Tracking the Draft Stock of Louisiana's Elfrid Payton

[chauncey]

Espn bottomline. EP is coming out. 19 ranked prospect by chad ford.

[ULGrad@HOU]

Good Luck Payton!

[CajunFan3406]

----Man I hope I am so wrong but I just don't see his doing well in the Bigs----He doesn't have maybe the most important element---It isn't that he is not a good shooter but the fact that he is a very bad shooter---I would think that the players who are much better than the players he has faced will back off and shut him down with the longer 3 pt especially----I so hope that these guys know what they are drafting and see a flaw that they can correct---What a great kid and representative of our university-----Self hypnosis maybe!!!

Boom, if you are concerned about EP's shooting then hope and pray that the Spurs select him. Probably the best organization in the league when it comes to player development.

Tony Parker saw big improvements in his FT shooting % after his first year with the organization. They've also done really great things with guys like Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard.

[BrockMeaux]

I don't think he's a poor shooter, I just don't think he shot a lot. He's a pass-first slasher, and because of that he doesn't take many mid-range jumpers. Just like the free throws; I don't think he's a poor free throw shooter. His numbers were bad this year, but the two years prior, he made them with much higher regularity (at least that's how it feels remembering). It might have been exhaustion from his extended summer-through-spring schedule this year, or some kind of mental block, but he's got the ability to make shots and make free throws. It'll be about getting to the right organization and having a coach that's willing to let him learn and get coached up for a year or two before expecting big minutes out of him. The Spurs, as mentioned, would be perfect for this. The only issue with the Spurs is that, when they take this approach with 1st round picks, it's with foreign players that they stash overseas for a year or two before bringing in so that they continue to play big minutes and develop.

[NewsCopy]

• Louisiana sophomore Elfrid Payton, on the other hand, will have to earn his keep at that end of the floor. The Sun Belt Conference's Defensive Player of the Year, the junior guard was named to the Lou Henson all-America team, which honors top players from so-called mid-majors, and got the Cajuns to the NCAAs for the first time in nine years.

Some compare Payton with Rajon Rondo, but Payton isn't nearly the playmaker or creator that Rondo is. There's potential there, though.

"He's extremely young for his age -- a junior who just turned 20," a Western Conference executive said. "He's got good size, he's long, he's got all the tools to be a terrific defender. But he really struggles shooting it from the perimeter, so he has to be an elite attacker. He's a good athlete, but not like [Suns guard] Eric Bledsoe. But he's got a niche. He's got good vision, plays at good pace, he doesn't play out of control. He's got a lot of upside because of his age. He does a really good job of moving on from one play to the next."

Payton averaged 19 a game for Louisiana-Lafayette and led the Sun Belt in assists, ranking 14th nationally. NBA teams believe that his offense may well improve if he's around good players and competing every day; his college coaches rave about his leadership skills already.

But, he'll have to show he can make perimeter shots. While he shot 51 percent, he was a ghastly 26 percent on 3s.

"He can't shoot to save his life," one veteran scout said. "Now, he can score and I don't want to take anything away from him, but they're not a mid-major team. They're lower than a mid-major. I went down there for a few games and it's just different. It's not Shaka [Smart]'s team at VCU playing, it's Louisiana-Lafayette. His problem is he penetrates all the time, and teams play for that."

The rest of the story

NBA.com

[NewsCopy]

UL junior point guard Elfrid Payton has officially declared his early eligibility for the June 28 NBA Draft.

Advertiser
subscription
desktop version

[Zeebart21]

Brutal

[bigearl]

I think the part about his game is accurate though . I hope the kid makes it and latches on with a coach/team that can tap his potential.

[DieHard1280]

"lower than a mid-major" Sheesh.

[BrockMeaux]

Just be prepared, that's the kind of analysis he's going to get. It's the job of scouts and GMs to pick guys apart from now until the end of June, and that includes his program and competition. If he finds himself at the end of the first round and a great organization like San Antonio is on the clock, they'll look past Hyphen U at what he can do; the problem with that is that we can't forecast who might slip, or who might be willing to trade up to get another 1st round pick in a way that makes more sense for the Spurs than Payton. They may like Payton, but they could LOVE additional cap room and an extra 1st round pick next year, or somebody they had rated as lottery-worthy slips to them. We don't know how it'll shake out on draft night. If a lesser organization is picking (let's say the Bobcats; they had a decent year but I'm still not convinced of their organizational strength), they'll hold up Payton and Russ Smith go with Smith every time because he's from a bigger program with a more pedigreed coach. The good thing about all this, though, is that it only takes one team to fall in love with a guy to make it happen, and if he impresses during pre-draft workouts, they'll look at more tape than just a scouted game against Centenary.

This mock draft would be great, however. Mid-to-late 1st round to OKC, where he wouldn't be expected to start but would go to a really good, young, exciting team and get some minutes behind Russell Westbrook, who signed a big contract extension that'll keep him in town for at least two more years (barring a trade) but has missed some time due to injury.

[wcd35]

He's good enough to start for Donovan and Shaka on the national team so I find it a little silly for them to bring up the competition as much as they do.

[CrazyCajun]

because scouts never lie about their true evaluations to make a player they want slide in the draft. not saying they dont have any valid points but i would say the same thing above if i had my eye on him and my team was picking late in the draft.