December 24, 2024 • 27 mins
Payton Pritchard is in the middle of a career year, both on and off the court. Whether it’s going viral after playing with kids in the park, getting married to a social superstar, or being the NBA’s leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, it takes a lot of work and focus to keep everything under control. But how did he get here? What did he have to go through to become who he is today? Payton takes us under the hood of how he crafted his incredible work ethic, and how he battled through the hardest year of his life – and a public trade request – to propel himself into NBA stardom this season with the Boston Celtics.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Season five.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
A view from the Raptors behind the scenes with the
Boston Celtics.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
We're sitting arounding these conversations.
Speaker 4 (00:07):
Which one sticks out to you?
Speaker 5 (00:08):
What do we crap?
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Or we just want a championship? That probably happens a lot.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
We do this every year.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Right, this is hard, bro, Thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
I never thought of it that way. Be a part
of that winning atmosphere, all right.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Peyton Pritchard having a career year across the board in
terms of three pointers, made, points per game, three point percenters,
like all of it? Is it all due to that
little kid that was defending you in the in the
park before the season or at the start of the season.
About that, Yeah, okay, be a little bit right.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
You probably added little fire.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah yeah, what was what went behind that? I know
you've kind of talked about it, but for everyone who
doesn't know, we had a video come out us from
your wife, right yep, she posted it that Peyton was
just in a random park, just like backing a kid down,
playing one on one against him, and it was awesome
and went viral.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
So we it was like a Sunday and we was
walking to just get a cup of coffee with our
dog and that's a week coffee. We stopped by the
dark part and ended up being like a half court
there and there was three kids playing, and uh, I'm
surprised they recognized me, but they kind of recognized me.
I had a beanie on and everything, so yeah, if
you look at me from the back, I'm an average
(01:15):
looking person, you know what I mean, Like I can't
really tell, like I'm not that tall, like, but they recognized, yeah,
you're pretty.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I had my beanie all the way down.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
You can't even see my eyebrows or but they asked
me to come over and I ended up going over there,
and just like, I don't know, I enjoy moments like that. Yeah,
I feel like as a kid, I used to play
all the time outside and if a pro what came up,
which I was around pros as kids and stuff like that,
and I think it helped me in my development. So
anytime I have a chance to do something like that, uh,
(01:49):
I think back when I was a kid and I'd
always do it.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Was there like a going away like message to them
of saying, like, you know, here's what you should do
to try to get to where you want to be
here and if you mean the.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Mess as I always give, it is just hard work. Now,
maybe I should explain what it what hard is it
is because a lot of people don't really understand that.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
But ultimately, hard work will take you a long ways
in this world.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
And whatever you decide to do, and if you put
your mind to it and you grind it every day,
then you'll accomplish your dreams.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
What is hard work to you?
Speaker 5 (02:25):
It's a setting a goal and waking up and accomplishing
that goal every day. So and that's for me, Like
as a kid, it was you know, I used to
tell my dad, like where I wanted to be, what
colleges I wanted to go to, and then you know,
then me writing what the plan was, what that looked like.
(02:45):
So me getting better at ball handling, it was waking
up before school at like six point thirty six o'clock
and dribbling a wait ball the freezing garage for thirty
minutes in the morning, and then you know, going.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
To get the fact that it was freezing help excel accelerate.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Maybe because the ball hurts. And yeah, there's a story.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
There was a story of like my fingers bleeding and
obviously it's it's a little it's been exaggerated a little bit,
but you know, in the cold weather, with the like
the weight ball the way it was, it definitely like
cuts some of my fingers which I had to tape up.
But then go to school during lunchtime. A lot of kids,
you know, want to go to lunch with their friends,
(03:27):
and and I did that at times. But then there
was a lot of moments that like I would be
on the track, I would be be running, and then
after school, my dad had a clinic, basketball clinic, and
I would drive there right away after school and do
another hour workout and then stay eat, eat again, and
then do another one. So I was doing that for
at least five days a week. And so by the
(03:50):
time in high school, well this is even in middle school,
in high school, and you know, and at the time,
I was scrawny, I was little, and like a lot
of people did not think I would ever make it.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
But I had like a dream.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
For myself and I was never gonna let anybody tell
me that I could accomplish it. I was going to
everybody so.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
To drive clearly, do the coaches, I mean, yes, your
hard work now is legendary. You're a gamer, obviously willing
to play anywhere anytime.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Do the coaches ever ever ever have to pull you
out of the gin?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, I think it's an addiction for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
When I first got here, they definitely And I've changed
my work habits a lot. And it's not to say
that I don't I don't grind really hard on the
court and I still get really yeah, I still get
all that work in, but it's it's not doing the
unnecessary stuff and it's more like it's now spending time
in the weight room and making sure I get thirty
(04:46):
minutes to an hour and there. Like it's activation before
court and then it lifting after or stretching and stuff
like that. So it's you know, there's a lot of
working on my body and I feel like that's why
I've made to jump this year too, is I've gotten stronger.
I've gotten a little bit more explosive in certain areas.
And that's a big credit to say, because you know.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I strength trainers.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
Yeah, and we uh, before we had this break, we
actually hadn't skipped the day of a lifting wow. So
like off day was a hard lifting day and then
game days it's more explosive stuff, but like just being
disciplined to get it in every day because as you
guys know, the traveling everything, it can get gruel and
you can skip steps, skip a day.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
So try to hang my hat on I never skipping
a step.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
You should not do the unnecessary things. I have to
know what were the unnecessary things that you were doing
as a rookie that they're kind of like, I really
need to do that.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
It's you know I used now, I think, and Craig
kind of showed me this. It's also our player development,
and it's like as a young kid, block training, you
know what that means. That can be really good. That's
like shooting a hunter makes spot or whatever. And I
used to still do that, but I trained my changed
my training in a different way where now it's like
(06:02):
thirty to forty five minutes really hard and sharp, but
it's like live reads.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
It's coaked people guarding me.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
And I've kind of adapted to that and I really
enjoy it and I think it's definitely helped, and it's
more precise, and it's going hard for that forty five
minutes and getting everything out of it and not braining
it out for three hours.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, for like seven hundred makes every year whatever.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
To be honest, is a college season compared to an
NBA season is a lot different. We're playing we're playing
about one hundred games a year, counting playoffs, and in
college you're only playing thirty so like you can grind
a lot more on days during the week because you
don't play it till Thursday Saturday.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
So it's just different.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, So you touched on the work ethic and just
like what you're doing off the court. I guess on
the court but not not in games that has gotten
you to this level, But like what else has contributed
to this? I mean, you're literally leading the six Man
of the Year conversation right now as we're like a
quarter of the way through the season. What has led
to this this burst in your career?
Speaker 5 (07:03):
I mean obviously that stuff, but I think balance in
my life. I would have to say Emma has helped
with that a lot. It's in what ways I think,
just you know, when you're I'm obviously I'm married, married
man now and like it's just we have a routine
at home and it's you know, I don't do anything extra.
(07:24):
I don't It's not like I'm going out and I'm
drinking and I'm doing those type of stuff that can
you know, hurt my performance.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
And stuff like that. We eat at home together. I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
I just feel like, you know, when you're happy outside
of My dad used to always say, if you're good
off the court, you're always gonna be good on the court.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
And I'm very happy.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Outside of Like once I leave the facility or the
arena and I go home, I have a very good
home life. Like we have a good relationship. She's like
my best friend, and things are very positive. So even
if it is a bad day, I have something good
to go back to, which I'm not going to say
ever that I had a bad home life or anything
like that. I just I've I think I've.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Had that now and you've very elevated it, you.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Know, so, which I think has been a big part
of it.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, that's awesome to hear, and I feel like part
of that all wrapped into the mental side of things,
which you've always been really good at. But how has
that evolved for you and going from probably the lowest
of the lows a couple of years ago to now
experiencing and how were you able to maintain your confidence
through all of that, and like where does that come from?
Speaker 5 (08:27):
It's funny, I was actually talking about this was a
friend the other day. But you know, me going through
that has actually allowed me to grow and become stronger
now like before, like I just had like a bad
game against the Bucks obviously to my standard, and yeah,
but before like mentally that could have derailed me for
(08:50):
the next couple of days because we played the next day,
you know, and like you could be thinking about it
all night, and like, obviously I want to come back
and bounce back, but to come back and reset the
mind and then go and do it and like play
well the next night, and so like growth of facts
is not leaning onto multiple days like letting things carry
on or little things bother my mind, like I think
(09:13):
is growth. And but I always look at every situation
like it might not be going my way, but like
how is this in the bigger picture?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
How is this developing me?
Speaker 5 (09:22):
And me not playing my third year and all the
things I went through and life changes and stuff like that,
Like it really made me a stronger person, probably a
better person off the court and everything, a more balanced person.
And so honestly, I'll probably look at it as like
one of the best years for my development.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
That's interesting. People probably wouldn't guess that any outside for
sure what actually happened that year if you can take
us since ide and like we all know, like what
actually happened on the court, like it was just a
loaded team and there were only so many minutes to
go around, But you know behind closed doors what happened
in your season and how you kind have attacked it
approach to head conversations with the team. And then obviously,
(10:03):
I mean Brad Stevens has made abundantly clear even then
He's like, we want Peyton here long term. Folks, You've
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Speaker 5 (10:23):
So I mean, uh, I mean, everybody knows I I
publicly wanted to be traded at the time I wanted.
It wasn't nothing against organization or or the city of Boston.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I wanted to play.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
I wanted to play something I love to do is
play basketball. And to be honest, I was there was
moments where I was kind of depressed. I was like
very sad at the time, and and it was killing
me watch him. But through that I totally changed my mentality.
And and I looked at it as like, you know,
it's like almost like a red Shire year, Like this
(10:58):
year is not going to define this isn't this isn't
the last year I'm ever going to play basketball. I'm
going to get an opportunity, whether that's here or not
or somewhere else. And I got to take advantage of that.
So I went to work, I went to got better
at my weaknesses and developed my strengths even more. And
when I did eventually get the opportunity, I was I
was never going to look back, which I feel like
(11:19):
a lot of people and I see a lot of
young dudes they don't play and then they stop working.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
They hit that moment and go in the other direction.
You want a lot, Yeah, we've seen it here for
so Celtics.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I mean, and I know what I know why that is. Though.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
It's like these kids like are so talented. We're all
the man in high school, we're the man in college.
Everybody caters to you. The ball is in your hands,
like everything is for you. So then the first time
in their life, you're going to be put in a
professional level and they're like, you're not the man. You're
gonna have to take a back seat, tough, they're not
(11:55):
catering to you. You know, you're gonna have to just
figure it out, and a lot of people don't have
to don't know how to mentally handle that. Lucky for me,
I got a good support, supporting cast that.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
I have two great parents too that played high level
collegiate sports. My mom was a very high level gymnast Alklahoma,
and my dad played football there and was a high
level athlete as well. So now they didn't make it
to the professional levels, but they they helped me navigating
the emotions of it and like how to you know,
how to handle it? And I feel like they always
(12:28):
leaned on the work ethics side of it, and they
were hard workers. So it's kind of what I dove into.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
It's pretty incredible to be able to look back now
of like how that how tough that year was. But
now you're looking at as like without that year, you
might not be where you are right now.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
For sure.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
I definitely don't think I'll be the player I am
today with without those tough stretches.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Pretty incredible, and you've completely flipped it to now where
you are high up on every team's scouting report.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Doc Rivers is.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Out there talking about you like whatever happens did I
Peyton Pritchard.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Especially at the end of quarters.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And so much though even in practice, you mentioned in
an interview recently that you guys have a one on
five drill where you just have to get by guys.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
How did that?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
It's a it's so it's it's funny. It is that.
I feel like that got exaggerated a little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
But but.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Told the story.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Actually Drew Drew.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
He started, he started, and got asked about But really.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
It's just like a drill, and we really only we
do it the preseason and maybe in the playoff time.
But it's a drill, like, well, I'm just getting guys moving.
They're moving the feet if they're trying to guard me
full court of just trying to keep in front really
from baseline to half court.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
I'm not trying to explode by them. I'm just getting.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Using your shiftingess to like work them.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Yeah, it worked them, and then by that then I
can try to explode and and stuff like that. But
I feel like Drew gave me credit just probably because
I have a good handle. I'm fast and I can
stop really quickly, so it can be hard to guard
me when I'm ang and speeds very quick, and you know,
guys are leaning. I can make some guys cross over
(14:05):
the feet a little bit hum right now.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And I feel like we all have this dream of
like every day in practice, you were going through this
and it's like Peyton versus the team, but you're saying
it only has.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
A couple like high level some of the best defenders
in the NBA, and you're just dribbling around them.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Sure, he's your.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Okay handle to get around guys like Drew Holiday.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
For sure.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I'm definitely very fortunate to go against the We have
the best of the best here, so that is as
much as I might be helping them, they've helped me
a lot. And people like JB and JT but like
want to play one on one and uh, they always,
you know, asked me to play, And as much as
I might ask them to play, they're asking me to
(14:47):
play so and I will always be grateful for that
because that elevates my game.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
And and I.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Get like you said, I get to go against two
of the best Drew, Derek, JT. JB all them like
all the time, and that's only elevating me and making
me better every day.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
How did those one on one battles with JB start?
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Started my rookie year. And to be honest with you,
I never really won a game.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Like my rookie year. Really rookie year. He used to
kill me.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Now he'd been in the league for what he was
those three years.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I think fifth years. That was his fifth year.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Oh my god, serious for sure.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
And I'm not saying we didn't compete and I didn't
get close. But and also there would be times where
I was a rook so he would call foul, you know,
he wouldn't let me uh when. But each year, you know,
it started to change a little bit. My second year
was probably thirty seventy, third year probably forty sixty. And
(15:45):
you know, you'd have to ask him now we haven't
played in a while, but I'd say we.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Go back and forth fifty to fifty.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Love to hear We're gonna have to ask him now.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Yeah, I mean he's not going to say that, but
you hear it from me.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
We're gonna be like Peyton's out of his mind. No way.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Definitely battle it out.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
How different is it now that defenses are scheming against you?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Can you feel it?
Speaker 5 (16:08):
No, not necessarily, because you can't really scheme against any
of us, like like we have so much talent, Like
you're gonna guard.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It's a great point.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, So it's it's.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Still one on one basketball really, like if you I
look at it, like if two people are gonna guard me,
then I'm gonna make the simple play and yeah, we're
gonna get a great shot. So I don't really think
you can scheme against our team in general, even.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
If you try to.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
But we try to pride ourselves even when we're attacking
a massive a matchup like JB J T. They getting
the paint. If two people collide on them, they they're
gonna make the right play and kick it out to
the to the perimeter. I see this thing all the time,
like people think we're just hunting three balls, but it's
it's really not like that, like we're really looking for
the best.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Shot every time, thank you.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
We're trying to tack the paint and if there's if
it's a one on one matchup and they can get
to the rim. Or if they feel comfortable with hitting
a little ten foot or high quality shot, then.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
They're allowed to take that.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
All of us are and if to come or you
see an open man of the premeter, then that's that
is the right play because the high percentage on that
shot catch shoe shot is a lot of us are
hitting at at like what close to fifty.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yeah, well, and that's the that's the thing with the
five out. You're all elite.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
We have at least eight dudes and multiple others obviously
and they're working on it. But eight dudes for sure
that like are capable of hitting at least five threes
in a game.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
So that's so it makes us very dangerous.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
But I always hate the thing that we're just hunting
threes and we're just chucking them up.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, I feel like people talk about it is if
you guys are all just standing around the three point
line and like passing it no, like you have to drive,
you have to kick, you are making the defense sure
like vulnerable just coming down in ucking it up.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yeah, it's very calculated.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
It's we have shots that we're trying to get to
and like we're trying to get to the paint.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah, all right, speaking about getting shots up. Talking about
Doc Rivers, I got to ask you about this, like,
after you made the end of quarter shot against the Bucks,
did you see his reaction.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
I didn't see that at the time. I saw it
on SAT.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So Doc was like demoralized, He's and then he said
after the game, He's like, we talked about this and
we still let Peyton Pritchard make the shot. How does
that feel to make an opposing coach just like demor
I mean, he just he went like this.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
It was funny for Sureie, how does this guy do this?
It's a it's a good feeling. It means I'm doing
my job for sure. So I just I love how
the even before I check in, the crowd gets up.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It's amazing, like they're like, oh, Peyton's going in.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
There's an energy to it, and so you noticed, Oh yeah,
I definitely get up for it. It helps me out
because that's the anticipation of it probably makes me lock
in more and why I've been able to hit some
of them shots.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Dive in on that though, because I think what the
rumor was that you checked yourself in right. Like the
first time that this started.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
To I didn't necessarily check my I looked at Charles
Lee at the time. I said, uh, we call him
Sea Lee, and I was like ceely cey, like look
at the Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I kind of gave him that like look, and then
he looked at Joe and me and Joe.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Made on contact and he kind of gave me this like,
you know, head, like come on, yeah, and I sprinted up.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
There and hit that one.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
And then the game five came and I hadn't played
actually the whole game, and uh.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It see even more impressive.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
I was cold, very cold, and I'm surprised they even
got it there. But I think the just the adrenaline
and the moment it just made me lock in and
you know, get it done.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Oregon garage dribbling the winter cold.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Probably every moment of me training and doing everything can
lead up to a moment like that.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, it's amazing seeing these shots going though. I mean,
you you are the guy in the NBA that everyone
thinks about now when they think about end of quarter shots,
because you've ever dreamed that like you would. I wouldn't
call it a niche, but like that's what you're known
for around the NBA, with the fans, with other teams,
with other coaches.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Yeah, I mean it's crazy. I mean I'm fearless.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah. So when you posted after that game, you said,
what did you say, fear no something? I think moment, Yeah,
fear no moment.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
So I feel like that's really what it is, is
being fearless and not karen about anything but trying to
help the team win. So, and honestly, I've been seeing
a lot of guys take it like I've seen another night.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's growing. Yeah, people are like, but I don't.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
I feel like guys would always take it. Yeah, the
swings can be incredible, Like what if you end up.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
That's more important than your field goal percentage going down?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Yeah, I mean honestly, if we really exactly and if
we if analytics people want to just do their job
that take off all those misses. Yeah, those are only
trust trying to help the team win. Those aren't a
realistic so they are for you.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I was gonna say, there is a difference in your more.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Realistic for you likely to go in.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yeah, all right, Well who's the.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Cool I want?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Has anyone cool that you were surprised by I reached
out to after hitting one of those shots.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Uh, I mean, shoot, my social might like Twitter on Instagram,
was flooded with people. Yeah, so there was a lot
of different people I've seen obviously, people in the NBA
football people.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
All right, Well on this topic, we've got a little
game we're going to play right now. It's called half
court heaves. All right, We're gonna go back and forth.
We've got some questions here and these are just we
don't know if these are going to land with you
and you're gonna have a good answer, maybe it's gonna miss.
All right, So this will be quick, quick answers. Okay,
I'll start it out. What's the weirdest pregame ritual you've
ever seen from a teammate?
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Evan Fournier. He used to do this thing, like he said,
as he had COVID. It is like just touching these
two like little wooden.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Honestly, his vision was affected by COVID.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
I remember, Yeah, But JT and them, no, they've seen
it because it's like I don't even know, it's like
two like things. And he would touch it I was
just like, he would do it for like ten minutes
and I was.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Like, what the heck is he doing? Yeah, all right,
good answer.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
What's the hardest shot in the game of basketball?
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Well, that's different for different people. For you, hardest shot
in the game of basketball for me, m I could
tell you in an area that I think I would
like to get better at. It's probably like my floater.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I would say, going up against seven footer.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Floater, but I usually prefer a little pop pull up shot,
which I'm really good at.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
But I'd say my floater can be better.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, all right, we'll take that. What's the most important
lesson you've learned since turning pro.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Balance in life? Social battery?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, I feel like you can that's a great term.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
By the way, Yeah, social.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Bad will carry you through. I feel like the rest
of your life.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
Even I feel like I used to, a lot of
people will be in town and I would, you know,
want to entertain. But like, social battery is a real
thing and can affect you.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I stole your question, Uh, what player have you studied
the most and modeled your game after?
Speaker 5 (23:35):
I can't pick one, but I could tell you a
lot of different people, uh, from Chris Paul, Damian Lillard,
Steph Curry, Fred Van Vliet a little bit, you know,
growing up and I was going into my sophomore high school,
Steve Blake was still in the league and he lived
in my hometown, so we used to play one on
(23:56):
one every day. So honestly, I probably took things from him.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Just I love stakes game.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I also never won a game that summer killed me
every day and.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
That's all right, that's hard to developed maybe better.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
For sure, Like I was fifteen at the time, so
I definitely took things from him. To be honest with you,
I take things from every player. If there's a certain
aspect that I like. I said this in an interview
too before, like Kawhi Leonard when he won that championship
and how he was playing, like he made things simple
and we don't play anything alike, but how we would
get to spots and just his little pull ups and
(24:30):
like he wouldn't do all these crazy moves or anything.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
He would just get to a spot.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Yeah, simple, I'd like, I really liked that, and I
started trying to take that into my own game in
my own way, so to just have an imagination with
a different bunch of different players and seeing something and
then taking in, putting in your own little spice on it.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Okay, a couple more real quick answers, so we get
you out of here. Who's a funny team that you've
ever had?
Speaker 4 (24:55):
This is tough, now, this is easy, easy blake. That's what.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
At your wedding? Did you have to like rain him
in at all? Or were you like just this.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Is like just just go have fun with it, make
people laugh.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, that's what he does, all right.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
What's your favorite shot that you've ever made outside of
the heaves in the finals?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Favorite shot I ever made? Mhm, man, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
There's a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
There's a lot of them.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Uh, we can skip it if you don't have one
coming to mind.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Well, there's one in college I enjoyed. It was when
I was playing my rival and against Washington yep, nice
and I kind of blacked out and I was like
saying that I owned this state or something. But it
was like a deep step back three and the games,
but it.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Was like this is yeah, I owned this.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, so I've blacked on that moment.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
But yeah, that's what you're supposed to black out. After
those types of shots, all right, last one before we
let you go. Peyton Pritchard will make how many three pointers?
This season? And I say this because right now as
we're recording this, you're on pace to make over three hundred.
There's only been three people in the history of the
NBA to ever do that, and no one has made
more than two hundred and forty five ever in Celtics history.
(26:10):
So with that, I'll leave it at you. How many
are you going to make this season? Is that a goal? Pain?
Not that I want to set any limits on you,
but what's it like a goal I would?
Speaker 4 (26:20):
I'm not going to set a goal. I'm gonna set it.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
I'm going to definitely continue to be aggressive of hunting
and taking threes. And that's the goal. There's no number,
there's there's nothing to it. And if I'm a if
I do that, then I'm sure the rest will take
care of itself.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
That is a perfectly politically correct answer. I say, Joe
Missoula approves that, and I'm going to follow up and
say if he does that, he's going to get to
three hundred. So Peyton pritcher Man, we appreciate you coming on.
It's been awesome to watch your career develop, and it's
great to hear like the story of just how that
tough year has led you to where you are right now.
You deserve everything you got. Think six Man of the Year.
I hope you get it. Most Improved, I hope you
(26:56):
get it. You deserve them, and good luck the rest
of the season.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Then thank you Payton.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
M m m hm.
Welcome to Season five.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
A view from the Raptors behind the scenes with the
Boston Celtics.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
We're sitting arounding these conversations.
Speaker 4 (00:07):
Which one sticks out to you?
Speaker 5 (00:08):
What do we crap?
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Or we just want a championship? That probably happens a lot.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
We do this every year.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Right, this is hard, bro, Thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
I never thought of it that way. Be a part
of that winning atmosphere, all right.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Peyton Pritchard having a career year across the board in
terms of three pointers, made, points per game, three point percenters,
like all of it? Is it all due to that
little kid that was defending you in the in the
park before the season or at the start of the season.
About that, Yeah, okay, be a little bit right.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
You probably added little fire.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah yeah, what was what went behind that? I know
you've kind of talked about it, but for everyone who
doesn't know, we had a video come out us from
your wife, right yep, she posted it that Peyton was
just in a random park, just like backing a kid down,
playing one on one against him, and it was awesome
and went viral.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
So we it was like a Sunday and we was
walking to just get a cup of coffee with our
dog and that's a week coffee. We stopped by the
dark part and ended up being like a half court
there and there was three kids playing, and uh, I'm
surprised they recognized me, but they kind of recognized me.
I had a beanie on and everything, so yeah, if
you look at me from the back, I'm an average
(01:15):
looking person, you know what I mean, Like I can't
really tell, like I'm not that tall, like, but they recognized, yeah,
you're pretty.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I had my beanie all the way down.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
You can't even see my eyebrows or but they asked
me to come over and I ended up going over there,
and just like, I don't know, I enjoy moments like that. Yeah,
I feel like as a kid, I used to play
all the time outside and if a pro what came up,
which I was around pros as kids and stuff like that,
and I think it helped me in my development. So
anytime I have a chance to do something like that, uh,
(01:49):
I think back when I was a kid and I'd
always do it.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Was there like a going away like message to them
of saying, like, you know, here's what you should do
to try to get to where you want to be
here and if you mean the.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Mess as I always give, it is just hard work. Now,
maybe I should explain what it what hard is it
is because a lot of people don't really understand that.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
But ultimately, hard work will take you a long ways
in this world.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
And whatever you decide to do, and if you put
your mind to it and you grind it every day,
then you'll accomplish your dreams.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
What is hard work to you?
Speaker 5 (02:25):
It's a setting a goal and waking up and accomplishing
that goal every day. So and that's for me, Like
as a kid, it was you know, I used to
tell my dad, like where I wanted to be, what
colleges I wanted to go to, and then you know,
then me writing what the plan was, what that looked like.
(02:45):
So me getting better at ball handling, it was waking
up before school at like six point thirty six o'clock
and dribbling a wait ball the freezing garage for thirty
minutes in the morning, and then you know, going.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
To get the fact that it was freezing help excel accelerate.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Maybe because the ball hurts. And yeah, there's a story.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
There was a story of like my fingers bleeding and
obviously it's it's a little it's been exaggerated a little bit,
but you know, in the cold weather, with the like
the weight ball the way it was, it definitely like
cuts some of my fingers which I had to tape up.
But then go to school during lunchtime. A lot of kids,
you know, want to go to lunch with their friends,
(03:27):
and and I did that at times. But then there
was a lot of moments that like I would be
on the track, I would be be running, and then
after school, my dad had a clinic, basketball clinic, and
I would drive there right away after school and do
another hour workout and then stay eat, eat again, and
then do another one. So I was doing that for
at least five days a week. And so by the
(03:50):
time in high school, well this is even in middle school,
in high school, and you know, and at the time,
I was scrawny, I was little, and like a lot
of people did not think I would ever make it.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
But I had like a dream.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
For myself and I was never gonna let anybody tell
me that I could accomplish it. I was going to
everybody so.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
To drive clearly, do the coaches, I mean, yes, your
hard work now is legendary. You're a gamer, obviously willing
to play anywhere anytime.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Do the coaches ever ever ever have to pull you
out of the gin?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, I think it's an addiction for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
When I first got here, they definitely And I've changed
my work habits a lot. And it's not to say
that I don't I don't grind really hard on the
court and I still get really yeah, I still get
all that work in, but it's it's not doing the
unnecessary stuff and it's more like it's now spending time
in the weight room and making sure I get thirty
(04:46):
minutes to an hour and there. Like it's activation before
court and then it lifting after or stretching and stuff
like that. So it's you know, there's a lot of
working on my body and I feel like that's why
I've made to jump this year too, is I've gotten stronger.
I've gotten a little bit more explosive in certain areas.
And that's a big credit to say, because you know.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I strength trainers.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
Yeah, and we uh, before we had this break, we
actually hadn't skipped the day of a lifting wow. So
like off day was a hard lifting day and then
game days it's more explosive stuff, but like just being
disciplined to get it in every day because as you
guys know, the traveling everything, it can get gruel and
you can skip steps, skip a day.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
So try to hang my hat on I never skipping
a step.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
You should not do the unnecessary things. I have to
know what were the unnecessary things that you were doing
as a rookie that they're kind of like, I really
need to do that.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
It's you know I used now, I think, and Craig
kind of showed me this. It's also our player development,
and it's like as a young kid, block training, you
know what that means. That can be really good. That's
like shooting a hunter makes spot or whatever. And I
used to still do that, but I trained my changed
my training in a different way where now it's like
(06:02):
thirty to forty five minutes really hard and sharp, but
it's like live reads.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
It's coaked people guarding me.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
And I've kind of adapted to that and I really
enjoy it and I think it's definitely helped, and it's
more precise, and it's going hard for that forty five
minutes and getting everything out of it and not braining
it out for three hours.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, for like seven hundred makes every year whatever.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
To be honest, is a college season compared to an
NBA season is a lot different. We're playing we're playing
about one hundred games a year, counting playoffs, and in
college you're only playing thirty so like you can grind
a lot more on days during the week because you
don't play it till Thursday Saturday.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
So it's just different.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, So you touched on the work ethic and just
like what you're doing off the court. I guess on
the court but not not in games that has gotten
you to this level, But like what else has contributed
to this? I mean, you're literally leading the six Man
of the Year conversation right now as we're like a
quarter of the way through the season. What has led
to this this burst in your career?
Speaker 5 (07:03):
I mean obviously that stuff, but I think balance in
my life. I would have to say Emma has helped
with that a lot. It's in what ways I think,
just you know, when you're I'm obviously I'm married, married
man now and like it's just we have a routine
at home and it's you know, I don't do anything extra.
(07:24):
I don't It's not like I'm going out and I'm
drinking and I'm doing those type of stuff that can
you know, hurt my performance.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
And stuff like that. We eat at home together. I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
I just feel like, you know, when you're happy outside
of My dad used to always say, if you're good
off the court, you're always gonna be good on the court.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
And I'm very happy.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Outside of Like once I leave the facility or the
arena and I go home, I have a very good
home life. Like we have a good relationship. She's like
my best friend, and things are very positive. So even
if it is a bad day, I have something good
to go back to, which I'm not going to say
ever that I had a bad home life or anything
like that. I just I've I think I've.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Had that now and you've very elevated it, you.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Know, so, which I think has been a big part
of it.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, that's awesome to hear, and I feel like part
of that all wrapped into the mental side of things,
which you've always been really good at. But how has
that evolved for you and going from probably the lowest
of the lows a couple of years ago to now
experiencing and how were you able to maintain your confidence
through all of that, and like where does that come from?
Speaker 5 (08:27):
It's funny, I was actually talking about this was a
friend the other day. But you know, me going through
that has actually allowed me to grow and become stronger
now like before, like I just had like a bad
game against the Bucks obviously to my standard, and yeah,
but before like mentally that could have derailed me for
(08:50):
the next couple of days because we played the next day,
you know, and like you could be thinking about it
all night, and like, obviously I want to come back
and bounce back, but to come back and reset the
mind and then go and do it and like play
well the next night, and so like growth of facts
is not leaning onto multiple days like letting things carry
on or little things bother my mind, like I think
(09:13):
is growth. And but I always look at every situation
like it might not be going my way, but like
how is this in the bigger picture?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
How is this developing me?
Speaker 5 (09:22):
And me not playing my third year and all the
things I went through and life changes and stuff like that,
Like it really made me a stronger person, probably a
better person off the court and everything, a more balanced person.
And so honestly, I'll probably look at it as like
one of the best years for my development.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
That's interesting. People probably wouldn't guess that any outside for
sure what actually happened that year if you can take
us since ide and like we all know, like what
actually happened on the court, like it was just a
loaded team and there were only so many minutes to
go around, But you know behind closed doors what happened
in your season and how you kind have attacked it
approach to head conversations with the team. And then obviously,
(10:03):
I mean Brad Stevens has made abundantly clear even then
He's like, we want Peyton here long term. Folks, You've
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Speaker 5 (10:23):
So I mean, uh, I mean, everybody knows I I
publicly wanted to be traded at the time I wanted.
It wasn't nothing against organization or or the city of Boston.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I wanted to play.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
I wanted to play something I love to do is
play basketball. And to be honest, I was there was
moments where I was kind of depressed. I was like
very sad at the time, and and it was killing
me watch him. But through that I totally changed my mentality.
And and I looked at it as like, you know,
it's like almost like a red Shire year, Like this
(10:58):
year is not going to define this isn't this isn't
the last year I'm ever going to play basketball. I'm
going to get an opportunity, whether that's here or not
or somewhere else. And I got to take advantage of that.
So I went to work, I went to got better
at my weaknesses and developed my strengths even more. And
when I did eventually get the opportunity, I was I
was never going to look back, which I feel like
(11:19):
a lot of people and I see a lot of
young dudes they don't play and then they stop working.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
They hit that moment and go in the other direction.
You want a lot, Yeah, we've seen it here for
so Celtics.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I mean, and I know what I know why that is. Though.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
It's like these kids like are so talented. We're all
the man in high school, we're the man in college.
Everybody caters to you. The ball is in your hands,
like everything is for you. So then the first time
in their life, you're going to be put in a
professional level and they're like, you're not the man. You're
gonna have to take a back seat, tough, they're not
(11:55):
catering to you. You know, you're gonna have to just
figure it out, and a lot of people don't have
to don't know how to mentally handle that. Lucky for me,
I got a good support, supporting cast that.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
I have two great parents too that played high level
collegiate sports. My mom was a very high level gymnast Alklahoma,
and my dad played football there and was a high
level athlete as well. So now they didn't make it
to the professional levels, but they they helped me navigating
the emotions of it and like how to you know,
how to handle it? And I feel like they always
(12:28):
leaned on the work ethics side of it, and they
were hard workers. So it's kind of what I dove into.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
It's pretty incredible to be able to look back now
of like how that how tough that year was. But
now you're looking at as like without that year, you
might not be where you are right now.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
For sure.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
I definitely don't think I'll be the player I am
today with without those tough stretches.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Pretty incredible, and you've completely flipped it to now where
you are high up on every team's scouting report.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Doc Rivers is.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Out there talking about you like whatever happens did I
Peyton Pritchard.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Especially at the end of quarters.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And so much though even in practice, you mentioned in
an interview recently that you guys have a one on
five drill where you just have to get by guys.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
How did that?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
It's a it's so it's it's funny. It is that.
I feel like that got exaggerated a little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
But but.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Told the story.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Actually Drew Drew.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
He started, he started, and got asked about But really.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
It's just like a drill, and we really only we
do it the preseason and maybe in the playoff time.
But it's a drill, like, well, I'm just getting guys moving.
They're moving the feet if they're trying to guard me
full court of just trying to keep in front really
from baseline to half court.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
I'm not trying to explode by them. I'm just getting.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Using your shiftingess to like work them.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Yeah, it worked them, and then by that then I
can try to explode and and stuff like that. But
I feel like Drew gave me credit just probably because
I have a good handle. I'm fast and I can
stop really quickly, so it can be hard to guard
me when I'm ang and speeds very quick, and you know,
guys are leaning. I can make some guys cross over
(14:05):
the feet a little bit hum right now.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And I feel like we all have this dream of
like every day in practice, you were going through this
and it's like Peyton versus the team, but you're saying
it only has.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
A couple like high level some of the best defenders
in the NBA, and you're just dribbling around them.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Sure, he's your.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Okay handle to get around guys like Drew Holiday.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
For sure.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I'm definitely very fortunate to go against the We have
the best of the best here, so that is as
much as I might be helping them, they've helped me
a lot. And people like JB and JT but like
want to play one on one and uh, they always,
you know, asked me to play, And as much as
I might ask them to play, they're asking me to
(14:47):
play so and I will always be grateful for that
because that elevates my game.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
And and I.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Get like you said, I get to go against two
of the best Drew, Derek, JT. JB all them like
all the time, and that's only elevating me and making
me better every day.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
How did those one on one battles with JB start?
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Started my rookie year. And to be honest with you,
I never really won a game.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Like my rookie year. Really rookie year. He used to
kill me.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Now he'd been in the league for what he was
those three years.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I think fifth years. That was his fifth year.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Oh my god, serious for sure.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
And I'm not saying we didn't compete and I didn't
get close. But and also there would be times where
I was a rook so he would call foul, you know,
he wouldn't let me uh when. But each year, you know,
it started to change a little bit. My second year
was probably thirty seventy, third year probably forty sixty. And
(15:45):
you know, you'd have to ask him now we haven't
played in a while, but I'd say we.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Go back and forth fifty to fifty.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Love to hear We're gonna have to ask him now.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Yeah, I mean he's not going to say that, but
you hear it from me.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
We're gonna be like Peyton's out of his mind. No way.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Definitely battle it out.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
How different is it now that defenses are scheming against you?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Can you feel it?
Speaker 5 (16:08):
No, not necessarily, because you can't really scheme against any
of us, like like we have so much talent, Like
you're gonna guard.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It's a great point.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, So it's it's.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Still one on one basketball really, like if you I
look at it, like if two people are gonna guard me,
then I'm gonna make the simple play and yeah, we're
gonna get a great shot. So I don't really think
you can scheme against our team in general, even.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
If you try to.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
But we try to pride ourselves even when we're attacking
a massive a matchup like JB J T. They getting
the paint. If two people collide on them, they they're
gonna make the right play and kick it out to
the to the perimeter. I see this thing all the time,
like people think we're just hunting three balls, but it's
it's really not like that, like we're really looking for
the best.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Shot every time, thank you.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
We're trying to tack the paint and if there's if
it's a one on one matchup and they can get
to the rim. Or if they feel comfortable with hitting
a little ten foot or high quality shot, then.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
They're allowed to take that.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
All of us are and if to come or you
see an open man of the premeter, then that's that
is the right play because the high percentage on that
shot catch shoe shot is a lot of us are
hitting at at like what close to fifty.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yeah, well, and that's the that's the thing with the
five out. You're all elite.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
We have at least eight dudes and multiple others obviously
and they're working on it. But eight dudes for sure
that like are capable of hitting at least five threes
in a game.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
So that's so it makes us very dangerous.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
But I always hate the thing that we're just hunting
threes and we're just chucking them up.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, I feel like people talk about it is if
you guys are all just standing around the three point
line and like passing it no, like you have to drive,
you have to kick, you are making the defense sure
like vulnerable just coming down in ucking it up.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yeah, it's very calculated.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
It's we have shots that we're trying to get to
and like we're trying to get to the paint.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah, all right, speaking about getting shots up. Talking about
Doc Rivers, I got to ask you about this, like,
after you made the end of quarter shot against the Bucks,
did you see his reaction.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
I didn't see that at the time. I saw it
on SAT.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So Doc was like demoralized, He's and then he said
after the game, He's like, we talked about this and
we still let Peyton Pritchard make the shot. How does
that feel to make an opposing coach just like demor
I mean, he just he went like this.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
It was funny for Sureie, how does this guy do this?
It's a it's a good feeling. It means I'm doing
my job for sure. So I just I love how
the even before I check in, the crowd gets up.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It's amazing, like they're like, oh, Peyton's going in.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
There's an energy to it, and so you noticed, Oh yeah,
I definitely get up for it. It helps me out
because that's the anticipation of it probably makes me lock
in more and why I've been able to hit some
of them shots.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Dive in on that though, because I think what the
rumor was that you checked yourself in right. Like the
first time that this started.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
To I didn't necessarily check my I looked at Charles
Lee at the time. I said, uh, we call him
Sea Lee, and I was like ceely cey, like look
at the Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I kind of gave him that like look, and then
he looked at Joe and me and Joe.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Made on contact and he kind of gave me this like,
you know, head, like come on, yeah, and I sprinted up.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
There and hit that one.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
And then the game five came and I hadn't played
actually the whole game, and uh.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It see even more impressive.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
I was cold, very cold, and I'm surprised they even
got it there. But I think the just the adrenaline
and the moment it just made me lock in and
you know, get it done.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Oregon garage dribbling the winter cold.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Probably every moment of me training and doing everything can
lead up to a moment like that.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, it's amazing seeing these shots going though. I mean,
you you are the guy in the NBA that everyone
thinks about now when they think about end of quarter shots,
because you've ever dreamed that like you would. I wouldn't
call it a niche, but like that's what you're known
for around the NBA, with the fans, with other teams,
with other coaches.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Yeah, I mean it's crazy. I mean I'm fearless.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah. So when you posted after that game, you said,
what did you say, fear no something? I think moment, Yeah,
fear no moment.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
So I feel like that's really what it is, is
being fearless and not karen about anything but trying to
help the team win. So, and honestly, I've been seeing
a lot of guys take it like I've seen another night.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's growing. Yeah, people are like, but I don't.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
I feel like guys would always take it. Yeah, the
swings can be incredible, Like what if you end up.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
That's more important than your field goal percentage going down?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Yeah, I mean honestly, if we really exactly and if
we if analytics people want to just do their job
that take off all those misses. Yeah, those are only
trust trying to help the team win. Those aren't a
realistic so they are for you.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I was gonna say, there is a difference in your more.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Realistic for you likely to go in.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yeah, all right, Well who's the.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Cool I want?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Has anyone cool that you were surprised by I reached
out to after hitting one of those shots.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Uh, I mean, shoot, my social might like Twitter on Instagram,
was flooded with people. Yeah, so there was a lot
of different people I've seen obviously, people in the NBA
football people.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
All right, Well on this topic, we've got a little
game we're going to play right now. It's called half
court heaves. All right, We're gonna go back and forth.
We've got some questions here and these are just we
don't know if these are going to land with you
and you're gonna have a good answer, maybe it's gonna miss.
All right, So this will be quick, quick answers. Okay,
I'll start it out. What's the weirdest pregame ritual you've
ever seen from a teammate?
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Evan Fournier. He used to do this thing, like he said,
as he had COVID. It is like just touching these
two like little wooden.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Honestly, his vision was affected by COVID.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
I remember, Yeah, But JT and them, no, they've seen
it because it's like I don't even know, it's like
two like things. And he would touch it I was
just like, he would do it for like ten minutes
and I was.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Like, what the heck is he doing? Yeah, all right,
good answer.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
What's the hardest shot in the game of basketball?
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Well, that's different for different people. For you, hardest shot
in the game of basketball for me, m I could
tell you in an area that I think I would
like to get better at. It's probably like my floater.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I would say, going up against seven footer.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Floater, but I usually prefer a little pop pull up shot,
which I'm really good at.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
But I'd say my floater can be better.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, all right, we'll take that. What's the most important
lesson you've learned since turning pro.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Balance in life? Social battery?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, I feel like you can that's a great term.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
By the way, Yeah, social.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Bad will carry you through. I feel like the rest
of your life.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
Even I feel like I used to, a lot of
people will be in town and I would, you know,
want to entertain. But like, social battery is a real
thing and can affect you.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I stole your question, Uh, what player have you studied
the most and modeled your game after?
Speaker 5 (23:35):
I can't pick one, but I could tell you a
lot of different people, uh, from Chris Paul, Damian Lillard,
Steph Curry, Fred Van Vliet a little bit, you know,
growing up and I was going into my sophomore high school,
Steve Blake was still in the league and he lived
in my hometown, so we used to play one on
(23:56):
one every day. So honestly, I probably took things from him.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Just I love stakes game.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I also never won a game that summer killed me
every day and.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
That's all right, that's hard to developed maybe better.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
For sure, Like I was fifteen at the time, so
I definitely took things from him. To be honest with you,
I take things from every player. If there's a certain
aspect that I like. I said this in an interview
too before, like Kawhi Leonard when he won that championship
and how he was playing, like he made things simple
and we don't play anything alike, but how we would
get to spots and just his little pull ups and
(24:30):
like he wouldn't do all these crazy moves or anything.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
He would just get to a spot.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Yeah, simple, I'd like, I really liked that, and I
started trying to take that into my own game in
my own way, so to just have an imagination with
a different bunch of different players and seeing something and
then taking in, putting in your own little spice on it.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Okay, a couple more real quick answers, so we get
you out of here. Who's a funny team that you've
ever had?
Speaker 4 (24:55):
This is tough, now, this is easy, easy blake. That's what.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
At your wedding? Did you have to like rain him
in at all? Or were you like just this.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Is like just just go have fun with it, make
people laugh.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, that's what he does, all right.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
What's your favorite shot that you've ever made outside of
the heaves in the finals?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Favorite shot I ever made? Mhm, man, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
There's a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
There's a lot of them.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Uh, we can skip it if you don't have one
coming to mind.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Well, there's one in college I enjoyed. It was when
I was playing my rival and against Washington yep, nice
and I kind of blacked out and I was like
saying that I owned this state or something. But it
was like a deep step back three and the games,
but it.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Was like this is yeah, I owned this.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, so I've blacked on that moment.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
But yeah, that's what you're supposed to black out. After
those types of shots, all right, last one before we
let you go. Peyton Pritchard will make how many three pointers?
This season? And I say this because right now as
we're recording this, you're on pace to make over three hundred.
There's only been three people in the history of the
NBA to ever do that, and no one has made
more than two hundred and forty five ever in Celtics history.
(26:10):
So with that, I'll leave it at you. How many
are you going to make this season? Is that a goal? Pain?
Not that I want to set any limits on you,
but what's it like a goal I would?
Speaker 4 (26:20):
I'm not going to set a goal. I'm gonna set it.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
I'm going to definitely continue to be aggressive of hunting
and taking threes. And that's the goal. There's no number,
there's there's nothing to it. And if I'm a if
I do that, then I'm sure the rest will take
care of itself.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
That is a perfectly politically correct answer. I say, Joe
Missoula approves that, and I'm going to follow up and
say if he does that, he's going to get to
three hundred. So Peyton pritcher Man, we appreciate you coming on.
It's been awesome to watch your career develop, and it's
great to hear like the story of just how that
tough year has led you to where you are right now.
You deserve everything you got. Think six Man of the Year.
I hope you get it. Most Improved, I hope you
(26:56):
get it. You deserve them, and good luck the rest
of the season.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Then thank you Payton.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
M m m hm.
Host
Marc D'Amico
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