Elfrid Payton’s hidden value

Conventional wisdom says Elfrid Payton cannot do all the things point guards in the NBA today need to do because of his shooting. They might be wrong.

The discussion surrounding Elfrid Payton is often centered on what he cannot do.

Payton’s playmaking and high assist numbers would be more consistent and more valuable if only he could hit his jumpers more consistently. Without that offensive piece, Payton remains a liability and someone the team cannot trust in key moments. His hesitancy on that end inevitably leads to trouble for the Orlando Magic.

How is the team supposed to attack with defenders dipping so far under screens? How is the Magic’s offense supposed to function without a guard who can hit a three consistently?

This is the modern NBA where the 3-pointer is king. Payton seemed a guard out of time.

And seemingly to acquiesce to those demands, Payton has since moved from the starting lineup to the bench so the Magic can get better spacing and more offense with D.J. Augustin.

That is what the narrative would have you believe.

But, as it was last year, the Magic are still a much better team when Payton is on the floor and playing at his best. Payton does something intangible even with his relatively poor jump shooting that no one else on the team can do.

He finds and uses space to its most and still forces defenders to pay attention to him, even as they beg him to shoot. When he is aggressive, he can tear apart a defense.

Payton is averaging a career-best 11.3 points per game and shooting a career-best 45.5 percent from the floor. He is more confident as a 3-point shooter, but still shooting only 23.4 percent from beyond the arc, a career low. He is averaging a career-low 5.6 assists per game.

Michael Pina of VICE Sports wrote that despite these numbers and his below-average shooting, Payton is the kind of unique player who should be celebrated or appreciated rather than ignored. At least, he should not be dismissed to the scrap heat for failing to fit a mold:

"If Payton is the last of a dying breed—the pass-first ball-handler who can do just about everything but keep defenders 100 percent honest beyond the arc—then NBA may become a homogeneous collection of positionless 3-and-D cogs. That would be bad news for the league, from both an entertainment and competitive standpoint. We need players who zag while everyone else zigs, which is why it’s time to appreciate what Payton can do, instead of branding him with a scarlet letter. Just because he can’t stretch defenses like Curry or Damian Lillard doesn’t mean he’s useless. Shooting matters, but so does top-notch perimeter defense, the ability to get to the rim at will, and intelligent passing."

What Payton can do, as Pina points out, is drive to the basket and distribute.

Payton is 16th in the league in drives per game, with 8.8 drives per game according to NBA.com Player Tracking statistics. He scores 4.5 points per game and dishes out 1.1 assists per games off drives. So his drives are decently efficient.

On top of that, Payton is 14th in the league in secondary assists with 1.4 secondary assists per game. A secondary assist, sometimes referred to as a “hockey assist,” is a pass that leads to an assist. He is 19th in the league in potential assists with 12.1 potential assists per game. Essentially the Magic convert on about half the shots they take that would be assists for Payton.

Payton is 24th in the league in assist points created with 13.2 points per game. Right behind Stephen Curry.

And Payton does this all off the bench, playing fewer than 30 minutes per game. No one is consistently ranked this high in the entire league in all three categories playing such few minutes.

This ability to move the ball and generate points is something that has a clear positive effect on the team. With Payton on the floor, the Magic have a 102.1/104.4 offensive rating/defensive rating split. Both are better than the team’s averages — and significantly better than D.J. Augustin (96.0/108.8).

When Payton has played strong individually, his team has typically won. The Magic are 4-0 in the games where Payton scores at least 20 points and 3-0 in games where he records at least 10 assists.

Clearly, Payton’s impacts go beyond the numbers. He is a different kind of player who does things that do not fit the current NBA conventions. Like so many of the Magic’s players, it is about figuring out how to use him the best way to get the most from him.

And that might be the ultimate reason why Payton is coming off the bench right now. The lineup Frank Vogel is using to start games may be more conducive to highlight what Payton does. Vogel said one of his rationales for bringing Payton off the bench was to separate Payton from Aaron Gordon and Bismack Biyombo.

Since Thanksgiving, Payton has played the most minutes with Jeff Green and Nikola Vucevic (Bismack Biyombo is third). Clearly, the Magic are trying to make sure Payton is in better lineups for him to succeed.

Payton individually is still fairly inconsistent. His scoring output and his assists go up and down. He does not finish every game. There is usually a point where Vogel picks between his two point guards and it is largely on feel.

Next: Orlando Magic serve reminder of who they can be

Right now, the Magic seem to have found a way to get a lot out of their young point guard. He clearly makes the team better. Even if it is unseen, hard-to-quantify ways.