Orlando Magic: Defending Elfrid Payton’s Growth

Elfrid Payton has so far been the best player the Orlando Magic picked up in last year’s NBA draft. This is not a slight on forward Aaron Gordon, picked ahead of Payton, as he has struggled with injury and inconsistency this season. So the above headline might seem a little confusing.

But while Payton has been mostly a positive for this team, he hasn’t exactly grown much since being drafted either. His shooting and free throw percentages are still (far) below average. This is acceptable, and most fans understand that, but we need to look at his career to date to realize that he might remain like this for a little while.

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First, the obvious. Payton is only just over halfway through his first year in the league, so of course he’s going to have some drawbacks. It’s unfair to expect him to come in the finished article, and in fact his potential is still clear for all to see and is exciting.

Add to that the fact his basketball IQ is clearly years ahead of where it should be, and there’s reason to be pretty excited about his future. The comparisons to former All-Star Rajon Rondo have been made before, and Payton’s play has only reinforced the feeling that he will end up a similar player.

Already it appears stellar defence and the ability to pick out the right pass at the right time will be his calling cards in this league. He leads all rookies with 5.7 assists per game, which unsurprisingly is also the highest mark on his own team as well.

For a small bit of context on how good his understanding of the game and passing ability already is, Marcus Smart is next on that list with 3.5 assists a night.

So why do I feel the need to defend him? Well, his career has actually began with plenty of obstacles, and yes he is still finding ways to not only contribute, but slowly get better as a player as well. For instance, to begin his career he logged more than 30 minutes’ action in three of his first four games, but he wasn’t entrusted to be a starter right away.

To date he has started 42 of his team’s 61 games. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end.

Feb 22, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Isaiah Canaan (0) and Orlando Magic guard Elfrid Payton (4) go after the loose ball during the second half at Amway Center. Orlando Magic defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 103-98. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Of course he was going to struggle to adapt right away, but he was sharing the court a lot at the beginning of the season with Evan Fournier. The Frenchman was hot off a great showing at the FIBA World Cup, and was filling up the bucket nightly as well.

So Payton settled into a role of a more defensive kind of guard, teeing up others but not taking on much of the scoring work himself. In December and January of this season, he cracked double digits in scoring on eight occasions.

Payton wasn’t allowed settle into this rhythm, however, as second-year guard and face of the franchise Victor Oladipo returned from injury to join him in the backcourt. Playing alongside Oladipo would have been another adjustment as he is a two-way player with great athletic ability who is continuing to get better at an accelerated pace.

Oladipo doesn’t quite demand the ball on the court, but his ability to do a lot meant Payton took a back seat by default and let him teammate do more of the work simply because he was better equipped to do so.

Just so we’re clear, Payton is not Oladipo and so will grow at a slower pace than Oladipo. There are some who seem to think that, because Oladipo came into this league and by halfway through his first season had learned the ropes and was contributing in a big way, Payton should be doing the same things.

It was never going to be that way, and it needs to be pointed out. Payton is growing at a slower rate, and that is allowed.

So while the rookie had to adapt to sharing a backcourt with two very different types of players, as well as growing through trial and error, there was constant chatter that then-head coach Jacque Vaughn was going to be fired. Say what you want about the guy, he did more bad than good for this team in his time there.

But as a former point guard himself, he would have provided valuable insight to Payton to allow him to grow.

Vaughn, of course, was fired, and interim coach James Borrego has done a neat job of steadying the ship since he was instated. For Payton though, the transition hasn’t been smooth sailing. He’s struggled some over the last couple of weeks, and worryingly only played 13 minutes in Sunday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

In that game he went 0-for-4 for zero points, while also only coming up with a single assist and rebound. On only two occasions this season has he seen less court time in a game, the most recent coming in a December loss to the Toronto Raptors.

This is more a blip than anything else, but Payton needs to play to get better. This team is going nowhere, and yet Borrego still sat the guy for a large portion of the game. Payton’s player efficiency rating for the season is just better than 12, with the league average being 15.

That’s not a massive worry yet, but it shows he’s not always a massive help to the team while on the court (teammate Kyle O’Quinn, a member of the second unit and a nice rim protector, has a PER of just better than 15).

So to quickly recap, in his first four and a half months playing basketball, Payton has shared the backcourt with two very different players. He’s had two head coaches (that may becomes three if Borrego doesn’t get the job on a full-time basis) and seen his playing time go from 39 minutes against the Miami Heat to 13 minutes against the Hornets in less than a week.

Consistency has been hard to come by it appears, and I’m willing to bet it’s contributed to his slow growth and him making the same mistakes.

So stick with the guy, imagine starting a new job and having that much upheaval in the first four months working there. It would be hard to get into a flow and rhythm, especially when you factor in the long flights and tough away trips. All things considered, Elfrid Payton is actually further along in his development than he really ought to be right now, and that’s exciting.

The next time he commits a silly turnover or misses 20 free throws in a row, remember all that he’s been through in his career so far.

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