Elfrid Payton Discussion, news and highlights.

[Saberestar]

He is back.




One year deal for the minimum.

It is worthy of mention that he has played at least 23 mpg during all his 7 seasons in the league, so coaches trust him.

Good defender and good creating his own shot going to the rim.

I think he is an upgrade over Moore as a player but he needs to accept his role and be a positive influence in the locker-room.

[cberry78]

Glad to have him back. Keep in mind he also has 17 career triple doubles.

EDIT: That's one more than CP3 in his career and he's 11th among active players.

[sunsbg]

Yeah, still remember he had a tripple double in one of his first games here, so it's strange he's considered a scrub. Was there another minimum contract player at young age in league history to record 17 TDs ? Or this is another proof of stat-padding in current era.

[Barkley6]

I think this move likely speaks to us trying to give CP3 more scheduled rest. I know it's a controversial topic in the league, but I think it will likely benefit him, and us, in the long run. This also means we have a very capable backup in case CP3 or Payne get hurt. Last year we really didn't have anyone who could create for others to put on the floor if one of them couldn't go.

[Jesus_H_Macy]

I really hope his game has changed since the last time he was here. My memory of him was a player who was a good passer and very good at getting to the rim but terrible at everything else, including defense. Suppose 3rd string PG doesn't matter so much (we really didn't even have one last year) but I remember being very happy the Suns didn't bring him back. If he can at least play defense now then I suppose he could have some use.

[bwgood77]

Reading the responses to Shams tweet announcing it was entertaining...hopefully he doesn't do too much of this..

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[sunsbg]

He should be better than Moore at distributing the ball as a 3rd string PG having averaged 7+apg a season ago. No idea why assists dropped at half during last season, played a different role I guess. No idea what other role as he's not a good shooter though 2pt % looks decent. Can't be worse on D than Moore, so overall an upgrade. There is a video of him dropping 27 on the Bucks, which may have been the deciding factor to sign him.

[RunDogGun]

Glad to have him back. Keep in mind he also has 17 career triple doubles.

EDIT: That's one more than CP3 in his career and he's 11th among active players.

I didn't know he had that many. For the vet min, thats pretty awesome.

[matt131]

Lol

https://youtu.be/pVZmnTpy4yI

Not sure why Crowder was shooting that, but the foul on Payton looks pretty hard. Seems like a heat of the moment type foul, but still funny to see now.

[cberry78]

Didn't see this yet...if Payton can learn from both CP3 and DB, and if he can recognize what Monty/Jones/CP3 have done for CamP, I think Payton has some definite untapped potential.

https://arizonasports.com/story/2775149/suns-elfrid-payton-says-chris-paul-reached-out-in-free-agency-excited-to-return/

[RunDogGun]

I thought this would be a better place to discuss Elf. The NOP season was brought up in another thread, and I am glad it was. I ended up looking at the splits from that season, and it appears he was out for most of Nov/Dec. And then slowly improved as the months went on. His stat line for March is decent: Over a 15 game span, he scored 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. He shot his best from the FT line at 78% and 31% from three.

Elf is not a scrub, regardless of how people are painting him out to be.

[3toheadmelo]

I thought this would be a better place to discuss Elf. The NOP season was brought up in another thread, and I am glad it was. I ended up looking at the splits from that season, and it appears he was out for most of Nov/Dec. And then slowly improved as the months went on. His stat line for March is decent: Over a 15 game span, he scored 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. He shot his best from the FT line at 78% and 31% from three.

Elf is not a scrub, regardless of how people are painting him out to be.

Well the Knicks didn’t get that version of him this season that’s for sure. He kept ball hogging, shooting bricks and playing no defense. He is the most hated Knick we’ve had in a while. Suns should not play him any minutes at all if you guys want to stay as a contender

[DOT]

I thought this would be a better place to discuss Elf. The NOP season was brought up in another thread, and I am glad it was. I ended up looking at the splits from that season, and it appears he was out for most of Nov/Dec. And then slowly improved as the months went on. His stat line for March is decent: Over a 15 game span, he scored 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. He shot his best from the FT line at 78% and 31% from three.

Elf is not a scrub, regardless of how people are painting him out to be.

Every year he has a 10-15 game stretch like that where he fools some people into thinking this is it, we're finally seeing the real Elf, we can unlock his potential

And then he's complete dog **** the rest of the season

Luckily for you guys, he won't play much if at all, which is the perfect role for him. Depending on him on a nightly basis is a good strategy for disappointment.

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

[RunDogGun]

I thought this would be a better place to discuss Elf. The NOP season was brought up in another thread, and I am glad it was. I ended up looking at the splits from that season, and it appears he was out for most of Nov/Dec. And then slowly improved as the months went on. His stat line for March is decent: Over a 15 game span, he scored 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. He shot his best from the FT line at 78% and 31% from three.

Elf is not a scrub, regardless of how people are painting him out to be.

Well the Knicks didn’t get that version of him this season that’s for sure. He kept ball hogging, shooting bricks and playing no defense. He is the most hated Knick we’ve had in a while. Suns should not play him any minutes at all if you guys want to stay as a contender

You got that version two years ago though. Your coach trusted him to start 65 games this past season/post season, so maybe you should bark at him? But I am not sure how your opinion changes the facts presented, but you are more than welcome to express your opinion.

Two years ago on the Knicks, he averaged 10 points, 7.2 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. And he had a triple double of 20 points, 15 assists, 11 rebounds, 7 steals, and 2 blocks. He was literally three steals away from a quadruple double. So maybe it had more to do with the coaching change and system, than Payton himself?

I will agree his shot is not good. But for the vet min and 3rd string, he works just fine.

[RunDogGun]

I thought this would be a better place to discuss Elf. The NOP season was brought up in another thread, and I am glad it was. I ended up looking at the splits from that season, and it appears he was out for most of Nov/Dec. And then slowly improved as the months went on. His stat line for March is decent: Over a 15 game span, he scored 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. He shot his best from the FT line at 78% and 31% from three.

Elf is not a scrub, regardless of how people are painting him out to be.

Every year he has a 10-15 game stretch like that where he fools some people into thinking this is it, we're finally seeing the real Elf, we can unlock his potential

And then he's complete dog **** the rest of the season

Luckily for you guys, he won't play much if at all, which is the perfect role for him. Depending on him on a nightly basis is a good strategy for disappointment.

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

Thanks, not fooled into thinking anything. His career stats and accomplishments speak for themselves. For the vet min and role, it works. Cam Payne is the same age and was basically out of the league with nowhere near the accomplishments of Elf at point, and Cam had a solid season for us under Monty.

[3toheadmelo]

I thought this would be a better place to discuss Elf. The NOP season was brought up in another thread, and I am glad it was. I ended up looking at the splits from that season, and it appears he was out for most of Nov/Dec. And then slowly improved as the months went on. His stat line for March is decent: Over a 15 game span, he scored 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. He shot his best from the FT line at 78% and 31% from three.

Elf is not a scrub, regardless of how people are painting him out to be.

Well the Knicks didn’t get that version of him this season that’s for sure. He kept ball hogging, shooting bricks and playing no defense. He is the most hated Knick we’ve had in a while. Suns should not play him any minutes at all if you guys want to stay as a contender

You got that version two years ago though. Your coach trusted him to start 65 games this past season/post season, so maybe you should bark at him? But I am not sure how your opinion changes the facts presented, but you are more than welcome to express your opinion.

Two years ago on the Knicks, he averaged 10 points, 7.2 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. And he had a triple double of 20 points, 15 assists, 11 rebounds, 7 steals, and 2 blocks. He was literally three steals away from a quadruple double. So maybe it had more to do with the coaching change and system, than Payton himself?

I will agree his shot is not good. But for the vet min and 3rd string, he works just fine.

We didn’t get that player two years ago. He passed more a bit back then but was still hated by the majority of this fan base. Those are just empty stats. And he would always have a random game or two where he looks amazing then he goes back to being absolute trash.

Not sure if you realized but even Thibs gave Payton DNPs in 3 of our last playoff games. And in those first 2 playoff games he only played 8 and 5 minutes. So to say Thibs trusted him is a fallacy, considering his minutes kept dropping every single month eventually leading to DNPS.

If Payton is just a third stringer for you guys then that’s fine but don’t expect anything good by him if he does get minutes.

[RunDogGun]

We didn’t get that player two years ago. He passed more a bit back then but was still hated by the majority of this fan base. Those are just empty stats. And he would always have a random game or two where he looks amazing then he goes back to being absolute trash.

Not sure if you realized but even Thibs gave Payton DNPs in 3 of our last playoff games. And in those first 2 playoff games he only played 8 and 5 minutes. So to say Thibs trusted him is a fallacy, considering his minutes kept dropping every single month eventually leading to DNPS.

If Payton is just a third stringer for you guys then that’s fine but don’t expect anything good by him if he does get minutes.

Totally aware of Payton's starts, one of his haters already mentioned that. And if 65 starts is a falacy, then you need to have Thibs himself say so. As of now, the fact is he started Payton for every game Payton played last season. As for playoffs and leading up to the playoffs, Thibs could have easily liked a different matchup at point guard, and Rose was just playing better.

But I just don't get it then. Why would Thibs start Elf for 65 games if he really didn't trust him, or if Elf "sucks"? Did Elf have revealing photos of Thibs? Is Thibs really a bad coach, who starts scrubs for almost the whole season?

[MrMiyagi]

Elf is perfectly fine for the role he'll be given, which is to be a guard who can come off the bench and play with either CamPayne or Shamet, should we need him in case of injury.

[3toheadmelo]

We didn’t get that player two years ago. He passed more a bit back then but was still hated by the majority of this fan base. Those are just empty stats. And he would always have a random game or two where he looks amazing then he goes back to being absolute trash.

Not sure if you realized but even Thibs gave Payton DNPs in 3 of our last playoff games. And in those first 2 playoff games he only played 8 and 5 minutes. So to say Thibs trusted him is a fallacy, considering his minutes kept dropping every single month eventually leading to DNPS.

If Payton is just a third stringer for you guys then that’s fine but don’t expect anything good by him if he does get minutes.

Totally aware of Payton's starts, one of his haters already mentioned that. And if 65 starts is a falacy, then you need to have Thibs himself say so. As of now, the fact is he started Payton for every game Payton played last season. As for playoffs and leading up to the playoffs, Thibs could have easily liked a different matchup at point guard, and Rose was just playing better.

But I just don't get it then. Why would Thibs start Elf for 65 games if he really didn't trust him, or if Elf "sucks"? Did Elf have revealing photos of Thibs? Is Thibs really a bad coach, who starts scrubs for almost the whole season?

Why did he not trust him in the playoffs?

[RunDogGun]

Why did he not trust him in the playoffs?

I literally explained he may have liked a different match up. Now explain why he started him for 65 games, which was every game Elf played last season. Bad coach? Dumb coach? Completely unaware of what his players are doing on the court, coach? Needs 65 games before he makes the right adjustment, coach?

I am sorry, but that side of the argument is super thin, since if Elf played a game, he started that game under Thibs.