Oregon Basketball: 2020 NBA Draft Profile for Payton Pritchard

NBA Comparison – T.J. McConnell

There are a handful of names I could have picked here, including Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson and former Oregon point guard Luke Ridnour, but I went with Pacers point guard T.J. McConnell for a handful of reasons.

One, McConnell and Pritchard are nearly identical in size (6’1, 190 for McConnell and 6’2, 190 for Pritchard) and both are smart, floor general type point guards who can lead an offense, rack up assists, and avoid turning the ball over.

Pritchard is more of a volume shooter than McConnell, who averages just 0.7 three-point attempts per game, and Pritchard will probably be more efficient as well seeing as McConnell has knocked down just 33.2% of his attempts from long range.

However, McConnell has settled in as a reliable 20 minutes per game backup point guard in the NBA who can get to the rim, knock down free throws, make good decisions, hit an occasional three-pointer, and is a good off the ball defensive player – averaging 1.2 steals per game.

All of that seems likely to apply to Pritchard, although more of his scoring will come from beyond the arc and less in the paint.

Brunson’s outside shooting (35.2% on 2.3 attempts per game) is probably a more accurate comparison for Pritchard, but he’s a poor off the ball defender and less of a facilitator.

So a hybrid McConnell/Brunson is probably the best real comparison here, although Pritchard will need to carve out a pretty significant role (both those guys play about 20 minutes per game) to put up numbers rivaling either of them.

For that to happen he will need to end up in the right situation, and that’s what we’ll talk about next.