Payton Pritchard is another four-year player that has consistently improved each year. Being a west coast guy, a lot of people may have not watched him frequently. Scouts seem somewhat divided on Pritchard as a prospect.
Payton Pritchard 2020 NBA Draft Profile
College Career
Pritchard has been a star for the Oregon Ducks. He racked up 144 games played for the Ducks, including 140 starts. He averaged 13.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists for his career. However, this season he averaged 20.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.5 assists.
Pritchard has garnered national attention, especially with the Ducks deep tournament run last year. Pritchard has a tendency to appear in clutch moments, such as his deep three to beat Arizona. He was named First Team All-American this year. He has also won numerous Pac-12 awards in his career.
Strengths
Pritchard is a good scorer. He does not do anything great, but he does a lot well. Pritchard is crafty and efficient with his dribble. Even without flashy dribbles, Pritchard can get to the hoop and past defenders. He just understands how to play and how to read defenses, which will help him in the league.
Pritchard has developed a crafty layup package. He is not super athletic so he has to find ways to finish around bigger defenders. He has done well with this so far and he has to utilize and further develop this in the league.
Pritchard is an above-average shooter with really good range. He is shooting 38 percent on more than five threes per game. These numbers should not change much, because he is not a “toe the line” type of shooter in college so the added distance will not be a huge problem. As previously stated, he is also very clutch. Pritchard’s true shooting percentage this year is above 60 percent which is incredible.
Weaknesses
While Pritchard’s assists increased this year to 5.5 per game, he is not a great playmaker. He has been on some really good teams with good players. His usage rating is nearly 30 percent so he really should be averaging more assists.
Finally, Pritchard’s lack of athleticism is concerning for the league. Guards are bigger and stronger than before. Pritchard does not have the lateral quickness and agility to compete with the other guards in the league. He is going to need to be creative with his defense. He does not get many steals and is about a zero in terms of defensive box plus-minus.
NBA Player Comparison
Cory Joseph. Joseph is a solid backup guard that is more of a scorer than anything. Pritchard can be the same thing and make legitimate contributions off the bench on good teams.
NBA Draft Projection
Late second round.
Main Photo
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