With both of their victories coming against Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics are 2-1 in the preseason. The Celtics’ star of the preseason has been Peyton Pritchard. Pritchard, who will regularly play off the Celtics’ bench, has been the team’s top scorer in all three contests. Although his ball handling has been shaky, he has been a formidable defender and a superb shooter.
Rotation, and Defense: Boston Celtics Rumors and Information
Pritchard will be the fourth guard in Boston’s starting lineup, which is likely to include Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford to begin the season, as Derrick White is expected to fill the C’s sixth man position. If a starter gets hurt or for load management, Pritchard is expected to be the first guard off the bench.
Pritchard is not the only player who has shown out this preseason. Svi Mykhailiuk has been impressive in the last two preseason games. Known as a shooter, Mykhailiuk has definitely been stroking it well. The 26-year-old wing has scored 30 points in 45 minutes as he is 10 of 15 from the field, including 6 of 11 from the 3-point line. Mykhailiuk also has rebounded the ball well.
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While Mykhailiuk is virtually a lock to make the team, I don’t necessarily agree with The Athletic’s Jared Weiss assessment that he is on his way to earning rotational minutes. Mykhailiuk has never been a true rotational player despite owning an average of 16 minutes of playing time a game for his career. Most of those minutes have come in starts for bad teams. Plus, he has not played more than 56 games in his career.
Moreover, Mykhailiuk struggles with ball-handling and on the defensive end. Additionally, the Celtics have Sam Hauser and Lamar Stevens on the roster; both are better defenders.
An excellent shooter, Hauser has started two of the three preseason games. He was also a rotational player for the C’s last year. Plus, Hauser is coming off his best offensive performance of the preseason after struggling in the first two contests.
Like Mykhailiuk, Stevens was a late free agent addition and has a nonguaranteed deal. He has seen action in all three games, averaging 16 minutes a contest. He is more of a slasher than a 3-point shooter, which is different than Hauser and Mykhailiuk as they are both basically snipers. Stevens has been a rotational player for Cleveland the last two seasons.