Post#413 » by PennytoShaq » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:24 pm
I hope Payton kills it in PHO, but I don't think the team will win long term with him unless Jackson becomes a knock down shooter.
I am not surprised that Payton is putting up numbers. He usually does. I watched 3 Suns games already and they are fun. What they do different is run with young guys in a smaller lineup. The Magic are always trying to run with either slow bigs or vets that don't play that style. Besides that, I do not see a huge change in how much control Payton has of the offense. He has a lot of control just like before. The difference is that he is on a new team and he has to deliver every single night in this honeymoon phase.
Payton is a very nice player, but the things he is bad at are the worst things to be bad at. Isiah Thomas, a better shooter and worse defender was booted from Cleveland super fast for having poor defense. Elf's not that bad, but he will have to step it up big time on that side of the floor night after night, and then start really killing it from 3 for Phoenix to have gotten a steal.
As for Phoenix taking Young early to screw us. LOL, I hope they do. That means a guy like MPj or JJj will be there.The Magic can take the BPA and move on. I personally think Phoenix takes a big man who can shoot the 3 ball. I don't see Bender as a starting C. If they had Bagley, Ayton or even Bamba, they would have a really nice frontcourt.
I personally do not think the Magic dumped Payton just to draft Young. I believe they have many options to pursue, and are not locked into one.