Thanks for the answers.
It's interesting because he was drafted by the Magic (indirectly), which means you surely had hopes for him and probably felt invested in his development. My point is, you were probably more forgiving of his flaws when he was a young player.
We Knicks fans have him as a veteran, and perceive him as such. However, his skill set hasn't expanded, his flaws haven't been fixed, his motor remains the same, so he's essentially still a rookie (and is being treated as one) yet he comes with the expectations of a veteran player. Our perception (broadly speaking) is that he's veteran who affects young players around him, and not the other way around, which was probably your POV his first couple of years in Orlando.
Needless to say, a large majority of Knicks despise his game. There's no scenario in which he's a positive or even neutral player. He's actively destructive when he's on the ball (he's slow, predictable, selfish and inefficient), when he's off the ball (defenses ignore him completely which allows them to crowd our best options), as well as on defense (where he's inconsistent, undisciplined and lazy).
Pepe brings up a good point:
pepe1991 wrote:Payton, to me, is best example of bad tanking without purpose. Guy was never in his career here challenged for starting spot nor pushed hard at practice.
I totally agree with this, which is why I hated how David Fizdale kept starting Kevin Knox back in 2018-19 even though he was doing absolutely nothing to deserve a starting role. I always say that player development doesn't happen in a vacuum and it affects the development of the players around them as well, so rewarding incompetence can have a negative impact both culturally and practically.
The crazy part is that what you described is happening in New York with Payton again. He has the longest leash of any player I have
ever seen.
In any case, it's cool to know your perspective as Magic fans, specifically about the inconsistent motor.