Payton Pritchard on how ancient philosophy helps his offense with the Boston Celtics

USA Today

13 hours ago

Backup Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard might not strike you as a bookworm. But if you guard him on the court, you might find yourself being stricken in the chest with his shoulder to create space for his offense, inflected by what he read in an all-time classic tome. Speaking in a recent interview with the Celtics Chronicle's Adam Taylor, the Celtics guard opened up about his increased use of aggressive contact to create space for his game -- and how a reading suggestion helped him execute it at an elite level.
"That's something I've worked a lot on," said Pritchard. "Being a smaller guard, you've got to find ways to create separation."
"I studied guys who are great at using their body and not avoiding contact but using it to your advantage," added the Oregon native. "It's become a part of my game that I lean on more and more."
As to where he turned for inspiration for the newfound bellicose style of play for Pritchard, the University of Oregon alum offered up a surprising source. "One of my coaches also recommended I read The Art of War, which got me into the mindset," he explained.
The book in question, dating from the fifth century B.P. and written in ancient China by renowned military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu, is not light reading nor vaguely related to the sport of basketball, which it predates by roughly the same amount of time as the start of the Roman Empire in the west.
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But it is held as an example of timeless strategy in any sort of conflict that has been bent to everything from actual battlefields to corporate boardrooms, and Pritchard's deployment of it to his own improvement of a player is nothing short of intriguing. If he is looking for a new read to prime him for a challenging season ahead with Boston while Jayson Tatum nurses his torn Achilles back to health, we recommend "Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca.