Why Boston Celtics Guard Payton Pritchard Deserves Most Improved Player Buzz

Make no mistake: A long-distance shooting contest between Caitlin Clark and Payton Pritchard would have been a whole lot more entertaining than Sunday night’s showcase Celtics-76ers game.

I’m a big Clark fan. While it’s premature to rank her among the all-time greats in women’s basketball, I think it’s entirely fair to call her the best college player ever.

Does that mean she should be compared to a men’s player? No. That’s pointless – kinda like Pritchard was in the national-TV spotlight Sunday night.

That said, Clark is such a unique talent, she brings a lot of this upon herself. So I do think it’s fair to compare her with one particular male athlete … the other Payton.

Peyton Manning.

I’ve never seen a more accurate passer – any sex, any level – than Clark. She sees the court like a computer screen, delivers long passes that surely would make the Manning family proud, and even excels where the football Hall of Famer didn’t – in throwing bounce passes.

Yes, even better than Aaron Rodgers.

Where Clark is comparable to Pritchard – and thus the intrigue in a shoot-out – is in what the NBA is now calling “heaves.” Only when Clark or Pritchard casts off from above the break, it’s got a better chance of going in than anything Hot Rod Hundley ever tried at the rim.

I can understand Clark’s awkward reaction to being compared to Pritchard. The military-style haircut makes the 28-year-old look like a relative of Uga. Thus the nickname, “Mascot.”

No woman wants that association.

As has been the story of her WNBA career, the recent incident unfortunately put too much emphasis on Clark. Missing here was the incredible compliment being paid to Pritchard.

Whereas you could argue Clark was the Biggest Disappointment of the last WNBA season, Pritchard resides at the other end of the spectrum this year.

While the focus of the Celtics’ amazing season has been shared by Jaylen Brown – rightfully so – and Jayson Tatum – the daily updates are more annoying than people who agree to disagree – I’d argue that Pritchard has been the MVP of the team.

No, he hasn’t been as good as Brown in pretty much any area. Well, except one: Overachieving.

Even on his worst shooting night Sunday, he increased the Celtics’ margin by seven points. That tells you he did something – more likely, a bunch of things – right.

You have to remember: The Celtics for years have ridden their core five or six players as hard as any team in the league. And it’s paid dividends: More wins in the Tatum/Brown era than any other franchise.

But this has come at the detriment of some pretty talented players who rode the pine endlessly. Aaron Nesmith, Moe Wagner, Luke Kornet, Justin Champagnie and Guerschon Yabusele come to mind as guys who either never really got a shot, or were too impatient to wait around for it.

And remember Juhann Begarin? He was considered to be a better prospect than Pritchard on the Celtics’ 2021 summer-league team. But he was smart enough to skip the country – he could see the writing on the Garden wall.

Fortunately for Pritchard, he wasn’t as observant. He stuck around through three seasons in which he spent more time on the bench than your average Super Bowl halftime show. Often, he never even got a mop-up call as Boston’s big shots did their stat-padding.

He developed, two years later, into the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, thanks to shooting numbers that were even better than Clark’s college career.

The reason so little was expected from the Celtics this season was as much the thought of Pritchard taking on a greater role as it was Tatum’s absence.

But with far less talent surrounding him, Pritchard has been – dare we say it – Clark-like this season. He’s not only scoring, but also rebounding, assisting and defending like never before, all while taking an inspirational leadership role.

In a new Celtics style that shares one-on-one opportunities, the little guy is dribbling circles around opponents, much like those rivals were supposed to be doing to him this year.

OK, Payton Pritchard isn’t going to be the MVP of the NBA this season. But given the rock-bottom expectations and his critical role in the Celtics’ remarkable success, if he doesn’t win the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award …

Well, Uga should be really upset.