Is Payton Pritchard Ready To Inherit Role After Celtics Preseason?

The Boston Celtics are just days away from embarking on their much-anticipated 2023-24 season.

Boston's preseason, which served as a showcase for an entirely new-look Celtics roster, fared well for perhaps none other than guard Payton Pritchard. But on the flip side, it also begs one critical question before Opening Night: Is Pritchard up for the challenge?

During preseason action it was evident: Pritchard was the reserve unit leader, very similar to Malcolm Brogdon's role with the team last season. Without Boston's starters on the floor, the newcomers off the bench deferred heavily to Pritchard for offense, especially from beyond the arc -- which is understandable.

Aside from the All-Star-studded starting lineup, Pritchard is Boston's most reliable outside threat. Albeit undersized and not a defensive force, but still a well above-average outside shooter, connecting on 40% through his career. There just wasn't an opportunity to utilize that off the bench after Pritchard was back seated behind Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Brogdon, playing a career-low 13.4 minutes a night.

Presumably, those days are over.

Pritchard signed a four-year, $30 million extension with the Celtics and instantly worked to prove that contract a worthy investment.

In the preseason opener, against the Philadelphia 76ers, Pritchard dropped a team-leading 26 points, draining 6-of-11 3-point attempts all while looking flat-out unstoppable. Then again, it's only preseason so there's no reason to overreact, but regardless, Pritchard needs to be someone the C's can lean on.

"It's a good opportunity for a lot of us to step up and show what we're capable of and how we can impact winning," Pritchard said during Celtics media day. "So I'm looking forward to that."

Pritchard added: "I definitely think I matured a lot through last year."

With newcomers like Oshae Brissett, Lamar Stevens, Dalano Banton and Svi Mykhailiuk added to the mix, Pritchard could be Boston's reserve unit floor general -- depending on how head coach Joe Mazzulla shifts a very versatile Celtics core.

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Therefore, it's critical that Pritchard, who's been with Boston for the previous three seasons, takes a much-needed leap forward in order to fill the void left by some of the team's offseason departures. That not only includes scoring, but finding ways to get those alongside Pritchard off the bench involved and engaged on both ends of the floor.

It'll be the biggest challenge Pritchard's ever faced as the 6-foot-1 Oregon product has big shoes to fill next season.