Payton Pritchard's summer featured a championship and wedding ring.
On the court, his story last season was one of triumph and perseverance. After multiple seasons on the outside of the Celtics' rotation, he took on a crucial role he'd waited years for and helped the franchise put together a historic 80-win season.
The quintessential example was the emotional eruption shared by Pritchard, his teammates, and TD Garden after his buzzer-beating heave to close the first half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals. That shot signaled the night was ending with Banner 18.
Fast forward to the start of training camp on Wednesday and the 26-year-old was sharpening his craft at the Auerbach Center. Like many, he had already been putting in work there before Boston's first practice.
“I always like to come early,” said Pritchard. “Boston is kind of like home to me now, so I’m already here. The month leading up to training camp, I like to be around a lot. Right there you’re competing with the guys. Trying to set the tone of like, what it takes to be part of a championship team and how to make it in this league for a long time. I feel like we have a really great culture, if not the best culture, so we’re gonna try to carry that on.”
Pritchard also shared what he worked on over the summer.
“Everything, obviously,” Pritchard said. “But, getting more efficient, off-the-dribble threes. I know I was really good last year at paint pull-ups, stuff like that. Obviously, I’m gonna keep adding that, but if I can add being more efficient (at) off-the-dribble threes (and) transition-type threes. Even off the move, off the catch, then I feel like that just makes me more dynamic.”
The four-year veteran added, “Obviously, just trying to expand my game, being a better playmaker all the time, and taking another step like I did.”
Pritchard and the organization are detaching themselves from what happened last season, turning the page to the quest for Banner 19.
“My High School coach, we won four straight in High School, and he used to kind of say the similar thing (to Mazzulla),” Pritchard added. “Every year is like a whole different year and a whole different team, so you do have to detach from it and it’s a new journey. Now you always remember it, and you always have that, and we look up and 2024, that was us, but if we want to do it again, we detach, and you gotta repeat that. So, same mindset, it’s the same journey that we went through last year.”
