“I see what you did there, trying to build that correlation between Payton and Anfernee, which I’m sure you’ll try to do the whole season.”
Within the same breath, a reporter asked Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla on Monday what his expectations are for Payton Pritchard this season and how well he had gotten to know newcomer Anfernee Simons.
Both players are established scorers. Pritchard is the reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year, and Simons has three consecutive seasons of averaging 19.3 points per game or more under his belt.
But, with the absence of Jrue Holiday, the Celtics could be looking at a significant drop-off on the defensive end at the point guard spot.
There are questions about how both players will be able to hold up defensively on night-in night out basis.
It remains to be see how the two players will look on the floor at the same time, but Mazzulla said he wanted to make it clear that it would be an option for Boston despite the overlap in their skill-sets.
“I see what you did there, trying to build that correlation between Payton and Anfernee, which I’m sure you’ll try to do the whole season,” Mazzulla told the reporter. “So, nip that in the bud immediately. Those two don’t go hand in hand, they’re completely different guys.”
Simons said he is aware of the criticism around his defense. Opponents made more shots than they missed (50.5 percent) while he was guarding them last season. The Celtics, collectively, had a defensive rating of 108.1 last season which was second-best in the league. Simons’s defensive rating was 115.7 last season.
“We’ve talked about it, and it’s just a matter of whether I want to do it or not. It’s really that simple,” Simons said. “Coming into a culture like this, you have to be able to adapt, or you’re not going to be in the position that you want to be, whether that’s playing or not playing.
“To me, it’s really that simple and that’s the honest conversations that we had about it. He always says that you’re not as bad as people think you are. That’s good to hear but also I have to do the work to get better.”
Pritchard, while undersized, has held up better on the defensive end than Simons. Opponents shot 44.3 percent while he was guarding them last season. His defensive rating was 108.9.
Pritchard also shot the ball at a 40.7 percent clip from 3-point range, averaging a career-high 14.3 points on 0.8 shot attempts. The veteran guard thrived in his role off the bench last season, but could end up competing with Simons for more minutes after Holiday’s departure.
“It does not matter to me,” Pritchard said, when asked about potentially starting. “Starting or coming off the bench is something that I have no control over. It’s Joe’s decision.”
“My only mindset is when I touch that floor, I bring my best. So, if I am starting, I’m ready for that and if I’m coming off the bench I’m not going to be sour about it or hang my head. When my number is called, I’m ready and that really should be the mindset of this whole team.”
Mazzulla said he’s excited to have Simons on the team, and excited for Prtichard’s development.
“The message is the same. Don’t put yourself in a box about how you can impact the game,” Mazzulla said. “You need to impact the game in different ways and you have to have balance. You have to be able to go to different things on different nights.”