting 47.3% from the field (37.3% from three-point shooting). In these games, he scored no less than 20 points in four games, and two of them scored more than 30 points. Although one of the high scores was achieved on the last day of the regular season against a Hornets (not the highest level of competition in the NBA), Prichard scored a career high of 43 points against the Trail Blazers in March. At that time, the Trail Blazers' defense was in a strong period, and this team could usually lock their opponents outside the three-point line. Prichard destroyed that line of defense with a 14-for-20 shot, with 10-for-16 three-pointers. He and White (41 points) became the first pair of teammates in the history of the Celtics to score at least 40 points each in the same game.

Prichard always improves his score when the Celtics need it—and, unlike most other players, he does so with little sacrifices of efficiency, or even arguably no. Overall, he ranked 11th in the league in effective shooting percentage last season, an amazing achievement for a defender of his size. Prichard's three-point shooting percentage (40.7%) ranks 20th in history among players who have made at least 250 three-pointers in a single season.

Most of the names ahead of him on that list are top three-pointers, including Stephen Curry (9 times), Klay Thompson (6 times) and Ray Allen (1 time). Even if the lack of All-Star teammates around him will cause his shooting percentage to drop, he still has some fault tolerance while maintaining his position as one of the best high-yield shooters in the NBA.

With Tatum injured and most of the support lineups fell apart, the Celtics should make more demands on Prichard. And they should adopt a style of play that is more beneficial to him.

With Tatum missing indefinitely, they should play at least a little faster than last season - they ranked 29th in the league in the pace of the game last season. Brown, who has been demanding speedups for years, would like this. He ranked second in the 2023-24 season in conversions, but he slipped to 12th in that stat last season as the Celtics slowed down.

Other perimeter players may also benefit from this transition, and it seems likely that this transition will happen. The Celtics no longer have enough height or experience to play half-field positions for most of the time. They should strive to play a conversion offense and look for three-pointers in the conversion to take advantage of the numerous sharp shooters in the lineup. Prichard, White, Anthony Simmons and Sam Hauser, who are still lucky to have some of the league’s most talented shooters, even though they will miss Tatum’s ability to create advantages.

A potential downside for Prichard is that new player Simmons will compete with him for playing time in the backcourt and may also compete for a starting position. Still, Simmons's joining may not necessarily cut Prichard's chances. There should be plenty of room in the rotation for White, Prichard and Simmons to get a lot of playing time, especially if the new roster structure prompts coach Joe Mazura to be more inclined to use a smaller roster. Despite his talent on the offensive end, Simmons has not proved himself on the defensive end. It should take time for him to win Mazula's trust on both sides of the offense and defense, and Prichard did this a long time ago.

Even if Prichard doesn't play the starter, the Celtics should give him more freedom than last season - and he actually has a considerable degree of freedom when he averaged nearly 8 three-pointers per game last season. Tatum's absence should help improve this average. Prichard's usage jumped from 17% to 21.5% last season when Tatum was not on the court. Another sign that he will have unlimited fire power this season is that when Tatum was absent, Prichard averaged more than 10 three-pointers per game. Pritchard may make a leap similar to the 2019 leaps that Kawhi Leonard experienced when he left the team after leading the Raptors to the championship.

Although Prichard will benefit greatly from the increased responsibilities, these responsibilities will also bring some challenges. He and other Celtics ball holders need to chemistry with a fresh frontcourt lineup. Last season's inside players made the defenders' game very easy by opening up space, attracting defensive attention, and supporting teammates through golf clubs.

Without Christaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Luke Connett, the team's roster talent will decline seriously. This will put more pressure on the Celtic defenders who will not only miss Tatum's presence, but also the experienced veterans who left this offseason (Ju Holiday is also one of the key players). If the frontcourt lineup consisting of Nimias Kota, Luca Garza, Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman becomes a disaster, the burden on the outside players will be extremely heavy.

Even if the frontcourt performance exceeded expectations, the Celtics are no longer one of the favorites to win the championship. They lost too much talent. This is not a good thing for their win count, but should help Prichard play a better season.

Author: Jay King

Translator: GWayNe