Forsberg: Pritchard Excited For New Guys, Focused On ‘getting Better'

Forsberg: Pritchard excited for new guys, focused on ‘getting better' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Boston Celtics point guard Payton Pritchard is ready to “go to war” after the Celtics made some bold changes to their roster this offseason. The shocking departure of Jaylen Brown could open an opportunity for Pritchard to further spread his wings for the Celtics this season.

Pritchard sat down with NBC Sports Boston for a wide-ranging chat on Boston’s shocking offseason, the new faces on the roster, and his extension possibility before the new season arrives.

You can watch the full interview on YouTube, or listen to it on the latest Celtics Talk Podcast.

Here are three nuggets that jumped out to us:

Excited for the new guys

Pritchard expressed excitement about the three new veteran faces that Boston added this offseason in Mitchell Robinson, Mike Conley, and Paul George. Pritchard noted how he roomed with Robinson, who he called the “best rebounder in the league,” as part of USA Basketball tryouts more than a decade ago.

And Pritchard is especially eager to learn from a veteran floor general like Conley.

“I talked to Mike Conley a little bit. He’s a golfer, so we’re going to get out [on the course],” said Pritchard. “If I could look back and have a similar career that he’s had, then I would be very happy with that. Because he’s an unbelievable player, he’s had an unbelievable career and somebody that I can learn a lot from.

“I’m going to be asking him a lot and just seeing where his mind (is) and how he thinks about the game. Because he just had so many great years and All-Star appearances and winning a lot of games. So, fortunate to be able to have somebody like that on our team that I can learn from.”

Don’t hold your breath on an extension

Pritchard is extension eligible starting Oct. 1 with the Celtics able to offer a 3-year, $67 million extension before the start of the new season. Pritchard, who will turn 29 in January, is set to earn $7.8 million this year, then $8.3 million in 2027-28 in the final season of a four-year, $30 million deal inked in October of 2023.

We thought the security of a deal that could pay him an average annual value of $22.3. million in those three seasons might be enticing for Pritchard, especially with some concerns about the longevity of smaller guards. But having already inked one team-friendly extension, Pritchard suggested that he doesn’t feel an urgency to extend given the time remaining on his deal.

“I don’t really think about it,” Pritchard said. “It’s just not something I’m really looking at. I have two years on my contract and there’s no rush on it. We’ll talk, obviously, but we have a whole next year to talk about an extension. For me, it’s like, just focus on getting better and becoming the best basketball player I can possibly be.”

In the one percent of the one percent

Pritchard brings his former West Linn High School basketball coach Eric Viuhkola to help run each of his youth camps — with Pritchard’s mother, Melissa, and father, Terry, heavily involved in the camps as well. Viuhkola told campers at the start of Saturday’s session that he believes that Pritchard is in the top one percent of all ball-handlers in the entire world.

So we asked Pritchard if he agreed.

“I think I’m above the one percent, though,” said Pritchard. “I think I’m in the one percent of the one percent.”

Pritchard referenced the 10,000-hour rule popularized in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” where it’s suggested that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to truly master a complex task.

Pritchard believes he’s north of 10,000 hours on ball-handling drills. He suggested he might even be beyond 20,000 hours. And watching him keep the ball on a string suggests he might be right.