Elfrid Payton: History maker and far more than just a prospect

Elfrid Payton is quickly joining the short list of truly great Orlando Magic point guards. It started with Scott Skiles, transitioned to Penny Hardaway and then even Darrell Armstrong and Jameer Nelson. But Payton did something none of them did: amass back-to-back triple-doubles. And, he’s a rookie.

What makes this so impressive, of course, is that point guards have a heady task in pulling down more than 10 rebounds. Aaron Gordon told reporters he could tell Elfrid Payton was on his way to a triple double after he snagged four quick rebounds in the game. Head coach James Borrego said Payton’s hot start (he hit his first eight field goals and finished 10 of 12 from the floor overall) clued him into Payton’s forthcoming big game.

Borrego said in the postgame press conference that he felt Payton’s momentum carried over from Wednesday night’s nationally televised loss to Dallas. But that was the beginning of Payton beginning to garner more respect. There is no one in the league playing better all-around, stat-stuffing basketball right now, except Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City.

But Westbrook is not a rookie. He is a playoff-tested veteran entering an already impressive prime stretch of greatness nearly without precedence (Michael Jordan kind of set a lot of those records first, and nearly unbreakably so, see: 11 straight triple-doubles).

He is not on a struggling rebuilding team, and his athleticism is other worldly. Payton is lightning quick, can leap, but he is nowhere near the physically imposing specimen Westbrook is as a shooting point guards.

And he does not need to be.

Payton is carving an identity in this league for the simplest of reasons: He simply knows how to play the game of basketball.

While his shooting ability leaves a lot to be desired still, that can be learned. The innate leadership, the court vision and his level of maturity is something, however, that cannot just be inculcated or taught. It is either there, or it is not.

What is probably most impressive about the young UL-Layfayette product is that he fully realizes his triple doubles are dependent upon his teammates playing well and helping him out. He commented his hot start was due to easy putbacks at the rim. But that is discounting a pair of head fakes that made Damian Lillard and Robin Lopez jump out of their shoes. A simple bob of the head, an upward glance, and both defenders on separate occasions bit the hook like a fish in a feeding frenzy. And Payton scored.

At the half he had hit 6 of 6 from the floor and already had six assists and four rebounds to go with his dozen points. He had connect on his first two looks in the second half before missing too.

The Magic still led by just two over Portland at that point, mostly due to the fact the second quarter was a scoring fest which featured two big runs by Portland, one an an 11-4 and then another 12-6 run to close the quarter. At that midway juncture, Damian Lillard had 16 points, but only a fool would fail the eye test to see that Payton was entirely outplaying the All-Star and former Rookie of the Year.

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Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel posed the question to Payton, “so how many text messages do you get after a game like this?” He just shook his head, then Maurice Harkless grabbed his phone and scrolled through the lock screen to reveal what looked like a few dozen texts, less than 20 minutes after his second career triple-double.

How can you not congratulate a friend or colleague that has a game like that?

So what is next for Payton? The same thing the Magic hope awaits their young team — more wins.

This contest against the Trail Blazers proved that Payton can absolutely play with (and outcompete) the premier talents at the point guard position. In Dallas, the player he has been compared to often Rajon Rondo, was equally as helpless in preventing Payton’s penetration.

What makes it nearly unfathomable is that he does all of this with a (what could be a mortally) weak jump shot. Head fakes, ball fakes, hesitation dribbles and a variety of fakes that we just do not see other players do often account for him shaking guys around the basket that don’t actually respect his ability to shoot the basketball.

How good will Payton be when he becomes a competent shooter? Notice, this is not “if” he becomes one, it is when. His shot has some flaws quite obviously, but all can be ironed out.

Shooting coach and NBA legend Mark Price took Charlotte Hornets’ swingman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s horrid form and transformed it into more than passable. It is good (in one summer’s work, no less).

With Payton’s willingness to learn and a full summer to work on his biggest deficiencies, he may continue to get far better still. And that is as frightening for the league as it is inspiring for Magic fans.

Both he and Victor Oladipo are starting to garner more national attention and notice, and if fans can just brush over two consecutive triple doubles, it is because they do not know about basketball. Teams do not lie down even for doormat teams like the Magic — especially in the midst of tight Western Conference Playoff races — and Payton is doing it on both ends of the court. He scored his first bucket on a crafty steal that led to a full court one man breakaway for Elfrid.

But it seems that as Elfrid goes, so goes this Magic team. Point guards not only initiate and create offense, but also head the snake defensively, and the wild haired point guard is capable of doing both.

He creates scoring opportunities out of chaotic offensive sequences. He gets Nikola Vucevic the ball in scoring position and Vucevic is smart enough to get the ball up when he is in the paint.

While Payton is not blessed with a trio of future Hall of Famers like the rookie Rajon Rondo with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, he does have the talent around to finish good looks and get him the assists he deserves.

Do the Magic blow a lot of good looks, flub up finishes that could result in Payton averaging even two full assists more per game? Absolutely.

Does it matter in any way whatsoever yet? Nope.

The guard is just scratching the surface on what could be an All-Star career, and when he is this good without even having played a full season — thriving when most NBA rooks hit the rookie wall — is little more than an indication that further greatness lurks beneath the surface.

And while Payton did a lot of damage in the first period, he and his Magic teammates utterly dismantled Portland in the fourth. Lillard finished the night just 6 of 15 from the floor (see: 1 of 6 in the second half), and Payton was not allowing him to get into is sweet spots, which ultimately drove the point guard to some cold shooting, missing all five of his 3-point field goals.

Portland still shot 47.5 percent as a team, but the Magic had 18 offensive rebounds and half of Elfrid’s 10 were on that end of the court.

It is so Rondo-like — and yet, potentially so much better. Rondo has his flashy plays, he comes up with steals, but Payton is adapting quicker to the league and he’s doing so on a team far less talented than that last championship Celtics squad. Buckle up, Elfrid is just starting the show of what could be an amazing career.