The 50–40–90 club

[Silas]

This short story is about Payton Pritchard and I realize that it is based on only 15 games that he has played to date.  History shows us that only 8 NBA players have finished a season with 50–40–90 percentages.  The last was Malcolm Brogdon in 2018/19.  Like PP, Brogdon spent 4 years in college, and won many individual awards his senior year.  ACC player of the year, ACC Defensive player of the year and All American.   Like Brogdon, Payton has shown impressive skills and performed well when asked to step up.  Payton is currently shooting -- 50%, 44%, and 90% playing a little less than 21 mpg.  Hard to say if he will maintain these numbers through the season.  Nevertheless, he has shown us that he is capable and I believe if given the opportunity by Stevens to play more he may succeed.  If he has recovered from his injury I believe that the Cs should look at trading Teague and increase Payton's minutes and let him shoot more.  I would prefer not to see Teague on the floor going forward.  That's my story and needless to say I am a huge Payton fan. 

[Who]

I reckon Pritchard quality wise is already a middle of the pack starting PG. He is a heck of a player and will improve.

[Donoghus]

I absolutely love the tempo this kid plays at.  Celtics offense seems to move much better when he's on the court. 

[Goldstar88]

This short story is about Payton Pritchard and I realize that it is based on only 15 games that he has played to date.  History shows us that only 8 NBA players have finished a season with 50–40–90 percentages.  The last was Malcolm Brogdon in 2018/19.  Like PP, Brogdon spent 4 years in college, and won many individual awards his senior year.  ACC player of the year, ACC Defensive player of the year and All American.   Like Brogdon, Payton has shown impressive skills and performed well when asked to step up.  Payton is currently shooting -- 50%, 44%, and 90% playing a little less than 21 mpg.  Hard to say if he will maintain these numbers through the season.  Nevertheless, he has shown us that he is capable and I believe if given the opportunity by Stevens to play more he may succeed.  If he has recovered from his injury I believe that the Cs should look at trading Teague and increase Payton's minutes and let him shoot more.  I would prefer not to see Teague on the floor going forward.  That's my story and needless to say I am a huge Payton fan.

He needs to get more minutes and more shot attempts. Once he gets his legs back, which shouldn't take long considering he’s in early 20’s, Pritchard should be getting a minimum of 25mins per game. Brad also needs to get him more involved in the offense as he is currently one of the best and most efficient scorers on the team.

[RodyTur10]

I like Pritchard a lot. He already makes players around him better.
However, if his minutes and role stay constant he may not make an All Rookie Team (ART).
There are a lot of excellent guards out there. Even taking into consideration that with the ART selections they're often very loose with positions I still can see Pritchard fail to make one.

Lots can change over the rest of the season, but currently I could see this being the ART's:

First team: Ball, Haliburton, Quickley, Williams, Wiseman
Second team: Anthony, Edwards, Bane, Advija, Achiuwa

In that case Pritchard, Vassell and Tillman could be considered snubs, but the rookie selections are generally based more on putting up raw numbers than efficiency and contributions to winning.

[gouki88]

As others have said, I love the way he just keeps running. He’s always the first down the court on offence, never allows the defence to be set. He’s the answer to all Tommy’s bellowing about “why won’t they RUN”.

He’s also ridiculously heady for a rookie. Crafty finishes inside, keeps his dribble alive easily, and as evidenced by his 50-40-90 shooting, he picks his shots well. What a pick!

[GreenlyGreeny]

In the fall of 2001, pro bowl QB Drew Bledsoe suffered a serious injury at the beginning of the season that would keep him out for months. All seemed lost for his team’s season after seeing the replacement was a QB recently drafted near the bottom of his draft. As most of us know, that QB was Tom Brady and the rest is history.

Could it be that we are witnessing the Celtics’ version of this and PP will be regarded as GOAT when it’s all said and done? Is his 50-40-90 a foreshadowing of GOAT status? I kid, of course, but one never knows with these sort of things and only time will tell haha

In all seriousness, Kemba is back and can still ball (and very comparable to Bledsoe circa 2001 in some ways). However, Pritchard is clearly special—all the team does is win when he gets significant playing time. And he’s just getting started. Out of respect to Kemba, let him be the starter at tip-off, but give PP more playing time running the offense with Kemba as the de facto leader of the second unit.

In the meantime, let us hope that this is the start of PP leading us to our own unexpected dynasty.

[GreenlyGreeny]

As others have said, I love the way he just keeps running. He’s always the first down the court on offence, never allows the defence to be set. He’s the answer to all Tommy’s bellowing about “why won’t they RUN”.

He’s also ridiculously heady for a rookie. Crafty finishes inside, keeps his dribble alive easily, and as evidenced by his 50-40-90 shooting, he picks his shots well. What a pick!

Agree 100%. Frankly, picking PP is the only reason why my signature does not say fire Danny. He may have found a real diamond in the rough here.

[michigan adam]

In the fall of 2001, pro bowl QB Drew Bledsoe suffered a serious injury at the beginning of the season that would keep him out for months. All seemed lost for his team’s season after seeing the replacement was a QB recently drafted near the bottom of his draft. As most of us know, that QB was Tom Brady and the rest is history.

Could it be that we are witnessing the Celtics’ version of this and PP will be regarded as GOAT when it’s all said and done? Is his 50-40-90 a foreshadowing of GOAT status? I kid, of course, but one never knows with these sort of things and only time will tell haha

In all seriousness, Kemba is back and can still ball (and very comparable to Bledsoe circa 2001 in some ways). However, Pritchard is clearly special—all the team does is win when he gets significant playing time. And he’s just getting started. Out of respect to Kemba, let him be the starter at tip-off, but give PP more playing time running the offense with Kemba as the de facto leader of the second unit.

In the meantime, let us hope that this is the start of PP leading us to our own unexpected dynasty.

Who knowa.  PP might be playing well enough to allow for a trade of Kemba.  We could do worse than adding a collins, zinger, griffin, or similar for kemba and then go with PP, brown, JT, new guy, Theis lineup.  If the guy can play at least little better than Kemba D then it would be a net upgrade, andd fill a bigger need IMHO.

[Sophomore]

I like Pritchard a lot. He already makes players around him better.
However, if his minutes and role stay constant he may not make an All Rookie Team (ART).
There are a lot of excellent guards out there. Even taking into consideration that with the ART selections they're often very loose with positions I still can see Pritchard fail to make one.

Lots can change over the rest of the season, but currently I could see this being the ART's:

First team: Ball, Haliburton, Quickley, Williams, Wiseman
Second team: Anthony, Edwards, Bane, Advija, Achiuwa

In that case Pritchard, Vassell and Tillman could be considered snubs, but the rookie selections are generally based more on putting up raw numbers than efficiency and contributions to winning.

It’s been funny to watch the rookies hit the league. It’s true that this year’s draft doesn’t seem to have a generational talent; I don’t see a LeBron or a Magic in this group. But many ppl said this year’s draft was trash - worst in forever. And here we are with Wiseman and LaMelo playing really well, and maybe as many as 5-10 starting caliber NBA point guards in the draft.

[ChillyWilly]

As an avid Celtics sports card collector I can tell you P-Rabbit is receiving a heavy portion of my budget at the moment.

[18isGREATERthan72]

I like Pritchard a lot. He already makes players around him better.
However, if his minutes and role stay constant he may not make an All Rookie Team (ART).
There are a lot of excellent guards out there. Even taking into consideration that with the ART selections they're often very loose with positions I still can see Pritchard fail to make one.

Lots can change over the rest of the season, but currently I could see this being the ART's:

First team: Ball, Haliburton, Quickley, Williams, Wiseman
Second team: Anthony, Edwards, Bane, Advija, Achiuwa

In that case Pritchard, Vassell and Tillman could be considered snubs, but the rookie selections are generally based more on putting up raw numbers than efficiency and contributions to winning.

It’s been funny to watch the rookies hit the league. It’s true that this year’s draft doesn’t seem to have a generational talent; I don’t see a LeBron or a Magic in this group. But many ppl said this year’s draft was trash - worst in forever. And here we are with Wiseman and LaMelo playing really well, and maybe as many as 5-10 starting caliber NBA point guards in the draft.

I know Lamelo and Wiseman probably get more attention because of their status as elite picks coming into the league, but Haliburton has been the most impressive rookie to me so far.  Speaking on 50/40/90, Haliburton isn't far off of that mark himself, and like PP he seems to have a good BBIQ.

[Hoopvortex]

Just sayin.

Carsen Edwards is currently at .514 / .400 / .857

I know that 50/40/90 is a thing, but we really ought to retire FG% as a stat. In this era it is no longer useful.

Carsen's 2pt% is currently .619 and his TS% is a vertiginous .635, at this point above Payton Pritchard's, and below only TL and Theis.

Too early to retire the predictable "a shooter who can't shoot" comments about him? Of course - if you're only looking at numbers on a page. The sample sizes were tiny before, and they're still tiny; but you could also look at his perfect mechanics, his ability to get himself open, and the degree of difficulty of his shots.

Is Payton his main competition? I think so. They're both more lead guards than point guards. Fortunately both contracts are team-friendly and they're locked up for multiple years.

[Jvalin]

With all due respect, homerism runs rampant on this board. Obviously, Pritchard was an amazing value pick at #26. He's a terrific shooter + ball handler. That said,

- he ain't explosive/tall enough to consistently create his own shot.
- he ain't all that special in creating shots for his teammates. I would argue he's a shoot/score first guard.
- he's a mediocre on-ball defender.
- he ain't tall/strong enough to switch ball screens on defense.
- he's already 23 years old. How much better will he get?

All in all, imo he's an expendable player who's under team control for 8-9 seasons, hence he's a relatively valuable asset.

Regarding the 50-40-90 club:

There's a minimum amount of FGA, 3PA and FTA in order for each player to make the 50-40-90 club. Even if Pritchard averages a shooting split of 50-40-90 at the end of the season, chances are he won't make the club. For instance, Jose Calderon had a shooting split of 51.9/42.9/90.8 in 2007/08. He didn't make the club cause he attempted 120 FTs that season and the minimum number of FTA was 125! Funny thing is, the following season he shot 98.1% (=151/154) from the free throw line which is the all-time NBA record! Unfortunately, he didn't make the club that season either, cause he ''only'' shot 49.7% from the floor.

[Moranis]

I've always felt FG% is dumb to include.  It should be 2Pt%, 3PT%, and FT%.  Including the 3PT% twice just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, especially as the volume of 3 point shots has increased. 

Ray Allen while on the C's in 08-09 shot 54.2% from 2, 40.9% from 3, and 95.2% from the line, but he isn't in the club because his FG% was only 48% as account of nearly half of his FG attempts coming from 3.  That just doesn't seem right.  The volume of 3 pointers at that percentage should be rewarded not serve as a detriment.