Elfrid Payton playing like a top-five point guard in the East

Atlanta Hawks- Jeff Teague

Jeff Teague was a first-time All Star last year while leading the way for the conference’s top seeded Atlanta Hawks. Neither the Hawks nor Teague have replicated their success to quite the same heights, but Teague is still one of the best at his position.

Teague has taken a slight dip in scoring, now down to 15.1 points per game, though more worrying is his drop off by an entire assist per game, putting him at 6.0 per game. He is currently shooting a career low from the field other than his rookie year, although his is shooting from the 3-point line is better than ever.

Some of this may be attributable to the development of guard Dennis Schroder.

Though Teague is a better scorer than Payton by nearly four points per game (and like Payton, is not the first option on offense), he shoots a worse percentage (although Payton gets beaten again on the free-throw and 3-point line) and is averaging a shade fewer assists per game, but they are virtually the same. Teague is considered a good defender and probably matches even with Payton.

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