Not too way back, Payton Pritchard needed to be traded by the Celtics. Now the guard is a part of the staff’s long-term future.
Pritchard, who was coming into the ultimate 12 months of his contract, agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract extension to stay in Boston, in response to a report from ESPN on Sunday. The deal is reportedly absolutely assured.
Pritchard and the Celtics had a deadline of Oct. 23 to return to phrases on an extension.
The settlement additionally comes with the expectation Pritchard could have a considerably larger position with the Celtics, one thing that has by no means been assured since he was drafted within the first spherical in 2020. It almost got here to a head final season, when the addition of Malcolm Brogdon minimize his minutes in a crowded backcourt that additionally included Marcus Smart and Derrick White.
Pritchard stayed skilled by a attempting particular person 12 months, and appeared to all the time come by when his quantity was known as. But he publicly expressed frustration about his state of affairs, and needed to get moved on the deadline. That by no means occurred. But after the Celtics departed with Smart and Brogdon this offseason, there guarantees to be a much bigger position for Pritchard this season behind White and Jrue Holiday.
“I’ll tell you what. Payton’s one of my favorite people,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stated. “Most guys in his position, the league breaks them. Like when you go Year 1 playing a little bit, Year 2 not playing, Year 3 kind of playing and then like, the league can break you. He’s not one of those guys. He just continued to be a tough SOB for us and I’m happy that I get to coach him this year.”
Pritchard stated the expertise final season helped him mature and achieve perspective, and he adopted that with a giant summer time during which he was a member of the USA Basketball choose staff. He appears excited and motivated for this season. Several members of the staff have already pointed him out as some of the spectacular gamers to this point in camp.
“I think Payton’s had a great camp,” Sam Hauser stated. “He’s really, really been aggressive. He worked really hard this summer and I think he’s out for blood this year so I’m really excited to see what he has to bring to the table.”
Thoughts with Israel
Following his pregame press convention forward of Sunday’s preseason opener, Mazzulla made a degree to share some phrases and perspective about Israel in mild of the continued battle between the Israeli army and the militant Palestinian group Hamas. The coach stated he has visited Israel twice over current years
“There’s nothing more important than knowing what people are going through,” Mazzulla stated. “So what’s taking place in Israel proper now, there must be plenty of ideas and prayers to these individuals. Being capable of spend time there you don’t understand. There’s truthfully plenty of stuff that goes on in our nation. We’re not excellent, and there’s individuals which can be damage every single day in our nation. But once you take a look at the larger image once you spend time there, you see what individuals undergo from minute to hour foundation. You don’t understand the battle that different individuals undergo. So it’s onerous understanding issues are gonna occur this 12 months that I’ll get requested about, and nobody has requested me about that. So, I feel it’s necessary that we construct consciousness to that. …
“It doesn’t matter what you are, whether you’re a Muslim, whether you’re Jewish or Christian, Israeli or Palestinian. Like, they’re people and they go through a lot of dangerous times and situations. Like, our country is 400 years old and they’ve been going through suffering for 10,000 years. You start to see the perspective of the world and it’s a really, really tough area to be. So I think we should all be aware of that.”
Scrubb tears ACL
The Celtics introduced previous to Sunday’s sport that Jay Scrubb – who signed a two-way contract this summer time – tore his proper ACL throughout Saturday’s follow. It’s brutal information for the 23-year-old Scrubb, who had a powerful summer time league and was trying to construct on that this preseason earlier than doubtless heading to Maine. …
The C’s began Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, with newly acquired Jrue Holiday coming off the bench in his C’s preseason debut. … Joel Embiid and James Harden have been each inactive for the 76ers.
Source: www.bostonherald.com