Jason Timpf made the comments on his podcast with 'The Volume' on Tuesday.
While I personally have my doubts about how the 2026-27 campaign will go, there's some real optimism regarding the upcoming Boston Celtics season - at least the regular season.
I'm worried about the general strength of the Eastern Conference and how it will impact the Celtics, but others don't have the same worries.
For instance, Jason Timpf of 'The Volume' believes that the Celtics can be a very good regular season team, and he believes that Paul George can be a big part of it if he stays healthy.
He also trusts that younger role players like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez will develop for Boston, giving them internal answers to questions.
While Timpf didn't mention Payton Pritchard's ceiling specifically, it's something we've talked about this summer. How will the trade of Jaylen Brown impact Pritchard moving forward?
Will he have the ball in his hands more, allowing him to make more plays? Will other teams key on him, causing life to be more difficult? How will his game diversify with the likely expanded usage? Those are all questions that we'll wait to get answered over the next eight months.
Again, Timpf didn't mention Pritchard's role specifically, but he did make an interesting comparison for him, saying that his story reminds him of Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers. He called Reaves a better player, but says that like Reaves, Pritchard is taking pretty dramatic steps to improve every year.
Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) looks on during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Bill Streicher-Imagn ImagesAbout Pritchard
Now 28 years old, Pritchard is a six-year veteran of the Celtics. Drafted in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft out of Oregon, he helped the C's win the NBA Finals in 2023-24 and was named Sixth Man of the Year in 2024-25. He's averaged 10.6 ppg for his career, but had the best year of his career last season, averaging 17.0 ppg as Jayson Tatum missed most of the season while recovering from an injury. To Timpf's point, his scoring average has gone up in each of the last three years and he's gotten more efficient with his shooting as well.
As for Reaves
A 28-year-old as well, Reaves played his college ball at Oklahoma. A five-year veteran of the Lakers, he averaged 23.3 ppg last season. He's averaging 15.8 for his career. We'll see how his game changes with LeBron James no longer in LA. He signed with the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason.
