Guard Payton Pritchard is shooting just 14 percent from the field in November and has struggled to find a spot in the Celtics rotation. Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press
A sprained ankle for Dennis Schroder opened the door for some rare playing time for Payton Pritchard during the Celtics’ win over the Raptors on Sunday night.
The second-year guard has been limited to primarily garbage time minutes over much of the past two weeks as the added veteran depth on Boston’s roster has kept Pritchard primarily on the bench. While there is a strong case that the continued development of the 2020 first round pick should be a priority for the 23-year-old guard, a mediocre start to the season for the team has move that down the priority list for Coach Ime Udoka.
Instead, the head coach has been looking for reliable contributors off his bench and Pritchard has failed to come through on that front thus far. He missed all three of his shots in 10 minutes against the Raptors on Sunday night, continuing a horrid slump for the usual sharpshooter in the month of November.
During that span, Pritchard is shooting just 14 percent from the field (4 of 27) and 2 of 14 from 3-point range. He played a lot of that stretch in a protective facemask while recovering from a broken nose but those shooting struggles have continued despite him ditching the mask a few weeks back.
With Romeo Langford and Josh Richardson firmly entrenched in the bench rotation for the time being, it’s tough for Pritchard to make a case for minutes amid his shooting woes. Whether Boston’s front office opts to get him some reps with the Maine Celtics remains to be seen as the rest of the roster gets closer to full health. For now, it’s a tough spot for the Oregon product who looked like a sure thing to be a major factor off Boston’s bench for the second straight season after standout summer league.
SCHRODER SAT OUT just his second game of the season on Sunday night due to a sprained ankle. Usually the Celtics sixth man, he started for Robert Williams on Friday night against the Spurs but Udoka went back to a traditional double big starting five with Grant Williams at power forward once Schroder was ruled out.
A rare two-day break in the schedule for Boston this week before the team’s next game on Wednesday should make Schroder’s time away brief according to Udoka.
“It’s a single-game thing,” he said of the injury. “He rolled it pretty bad a few weeks ago, I think it against Miami, played through it, played well, especially with Jaylen being out. He pushed through it. He did again last game and just a chance to get them some rest. But he’s done it twice now and so we wanted to give him these days, obviously with two days off after this game as well. Should be back against Philadelphia.”
UDOKA HAD NOTHING but positive things to say about Enes Kanter on Sunday night, confirming that the big man would be changing his last name to Freedom after becoming a U.S. Citizen.
“We congratulated him as a group on getting his American citizenship last week,” Udoka said. “It’ll be official Monday and so that’s who Enes is, that’s part of him, the name change, and this is who he is. He’s passionate about his stances and you know the name change is, you look at Artest and guys who have done it in the past, he wants to express something and we’re all for it.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
