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This website did a mock draft and has him going pick #8 in the 2nd round.
It's incredible how quickly Elfrid's stock has risen. Just imagine what a run in the big dance will do for him after this season. ;)
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2015/
I expect him in first round. Gifted left handed point guards are valued commodity.
I see what you did there...lolQuote:
Originally Posted by CajunEXPRESS
I just hope we dont lose him after this season, if he plays his senior year, he will be a first round pick
I just hope we can win some damn basketball games a bring excitement back to the level it used to be.
This ones for you, Red:
Not bad for a left handed forward playing out of position.
What happened to our favorite red suspenders btw? He never posts. Does he still harass Jay on Bird's Eye View?Quote:
Originally Posted by cajun4life
Yes...thanks, Duggie.Quote:
Originally Posted by duggie85
Yep...this should be a message to all undersized, under aged players...who's coach insists on playing them out of position...that if you work hard, you can fool even the NBA!
Yep, Elfrid I wish you the best and a first round pick in 2015! I hope Long and company can all bring down the house and bring back the days of the 6500-8500 or more watching at the C-Dome!
Elfrid Payton lands in Orlando
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BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball standout Elfrid Payton became the third player in school history to be chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft when he was selected on Thursday as the 10th overall pick by the Philadelphia 76er's.
Payton, a Gretna native and former John Ehret High product, was later traded to the Orlando Magic for Croatian forward Dario Saric, who was picked at No. 12. Payton became the 20th player in school history to be selected in the NBA Draft and the third by the Sixers joining Hall of Famers Dean Church (10th round, 1965) – the first Ragin' Cajuns draft selection – and two-time NBA All-Star Andrew Toney (8th overall pick, Philadelphia, 1980).
"I was excited, Orlando was one of the places that I would have like to have gone to," Payton said, shortly after being traded. "I love the front office … it's a good fit. My style of play is that I can get up and down the floor, but I can also run my team in the halfcourt set. I can get after it defensively which will lead to offense.
"I think the game has kind of changed in putting just the best players on the floor. I feel like I can play multiple positions. I'm looking forward to it."
Payton joined Toney and Kevin Brooks (18th, Denver, 1991) as first-round selections in Ragin' Cajuns history and was the first Sun Belt Conference Player picked since Western Kentucky's Courtney Lee (22nd, Orlando) in 2008.
"It's been fascinating to watch his climb," head coach Bob Marlin said. "Elfrid has met every challenge that has been presented to him in his basketball career. He won a gold medal last year with Team USA and led us to the NCAA Championships. To watch him grow by leaps and bounds has been phenomenal to watch."
During a spectacular three-year career with the Ragin' Cajuns, Payton finished 16th in school history in scoring (1,425 points) while grabbing 508 rebounds with 486 assists (fifth on the all-time list) and a school-record 197 steals. His 644 career free throw attempts were fourth in school history, trailing Bo Lamar (802, 1969-73), Tim Thompson (722, 1957-61) and Toney (690, 1976-80).
"The draft is a fluid thing and Elfrid is someone going into the draft who we had targeted," Magic General Manager Rob Hennigan said. ``Again, I'm going to sing a familiar tune (as with Aaron Gordon). We loved his competitiveness and his toughness. We love his desire to want to play defense and compete at that end of the floor. As the draft started to fall and shake out, we felt it was worth it to go and acquire him with some of the assets that we have."
Payton averaged 19.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game in helping the Ragin' Cajuns to a 23-12 record and their first berth to the NCAA Championships since 2005. Payton scored in double figures in 32 of 35 games played, including 14 games with 20 or more points and four 30-point performances. On the season, Payton attempted a school-record 302 free throws, breaking the previous mark of 273 set by Dean Church in 1964-65.
He was honored earlier this year as the 2014 Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the Lou Henson All-America Team. Payton earned first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors, where he was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year, and the named the 2014 College Basketball Player of the Year by both the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) and the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches (LABC).
Payton led the Sun Belt Conference in steals for the second consecutive year, recording 80 and finishing with a school-record total to 197. He finished second on the team in rebounds (6.0) and was part of a defensive unit that led the Sun Belt Conference in rebounding margin and was second in steals.
He was one of 10 Division I players during the season to record a triple-double when he scored 34 points, with 11 rebounds and 11 assists at ULM. Payton scored 31 points in games against Houston and Western Kentucky and 32 against Oakland while posting six double-doubles, including games at Louisiana Tech and defending national champion Louisville.
Payton spent last summer as the starting point guard for Team USA at the FIBA U19 World Championship, helping the team to the gold medal. Payton took part in a seven-game goodwill tour of China and the Far East with Reach USA, where he led the team in scoring in seven games.
UL-SI
Elfrid Payton didn’t remain a Philadelphia 76er long enough for one of their caps to muss up his prodigious hairdo.
Minutes after being chosen by Sixers with the 10th pick in the NBA draft Thursday, the former Louisiana standout was dealt to Orlando in exchange for Croatian Dario Saric, whom the Magic took two picks later.
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Elfrid Payton didn’t remain a Philadelphia 76er long enough for one of their caps to muss up his prodigious hairdo.
Minutes after being chosen by Sixers with the 10th pick in the NBA draft Thursday, the former Louisiana-Lafayette standout was dealt to Orlando in exchange for Croatian Dario Saric, whom the Magic took two picks later.
The trade was made official near the end of the first round.
But it was a poorly kept secret.
“Within a few seconds, I had gotten a text from the Magic saying, ‘We’ve got him,’ ” said UL-Lafayette coach Bob Marlin, who was at the Barklays Center in Brooklyn for the draft along with Payton’s parents. “We knew they were very serious about wanting Elfrid.”
Serious enough to have spent more than three hours in Lafayette recently talking with the Ragin’ Cajuns coaches and other members of the basketball staff.
Payton, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound point guard, is UL-Lafayette’s highest picked player since Andrew Toney went to Philadelphia in 1980 and first first-rounder since Kevin Brooks in 1991.
Payton is the first Louisiana player to go in the first round since fellow West Banker Greg Monroe, who prepped at Helen Cox, in 2009.
“The draft is fluid thing and Elfrid is someone going into the draft we had targeted,” Magic General Manager Rob Hennigan said. “We loved his competiveness and toughness.
“We love his desire to want to play defense and compete at that end of the floor. As the draft started to fall and shake out, we felt it was worth it to acquire him with some of the assets we have.”
Along with the rights to Saric, Orlando sent a protected first-round pick in 2017 and a 2015 second-round pick to the 76ers.
Payton’s selection Thursday capped a meteoric rise up the draft charts for a relatively unknown junior who came on the scene last summer when he played on USA Basketball’s championship U-19 team.
But Orlando had him on its radar early on.
“They first called me last December,” Ehret coach Al Collins said. Sunday night, Elfrid’s dad told me there was no way he was going to get past No. 12.”
In Orlando, Payton will come in as backup for veteran Jameer Nelson.
But Collins said that situation might not last long.
“Elfrid is not the kind of guy who will settle for just being a quiet teammate,” he said. “Some how, some way, he’s going to find a way to get a lot of playing time. That’s just the kind of kid he is.”
Indeed, after being selected, Payton told ESPN that he considered himself the best point guard in the draft.
“I can run my team, play defense and create for other people,” he said.
As it was, Payton was the third point guard chosen, after Australian Dante Exum, who went to Utah at No. 5 and Marcus Smart of Oklahoma City who went to Boston one pick later.
The Magic, which also had the No. 4 pick, had interest in Exum and Smart, but instead took Arizona forward Aaron Gordon.
Then, in an agreement with Philadelphia made just before the Sixers pick, Orlando wound up with the player it wanted while Philadelphia got a player it was willing to wait two years for to actually have in uniform because of Saric’s commitment to a league in Turkey.
“We had a good feeling about Orlando,” said Elfrid Payton Sr., who’s a Canadian Football League Hall of Famer. “But you never know.
“I’m just real proud of him. He did all of the work to put himself in this position.”
Payton is coming off a junior season in which he averaged 19.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 3.6 turnovers for the Ragin Cajuns’ Sun Belt Conference tournament champions.
He shot 50.9 percent, but that was considered more of a result of his being able to get to the rim (7.8 free-throw attempts per game). From 3-point range, Payton hit only 25.9 percent.
But it was defense where Payton made his mark. He was named the Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year.
“He’s long-armed and can really get the steal and the deflection,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. “He’s got to work in his shooting, but he can really get up and down the court.”
The No. 10 pick used by the Sixers to take Payton was one of the two the Pelicans dealt to Philadelphia last year in the Jrue Holiday trade.
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The people who packed Alumni House on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette started to get frustrated Thursday night. The Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings passed on Elfrid Payton with their picks in the first round of the NBA Draft.
But then, as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver came to the podium in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., a hush came over the room. Then the crowd went wild.
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The people who packed Alumni House on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette started to get frustrated Thursday night. The Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings passed on Elfrid Payton with their picks in the first round of the NBA Draft.
But then, as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver came to the podium in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., a hush came over the room. Then the crowd went wild.
Silver announced that Payton, the 6-foot-3 guard for UL, was drafted with the 10th pick to the Philadelphia 76ers. His former teammates screamed with excitement and beaming with pride that Payton, who led the Cajuns to the Sun Belt Conference tournament title, became a top-10 pick.
"I am elated. I am ecstatic. Being around a guy like Elfrid and being close to him, a guy like that who works hard and is so humble, you can only hope for the best," junior guard Kasey Shepard said. "To see him get drafted is a dream come true for everybody.
"I wish he was here to celebrate with everybody. He's going to do great things in the NBA."
After the celebration was over, Payton was quickly traded to the Orlando Magic for their first-round pick (Croatian power forward Dario Saric), a future first-round pick and a second-round pick. The Magic needed a young point guard with explosiveness, and Payton brings that to the table, along with a strong defensive game.
"Elfrid is someone who we had targeted, if we could get him," Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said. "We love his toughness. We love his competitiveness. We love his desire to play defense and compete at that end of the floor."
Payton didn't get much notice among the pro scouts until he made the Team USA Under-19 team last summer, where he helped the team win a gold medal at the FIBA World Championships.
After leading the Cajuns to a 23-12 season with a NCAA Tournament berth, Payton was seen as a second-round pick entering the draft combine in Chicago last month. After that and other workouts, his stock started to rise into the middle of the first round, and kept on rising.
UL assistant coach and director of basketball operations Mike Murphy thinks that Payton's strongest trait is the workmanlike effort that he puts into the court night in and night out.
"The biggest thing that Elfird brings to any NBA team is his work ethic," Murphy said. "If there's somebody in front of him, they better pack a lunch, because he's going to bring it every day. And he plays with a chip on his shoulder. Remember, he was nothing coming out of high school. He was a zero-star recruit. He has everything to prove, and he works every day to prove that."
Payton becomes the third UL player to be a first-round pick, joining Kevin Brooks (who went No. 18 to Denver in 1991) and Andrew Toney (who went No. 8 to Philadelphia in 1980).
"It's a testament to how hard he works. People don't know that Elfrid is a very hard worker," Shepard said. "I told him before he left that when you get your foot in the door, anything can happen. And that's what happened. He got an opportunity, worked his butt off and went No. 10. It's a great accomplishment."
Payton's selection also represents a feather in the cap of the UL men's basketball program and head coach Bob Marlin, who was in Brooklyn with Elfrid and his parents.
"This is a huge honor for the program, and it says something about the direction Coach (Bob) Marlin has us going," Murphy said. "Elfrid wouldn't have this honor and potential if he didn't get on the (USA) under-19 team. Coach got him on the team, Elfrid made himself a starter, and because of that, he's a top 10 pick in the NBA."
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