The Boston Celtics embedded media are handing out hardware for internal team awards with the Celtics’ Most Valuable Player and Sixth Man of the Year awards for players on Boston’s roster already handed out to star forward Jayson Tatum and rising big man Robert Williams III, respectively.
The two-man panel of Taylor Snow and Marc D’Amico of Celtics.com continued by naming rookie guard Payton Pritchard the Celtics’ Sharpshooter of the Year — for good reason. The Oregon product shot 41.1% from deep in his inaugural campaign, sometimes from well past the NBA 3-point line. Good for a team-best from beyond the arc, he only trailed veteran point guard Kemba Walker in free-throw efficiency.
Good enough for “one of the best shooting seasons by a rookie in franchise history” according to Snow — we do not disagree — the West Linn native easily took this honor in 2020-21.
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Though he came up just three treys shy of Tatum’s 3-point rookie record with the franchise, it must be kept in mind Pritchard only missed out on a shot at demolishing it given the pace he was on because of the pandemic-shortened season.
A well-deserved nod for a most impressive rookie performance.
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