Payton Pritchard was a dominant force for the Boston Celtics this season outside the bench. It is not surprising that he fled with the sixth prize of the year of the NBA.
Pritchard was appointed the sixth man of the league year on Tuesday, beating the Cleveland goalkeeper Ty Jerome riders and the guardian of Strait Malik Beasley. He received 82 of the 100 votes of first place, with Beasley Next-Closest with 13.
Pritchard is in his fifth season with the Celtics, and he shone in the role of bench last year. He collected an average of 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, which are all summits in career, and he was one of the most coherent players on an already stacked list who went 61-21 this season after the Boston championship last summer. The Celtics entered the playoffs as seeded n ° 2 of the Eastern Conference. Only the Cleveland horsemen, barely, and the Thunder of Oklahoma City finished in front of them in the classification on the level of the League.
Advertisement
Pritchard came out of the bench and fired better than 40% behind the arc while taking nearly eight 3 points per game. It also has an average of 3.2 buckets of depths, which is also a better career for the old Oregon star which once led the Ducks in the Final Four. The 27 -year -old man, whom the Celtics took with the overall choice n ° 26 in 2020, signed an agreement of $ 30 million over four years with the team in 2023.
Pritchard is now the fourth Celtic player to be named the sixth man of the year of the NBA. Kevin Mchale won it twice in 1984 and 1985. Bill Walton won it the following year in 1986, then Malcolm Brogdon won it in 2023.
Jerome and Beasley also experienced large seasons. Jerome had a campaign in small groups with the riders, with an average of 12.5 points in career and 3.4 assists per game while helping the franchise to the head of the Eastern Conference. He pulled a career summit at 51.6% of the field.
Advertisement
Beasley had a similar impact to Detroit. He played 82 games for the first time in his career this season while mounting 16.3 points per game and by taking a career record of 41.6% compared to the 3 -point line. He helped the pistons to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2019, while they bounced in an expert after a pair of consecutive seasons with total victories in adolescence.
But in the end, Pritchard was the wins on the run. Its impact in Boston has been immeasurable, and this can just drive the Celtics on another race in the playoffs.
