Joe Mazzulla: Payton Pritchard has had this in him his entire career
On Tuesday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla discusses Payton Pritchard scoring 20+ points in each of the last 4 games.
Pritchard is growing into a complete player…
Scott Zolak:
I ask you every week about Payton Pritchard and the guy just seems to get better and better. I mean, it’s four straight games off the bench with 20 plus points. And he’s talking smack to Erik Spoelstra during the game. What’s gotten into this kid, Joe?
Joe Mazzulla:
Listen, I mean, he’s had it in him his entire career and we kind of talked about this last night. You know, you see guys in his position that get drafted to good teams and it’s tough for them to kind of make it because there’s a lot of uncertainty and, you know, he came into the league playing a lot. Then Kemba Walker came back, and the next few years were kind of up and down. He just continued to compete at a high, high level, continue to work, never wavered in his work ethic and his confidence. Now, you’re seeing him just kind of grow into a complete player. You know, he can impact the game in so many different ways, offense and defense. We’re blessed to have him.
Scott Zolak:
I have a question about playing time and how quick you are to let guys know, hey when you come to the gym be ready to go, you’re going to get so many minutes tonight. Do you keep those guys in the dark to make sure everybody should be ready to go?
Joe Mazzulla:
Yeah, as dark as possible. They don’t know until sometimes they hear their name called in. It’s difficult, but it’s a credit to them. And I think you rely one on your staff to prepare your guys every day and you rely on the guys to have a level of mental toughness and professionalism, and you know to me if you can create an environment where everyone comes in and knows that their preparation is important to winning and it could happen at anytime. There are so many different situations, whether it’s, you know, Jaden Springer going in for the last five seconds of the game and almost getting a steal to Drew Peterson to guys having to step up last night. So, you know, it’s a credit to the staff and it’s a credit to the guys just kind of constantly being ready. But I think that’s the environment in the locker room that you want.
Listen to the full segment!
