Three Leaf Clover: Payton Pritchard’s playmaking, Svi Mykhailiuk’s offensive mind, and in defense of Derrick White

Welcome to Week 2 of Three Leaf Clover, CelticsBlog’s week in evaluation. We’re shortly approaching the precise common season the place the factors depend, and the video games do matter. Can’t wait. Within the meantime, right here’s three issues that caught my eye this previous week.

Stat of the Week – 29.3% help share

Maybe the most important beneficiary of Boston’s backcourt reshuffle is Payton Pritchard. After seeing his minutes lower for 2 straight years, PP will play, however the larger query is: will he play make? Pritchard has had the ball in his fingers fairly a bit in these half-serious, half-pickup video games within the preseason. With two excessive minute guards out the door and just one changing them, there’s going to be alternatives for one more ballhandler to emerge, particularly one that may get downhill, get into the paint, and discover open shooters.

Traditionally, that has not been PP’s sport. His 15.3% help share final 12 months was one hundred and twenty fifth within the league amongst certified gamers, decrease than famous level guards Josh Hart and Royce O’Neil. Whereas his 9.18 drives per-36 final 12 months was a good quantity, he did little or no with them, capturing 35.9% with a lowly 10.6% help share. There’s legit concern that Pritchard might be relegated to undersized capturing guard nearly all of his profession.

Photograph by Sarah Stier/Getty Pictures

Nicely, he’s come out firing within the preseason, and I don’t imply from three (though he’s undoubtedly doing that too). That 29.3% quantity above is Payton Pritchard’s help share thus far. Who stated this man couldn’t go?! That’s precisely what Josh Giddey’s help share was final season! I don’t have his help share on drives as a result of apparently NBA.com doesn’t monitor that in preseason (which is one thing I undoubtedly ought to have checked earlier than utilizing that stat within the earlier paragraph), however I’ve an excellent feeling that’s so much larger as nicely. And who wants superior stats when you could have “good emotions?” Not me, that’s who.

Do I feel Pritchard will sustain this lofty degree of playmaking in the course of the entirety of the season? No, however he appears to be like extra aggressive and cozy with the ball and is stepping into the enamel of the protection recurrently. He’s additionally making larger degree reads all around the flooring.

Whereas I don’t suspect Pritchard will attain the lofty objectives of the perfect capturing and play making guards, even minor enchancment as a passer might be big for his worth as an offensive participant. Thus far, Playmaking Preseason Payton Pritchard’s been snatching this chance one dime at a time.

X’s & Oooooohhhh’s – Svi is aware of the right way to play

I’m a West Virginia College fan which suggests many issues, most of them disappointing. One of many issues it means (that is excessive degree writing) is that I despise nearly each single Kansas Jayhawk within the NBA, with Paul Pierce being one of many few exceptions. In the event you don’t know, Svi Mykhailiuk was a Jayhawk, and he was an excellent one at that. He destroyed WVU. This game still pains me. Svi scored 12 factors during the last 7 minutes to steal a Kansas win in Morgantown. WVU was ranked 6 nationally, Kansas tenth. I used to be on the sport; everybody was very unhappy afterwards, together with me.

So, it’s with this immense detrimental bias that I went into watching Svi this preseason. To say he’s impressed could be an understatement, however I don’t know a greater phrase to make use of with out consulting a thesaurus and that appears like dishonest. The phrase “enjoying the appropriate method” is a type of half-tangible basketball non-sequiturs that type of has a definition, however not totally. Nicely, Svi embodies enjoying the appropriate method on the offensive finish. He understands spacing, he strikes with out the ball, and he makes fast selections.

Right here he’s driving a closeout beneath management, making the proper learn, and hitting Banton on time and heading in the right direction.

He reads the ball and protection in actual time and strikes subtlety to get himself open.

At occasions, the Celtics offense has floor down and the ball will get caught. Svi’s pure intuition runs counter to that (as does Derrick White’s). He desires to maneuver ball and physique shortly and assault a rotating protection.

When you find yourself enjoying nicely and loaded with confidence, typically you simply gotta let it rip.

There are some actual the explanation why Svi hasn’t discovered sustained success on this league, however he ended final season enjoying glorious basketball and it’s translated into the preseason. If he retains it up, he’s going to get actual minutes this season.

Non-basketball stuff of the week – Derrick White not top-100

Pricey ESPN, you could have made a lifelong enemy of the town of Boston. Excluding Derrick White from the top-100 gamers isn’t simply foolish, it’s not simply dumb, it borders on prison. I’ve been endlessly making telephone calls to Boston PD to be able to prosecute this, regardless of them asking me to cease. That’s how decided I’m to cease you. In my final name, they let me know that they’ll be submitting a restraining order, presumably in opposition to you.

As Kevin Pelton put it, there’s a greater case for Derrick White within the top-50 than exterior the top-100. Even if you happen to aren’t an enormous fan of all-in-one superior stats, the way during which all of them agree that White is near a prime 50 participant is compelling. Right here’s a fast sampling:

DARKO – 57th
538 RAPTOR – tenth
Internet Score – third
ESPN’s RPM – twenty seventh

Even their very own stat has him throughout the top-30! There’s just one cheap clarification: they merely forgot about him. In the event that they got here out and stated, “oops, we completely forgot Derrick White existed,” I might get it. Making lists is troublesome, numbers are complicated, issues occur, however the try and justify it’s irritating.

Lengthy stay Derrick White, could he be a Boston Celtic for the remainder of his profession.