Player Name: Elfrid Payton (Orlando Magic)
Position: Guard
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4/185 pounds
Why you need to watch him on NBA League Pass: The NBA in 2015 is a point guard’s league. If your team doesn’t have an elite PG, good luck stopping the murderer’s row of point men you are going face night after night after night.
Which is what makes Elfrid Payton exactly so important to the Orlando Magic. Since trading away center Dwight Howard in 2012, the Magic have been rebuilding from the ground up and Orlando believes Payton is its long-term answer at that crucial position.
And give Payton credit, as well, for embracing the challenge. Sure, he understands that he’s got his work cut out for him, but he never backed down from a his rookie campaign last season, playing all 82 games while averaging 8.9 points and 6.5 assists. By the end of the season, Payton was comfortable enough that he posted back-to-back triple-doubles, the first rookie to do so since Antoine Walker did it almost two decades earlier.
Payton is must-see League Pass TV because he plays with poise on offense, expertly running Orlando’s offense, with a little razzle-dazzle thrown in. Yet where he equally shines is defensively, where he’s a menace to opposing ballhandlers (he averaged 1.7 steals per game last season).
What makes Elfrid even more exciting this season is the prospect of him playing under coach Scott Skiles, a long-time NBA point guard who preaches a hard-nosed defensive style. It seems like a perfect fit — perhaps reminiscient of another player named Payton who played defense like a glove.
— Lang Whitaker, NBA.com
