Yup. I was one of those surprised faces come draft night but first impression was good. He wasn’t shy like some rookies and demonstrated real skills. He’ll always have his size/athleticism constraints but he looked like an NBA player. Looking forward to seeing how he progresses.
The “belonged” part is key. His skills and shooting are good enough that if he doesn’t get physically dominated, he has a future.
When I watched a video of Prichard playing with and against a bunch of good NBA players in pickup, taking and making shots for game point over and over again, I had a feeling he was going to present well. In a gym packed with 15 NBA players, no one wants to sit on the sidelines because your team just lost.
He seems really comfortable with putting and having a man on his hip. He shields the ball well while he surveys the court. Those are the bits that impressed me in terms of his poise. Also that he's not afraid to shoot, but doesn't seem to be a gunner, either.
Also: He may not be 6-5, but he's solidly put together and isn't likely to get pushed around out there. Waters, by comparison, is a gnat.
To be fair, we also had Grant as a rookie last year, and no one is tossing Grant around.
Agree with all of this. He may never be able to defend like ultra quick point guard types, but he looked fairly strong out there, which gives me hopes for his ability to defend bigger players. I mean, the Celtics used Kemba on Jae Crowder, and I could see Pritchard being used in a similar way. If the small dude is quick enough to stay in front of a wing type who lacks elite quickness, and is strong enough to making posting up a bad option, they usually can defend bigger dudes unless the bigger dude can just shoot over them consistently. I think that's his pathway to being a useful defender early in his career. It's also why Pritchard and Nesmith both felt like fit picks, because you have Jaylen, Smart and Tatum to pick up a ton of defensive slack.
That drive to the left of the paint (0:40) and stop-and-pop off the glass got me very, very excited.
I had been thinking, while reading the comments today about him learning to use his size and strength on defense, that he could have no better teacher than Marcus. It sounds like Marcus has taken a liking to him and the quote above makes it sound like PP knows who to respect.
I think that PP just found a soulmate here. Some guys just like to get in the mud, and PP and Marcus seem to have that in common. That's not to say that other guys don't take charges or dive for loose balls, but some guys are mudders at heart.
Danny/Wyc/Brad just put that C on Smarts' chest
i liked that example too. He originally tried to put his defender in jail, but failed to get that sealed and the defender slipped in front of him. His adjustment to fade left and take the jump shot was the right play (other than resetting, which may also have been possible - but his fade away wasn't defended). It was a good shot - but also a good adjustment.
Isn't the more likely bias that Nesmith is a lottery pick and therefore we expect him to perform at a certain level while Pritchard is a late-first round flier that we have very little expectations for? If Nesmith plays solid D and hits 3s, then that's kind of the thing he's supposed to do. Pritchard dancing into the paint and fading away off glass was a little more juice than advertised.
Check out the Tremont Waters thread and see what he and his Dad did every day when he was like 10.
Maybe, just maybe people have things they value in their fandom. I value every single thing that Marcus Smart brings to the table on the court (excepting maybe his heat check 3 pointers). Put whatever labels you wish on it, but when I watch the limited bits of PP I've been able to, I see some portion of Marcus Smart in his game. There is a tenacity/dirt dog trait that I've always enjoyed in certain athletes, and appreciating it is not a function of skin color, it is for me generally a function of overcoming less than perfect set of physical skills/attributes to achieve what is often seen as less likely. If Marcus Smart has publicly indicated that he's not surprised that PP is having initial success - I'm willing to accept that as confirmation of what I think I see. If that makes Marcus guilty of falling for white hype, then I guess he'll have to live with it. I won't speak for him though, not my place.
Right.
I'd heavily prefer Pritchard because of his size advantage over the other 2. He also has an extra year of control. I think he's the most likely to step forward too.
