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After sitting at the end of Boston’s bench for the majority of the team’s first eight games, an injury to Josh Richardson allowed Aaron Nesmith to remind Celtics faithful what he can bring to the table. In an upset victory over the Miami Heat, Nesmith logged 18 minutes — 15 more minutes than he had played over the prior five contests — en route to a 13 point, three rebound performance. The Vanderbilt product shot 5-of-8 from the field in the C’s 95-78 statement victory.
Nesmith’s all-out playstyle and his ability to space the floor has long led to fans yearning for him to garner more minutes. The same could be said about former lottery pick Romeo Langford, who has flashed a consistent stroke from beyond the arc this season, shooting 46.7% from 3-point range. While Richardson’s bummed left foot could allow more looks for the Celtics youngsters in the short-term, sooner or later head coach Ime Udoka will need to make a call regarding his rotation. One that could leave a perceived rising Celtic on the outside looking in.
Payton Pritchard the ‘Odd Man Out’?
Richardson has not played up to the standards the organization placed upon him when they gassed him up after acquiring him in a late-July trade with the Dallas Mavericks. While he hasn’t been outright terrible, it’s hard to argue against the idea of trimming down his 21.4 minutes per game. His offense has been underwhelming (6.7 ppg on 42.9% shooting), while his touted defensive skill set has yet to truly be put on display. Yet, despite Celtics Twitter already calling for their team to unload Richardson in a trade, Mass Live’s Brian Robb believes it could be point guard Payton Pritchard who has the most to lose from Nesmith and Langford’s budding play.
“For now, the guess here is Payton Pritchard may be the odd man out, at least until he gets the mask off,” wrote Robb. “With his shots not going down so far this year and his size limitations defensively while playing next to Dennis Schroder, he could become the odd man out until shots start falling for him again.”
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Pritchard Has Struggled to Live Up to His Offseason Hype
Everything looked set up perfectly for Pritchard to explode in his second NBA season. Coming off a promising rookie campaign where the Oregon product shot a superb 41.1% from three, Pritchard lit up the NBA Summer League, averaging 16.8 points and 8.5 assists over his four games. On top of that, he went off for 92 points in what proved to be a viral outing for the 23-year-old during the Pro-Am competition.
With Kemba Walker residing in New York and no clear-cut point guard on the roster, some envisioned Pritchard taking the reigns at the one guard at some point this season. However, in eight games thus far, he’s seen a dip in essentially every major statistic, averaging 2.5 points on 29.2% shooting, while struggling to play alongside offseason acquisition Dennis Schroder — who’s shaping up to be Boston’s most prolific guard this season.
“Langford and Nesmith are the top priorities for minutes from my standpoint given the team’s needs and potential upside,” Robb noted. “Langford is a versatile defender who has hit corner 3s this season and Nesmith provides valuable energy and length. Pritchard really needs to be hitting shots to be effective but that hasn’t happened so far this year. He’s been given the longer leash so far by Ime Udoka but that may be fading since the splits with him on the court with Dennis Schroder are not pretty.”
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