Who is the Boston Celtics best-kept secret to deploy on the court for the coming 2024-25 NBA season? If you happen to ask Bleacher Report league analyst Grant Hughes, he has one in mind for the Celtics. Though, if we are being entirely honest about his choice for Boston, said player is not all that much of a secret.
Still, when you are combing through the roster ran back from the team that won the 2024 title, it can be hard to find a player (in this case, he has selected reserve guard Payton Pritchard) who has both done something meaningful for the ball club and also being a “best-kept secret.”
“There are no true secrets on a … Celtics roster that remains mostly unchanged after everyone in the world watched it cut opponents to ribbons en route to the 2024 championship,” echoes Hughes. “Pritchard is the best we can do without forcing things, and he’s a useful player to feature this early because he’s an example of a specific kind of ‘best-kept secret.’”
Celtics Lab 276: A closer look at the Olympics, Team USA, and the Celtics with Noa Dalzell https://t.co/8pKriN9TpA pic.twitter.com/BxWhKDs48x
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) August 5, 2024
“The four-year veteran guard is more anonymous than he should be because the team around him is so dominant,” he adds. “Across the last four seasons, Pritchard is one of just six players to appear in at least 200 games, shoot over 39.0% from deep and post per-36 averages of at least 15.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists. (…)”
“That makes a pretty good case that a) Pritchard deserves more recognition than he gets, and b) he’d be just fine in a much larger role than he has with Boston.”
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ