Phoenix Suns: Breathing life back into The Timeline

Elfrid Payton

One game is nowhere near enough to make any definitive declarations. Hell, the Suns may have a hard time making a decision on Elfrid Payton after the final 26 games of the season. The sample sizes we’re working with are extremely small.

However, there’s no doubt that Payton figures to be a breath of fresh air thanks to his pass-first mindset on a team that’s sorely lacked stability at the point guard position this season. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say Payton is easily the best facilitator the Suns have had since Goran Dragic.

In his Suns debut, with only a walkthrough to get acquainted with his new teammates, Payton simply played basketball, tallying 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds on 8-of-13 shooting.

He didn’t attempt a single 3-pointer, which is in keeping with his efficient 3-point percentage on only 67 attempts this season, but he got into the paint and either finished at the basket or found cutters with nifty passes that his teammates often weren’t even ready for.

"“The pace of play was better, getting the ball up and down the court,” Triano said. “Getting into the lane when he needed to and making passes, make the guys on the floor with him better. I think it’ll only improve as well as he understands who can do different things for us and where to be.”"

The 23-year-old floor general offered an interesting mix of pushing the ball in transition while also showing patience in probing the defense.

Having some solid young talent around him took the pressure off Payton to spread the floor, and that will only get better on the nights when Devin Booker is healthy and Troy Daniels shoots better than 2-for-8 from 3-point range. Payton never really enjoyed much floor-spacing in his time with the Orlando Magic

"“A lot of talent,” Payton said of his new teammates. “A lot of shooters, guys that are willing to run the floor, so just doing what I do and trying to get the people involved, try to get in the paint and kick to shooters, things like that.”"

Though Payton’s arrival finally gives the Suns help at the point guard position, the best part is Triano said the Devin Booker-at-PG experiment is not over. In fact, if Booker had been healthy, he would’ve been the team’s backup point guard on a night where Ulis sat out.

In any case, Payton — who is good friends with T.J. Warren — will get his two-month trial period to prove himself before hitting restricted free agency. His future depends as much on those two months as it does on which direction the Suns go in the draft (i.e. point guard or center) and whether they plan to make a bid for other free agents (cough Clint Capela cough).

For now though, Payton’s ability to make life easier for his young teammates — on a night without Devin Booker, no less — bodes well for the rest of the season. He may not be the Suns’ long-term answer at the 1, but if his pass-first mentality continues to bring out the best of Bender, Jackson and Warren like it did Saturday, he’ll be worth considering in a dry market.

Next: Biggest winners and losers of the 2018 NBA Trade Deadline

It seems odd to derive so many moral victories from a double-digit defeat, but again, context (three starters missing, one new arrival, and the fact that Warren, Jackson, Payton and Bender are all 24 or younger) is important. Bearing all this in mind, the next step for The Timeline is approaching the point where individual numbers translate to a more competitive team.