Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

2018 Orlando Magic Player Outlook: Adreian Payne

By Philip Rossman-Reich

LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 18: Adreian Payne #33 of the Minnesota Timberwolves handles the ball against the Chicago Bulls during the 2016 NBA Las Vegas Summer League game on July 18, 2016 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 18: Adreian Payne #33 of the Minnesota Timberwolves handles the ball against the Chicago Bulls during the 2016 NBA Las Vegas Summer League game on July 18, 2016 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Orlando Magic got on board with the two-way contract experiment signing Adreian Payne. He will be part of the process and Lakeland experiment.

The entire NBA is entering a new world this year. A step closer, it seems, to having a true minor league.

The NBA introduced two-way contracts, allowing teams to sign players to a higher salary level at the G-League and giving them the option to bring those players up to the main roster for no more than 45 days during the course of the season (at a prorated rate).

The idea was to give some potential G-League players added incentive to take on the risk of staying in the G-League rather than going overseas and to give teams who signed them to these contracts a bit of a leg up in retaining the best player in the league.

It was, in short form, an effort from the NBA to make the G-League feel more like a true minor league, where the players on each G-League team were not merely free agents adjacent to the NBA, but actual members of a farm team.

How the two-way contracts would work and how each team would use them was still a complete mystery. There is going to be plenty of trial and error in the first years of this project.

Some teams used it on players who were just short of making the NBA Draft, hoping to wrap up the rights to players knocking on the door or just outside that they could develop. Other teams used it on younger players who had been in the D-League for a short time and seemed near making a NBA roster.

The Orlando Magic opted to go in the latter direction with their two-way contract. They did not give this deal to a young player looking to break in, but a G-League veteran who has had a couple cups of coffee in the league already.

Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic /

Orlando Magic

Adreian Payne was the heir to Draymond Green with the Michigan State Spartans in the years after Green’s graduation. He was a solid scorer as a versatile forward at 6-foot-10. Payne never quite developed a consistent 3-point shot and he was a bit more post-bound than Green. He was not the do-everything player Green was. But the Spartans tried using him in a similar way.

Payne averaged 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game his senior year, seemingly ascending to that level. Green had not become Green in the NBA yet, but a versatile player like Payne had his value. Enough to be the 15th pick in the 2014 Draft.

But Payne never developed at the NBA level. In three seasons, he has played just 102 total games, averaging 4.0 points per game and 3.0 rebounds per game. It did not help that the Atlanta Hawks shuffled him off to the Minnesota Timberwolves in February of his rookie year.

Before that, he spent a fair amount of his time in the G-League. Not a significant time, but a decently robust time.

In 20 career games in the G-League, Payne averaged 15.0 points per game 8.5 rebounds per game. He appeared in three games with the Erie Bayhawks in 2016 and averaged 26.3 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. Payne plays largely inside the paint and is not much of a 3-point shooter. He is indeed a bigger version of Green who lacks the same perimeter prowess Green has.

Last year he played with the Timberwolves, but appeared in only 18 games, averaging 3.5 points per game.

Payne does not have the wing fluidity Green had. So the comparison of the do-everything forward is not exactly a clean one. Payne plays more like a post player, able to muscle up against bigger defenders and use his agility to make up for any size disparity.

Offensively, Payne can step out and hit to about 20 feet. That makes him a decent pick and roll option. He also has the athleticism to roll to the basket and finish at the rim. He has surprising athleticism.

Payne, though, is not the most fluid offensive player at the NBA level. It looks like he reads the defense kind of slowly and reacts a step off. He has the athleticism to recover on many occasions, but that initial read can be the difference in a lot of ways at the NBA level. And his lack of 3-point range ultimately hurts him.

To draw that comparison from earlier forward, Payne is essentially stuck where Green was early in his career. Nobody knew exactly how to use Green and his shooting was not good enough to line him up at the 3. And he was still undersized to play the 4.

Payne is more naturally a power forward than Green was. But still, his lack of perimeter versatility will hurt him. And Payne is nowhere near the defender Green was.

The comparison is one of convenience — especially since Payne literally replaced Green at Michigan State — than one that actually makes sense. Payne is a more versatile version of a traditional power forward but not versatile enough to play the new-wave stretch-4s.

It is easy to see why the Magic are intrigued with him and wanted to put him on the elevated two-way contract.

Payne has proven he can dominate the G-League level. He showed he can get his points and attack the boards at that level.

The Magic have seemingly put a focus on acquiring versatile forwards with a defensive mindset. And Payne fits that. He can scale down to 3 in a pinch. But similar to a player like Khem Birch, he works best as a 4 who can switch on pick and rolls and hold his own against centers.

Payne was worthy of a two-way contract somewhere. And the Magic picked up a valuable player. The question for them is whether they will make the most of this resource. The Magic already have someone who plays his position in Khem Birch. And Birch seems like a candidate to take the Magic’s second two-way contract.

Maybe the idea here is to get the most of those up to 90 days the two players can spend on the main roster, always having that versatile power forward to implement at most times in the course of the season. And for Lakeland, the two can platoon the power forward and center spots together. Most of the year, only one would be there anyway.

Like most teams, the Magic are figuring out exactly how they want to use the two-way contract. The mechanics of the tool will get worked out in the next few years.

President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has promised to use the G-League extensively. And so he will certainly be at the forefront of using the two-way contract in one form or another.

Payne will be part of this experiment this year for the Magic. There will be hiccups and likely a few mistakes from both sides.

Next: Frank Vogel: Internal improvement key to Orlando Magic's season

But Payne can play. He can provide a valuable skill set to the Magic when they need it. Payne will get some run with the Magic during the course of the season — not to mention the chance to prove himself in training camp and preseason before the G-League season starts.