Celtics mailbag: Payton Pritchard's opportunity, Brad Stevens' trade options and more

New York Times

2 days ago

Summer weather has arrived in Boston. And that means Brad Stevens and the Celtics front office are on the verge of a franchise-altering offseason.
It's a good time to answer some questions from the readers. Here's part 2 of our Celtics mailbag. Part 1 can be found here.
Questions have been lightly edited for style, grammar and clarity.
Are the Celtics planning on giving Payton Pritchard the opportunity to establish himself as a primary offensive creator next season? All he's done since coming into the league is improve, and the Tatum injury would seem to provide him, more than anyone else on the roster, with an unexpected chance to level up into a much more prominent role. — Peter P.
Pritchard could stand to gain the most touches and shot attempts during Tatum's absence. Considering the Celtics will also likely trade at least one starter, Pritchard should be set to take on the biggest role of his career. He should flourish with that opportunity.
Throughout recent years, one of Pritchard's strengths has been an ability to step up when the Celtics are shorthanded. Over 10 games without Tatum last season, the guard averaged 19.0 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds. And the Celtics went 8-2 in those games.
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How much shooting accuracy will Pritchard sacrifice if he does become more of a go-to guy and a focal point for opposing game plans? One of the most impressive parts about his Sixth Man of the Year season was that he increased his efficiency even while taking more difficult shots. Among all players to attempt at least seven 3-pointers per game, only Zach LaVine finished with a higher true shooting percentage than Pritchard. On the diet of shots Pritchard took, only a premier shooter could have finished the season at 40.7 percent from downtown like he did.
Can Pritchard push the boundaries of his game even further?
'We will put a good team together, a lot of competitors and people who will go out there and lay it on the line every night,' he said of next season. 'And I believe people will elevate their games and have bigger roles, especially with JT being out, until he comes back, and they should take full advantage of it and be ready for those opportunities. We will compete.'
From what you've heard, what are the percentages that each of Kristaps Porziņģis/Jrue Holiday/Jaylen Brown/Derrick White are traded? — Joshua E.
At this stage, I'm not sure even the Celtics front office could provide percentages on that. As far as I'm aware, none of those four players will be untouchable, but the price tag for Jaylen Brown and Derrick White will be extremely high.
Jrue Holiday, who will turn 35 next week, might be the most likely to go because of how old he will be when Tatum returns to full strength. If other teams value Holiday now (and I suspect they will) it would make sense for the Celtics to move on, as much as they appreciate everything he brings to the team on and off the court.
The futures of the other three starters likely all depend on the offers the Celtics receive as they explore avenues to shed salary this offseason. Is a team willing to blow away Brad Stevens with a huge offer for Brown or White? How much value does Porziņģis still have after yet another season marred by an inability to stay on the court? He will be on an expiring contract next season.
There's going to be a whole lot for the Celtics front office to weigh over the coming weeks and months.
How intact will the core four to seven players be in 2025-26 with JT out almost all year? Will this be a total rebuild, floor to ceiling? — Steve H.
The Celtics could go several ways. If they want to get out of the luxury tax entirely, and not just below the second apron, they would need to shed about $40 million in salary. Such a path would likely require more of a full rebuild, but they don't necessarily need to take that path.
Why, Jay? Why?? — Max S.
But, for Boston fans, seriously. How did everything shift so suddenly for the Celtics? One moment they were one of the favorites to win a title, which would have given them the organization's first back-to-back championships since the Bill Russell days. The next moment, they were the authors of consecutive collapses against the Knicks and Tatum's loved ones were crying in the Celtics locker room because he had ruptured his Achilles. And now, poor Steve H. is pondering the possibility of a full rebuild.
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Losing a second-round series to that New York team would have been awful anyway; the Tatum injury turned it into a catastrophe like the tsunami that wiped out much of Earth's population in the television show 'Paradise.' Unfortunately for Brad Stevens, I don't think anyone has built an underground city where he could move to hide from the daunting decisions ahead.
What kind of quality big can the Celtics acquire if they move on from either Holiday or Porziņģis. Can they get a starter, a rim-protecting, screen-setting dunker that is a step up (from Neemias Queta)? I don't mind getting Al Horford back, but only as a rotation player with more limited minutes. — Jeff S.
The Celtics' frontcourt is nothing but a question mark right now. Porziņģis could get traded. Luke Kornet and Al Horford are free agents. At his exit interview, Horford declined to say with any certainty whether he will even play basketball next season. I assume somebody will start at center for Joe Mazzulla's team next season, but your guess on who that will be is as good as mine.
Tatum's injury could change Horford's decision on his future. The big man turned 39 earlier this week and the Celtics no longer appear ready to contend next season. This deep into his career, would he want to go chasing another ring elsewhere? If he does, he would be a good fit for several contending teams, including the Nuggets and Pacers. But Horford has really liked it in Boston and has five children to think about. The last time he left the Celtics as a free agent, he signed in Philadelphia, where he was utilized so poorly that people thought he was washed up. Would he risk ending his career in another situation that looks good on paper, but might not work out?
The Celtics' luxury tax situation (not great!) will also limit their frontcourt options, including potentially their ability to re-sign their own free agents. What I'm trying to say is that they should sign Vitor Faverani again and see what happens. For real, maybe they should call the Mavericks and see if they can pry away Daniel Gafford in a Jrue Holiday trade, though it would be fascinating to see how frustrated Mazzulla would get if he needed to play Queta 25 minutes per game. Mazzulla's sideline reactions to Queta's mistakes often provide great entertainment.
Here's the headline question I think you could answer in a fun way, because while the new owner and front office could stand pat and run up bills, they also could pull a swashbuckling Auerbach move or two: 'The Celtics are at a crossroads: What would Red do?' — Tad W.
He would have found a loophole to draft Cooper Flagg last year before his one and only season at Duke. Boom.
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Jaylen Brown's name keeps coming up in trade rumors both by national media and by fans who think he's a turnover machine, which isn't true — a simple check of stats would tell them that, but no one uses facts in debates these days. While yes, they could get a lot in return for Brown which could reset the roster and get them out of luxury tax hell, do you think trading a young superstar who is also a pillar of the community and has great plans for the future of the area would destroy the image of the Boston Celtics and send a horrible message to other free agents? — Adam B.
Trading Brown would be a bold move. It could go extremely poorly. Generally, teams try to keep All-Stars who improve every year, serve as locker room leaders and own an NBA Finals MVP award. Even if a Brown move would fix Boston's apron dilemma, there would be no promise the Celtics would ever find Tatum such a capable running mate again.
That said, such player movement will become the new norm. The collective bargaining agreement includes severe enough penalties that teams will only have short windows before they need to break up a contending core. So I don't think such a trade would hurt Boston's chances of landing any free agents in the future. It would likely be more of a blow to the team's image among fans, many of whom love Brown and would hate to see him go. Would a new owner in Bill Chisholm have the stomach to oversee a teardown right away and potentially tick off his entire fan base during his first offseason?
Chisholm could just listen to the optimistic Chris W. instead.
So, I figured it out. Even without Tatum, the Celtics will win it all next year, and it'll be because Jaylen Brown leveled up. Hear me out: JB is best used as a play finisher. With Horford, KP, and Kornet all potentially gone, by necessity, the C's will need to play small, putting Brown at the 4. With 2-3 other ball handlers around him at all times, he'll no longer need to initiate. He'll also be matched up against 4s, mitigating the problems he has dribbling through traffic. With small-ball thrust upon them, the C's will embrace a new level of Mazzulla Ball, hoisting an absurd amount of 3s and powering the league's highest-scoring offense. It's a foolproof plan, right? Guys? — Chris W.
I don't see any weaknesses in that plan.
(Photo of Payton Pritchard: Al Bello / Getty Images)