Getty Elfrid Payton handles the ball while guarded by Kendrick Nunn during a February 9 game against the Miami Heat.
For the first time in eight years, the New York Knicks are headed to the playoffs. But there’s significant doubt as to the legitimacy of their starting five as constructed.
That centers primarily around starting point guard Elfrid Payton, who’s been the lightning rod topic of fans all season long, struggling to provide quality minutes.
He finished the regular season averaging 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game for New York.
All year-long fans watched as Payton went from serviceable, to unwatchable, to flat-out detrimental to the team.
And it all came to a head in their season finale victory over the Boston Celtics.
The Point of No Return?
In an appearance on an episode of Locked On Knicks on Wednesday, the New York Post’s Marc Berman joined hosts Alex Wolfe and Gavin Schall to discuss Elfrid Payton, among other topics.
The longtime team insider, when discussing the point guard’s season-long decline, pinpointed their season finale win over the Boston Celtics as the 27-year-old’s lowest point this season:
He hit rock bottom against Boston. I mean, he didn’t do one thing right on the offensive end. It was scary bad. He was scoreless, but his two drives to the basket were blocked at the rim. He had a hideous turnover. His body language was terrible. I remember he missed a little floater in the lane, and I could see, as he jogged back, instead of hustling back, he was jogging back looking at the floor, like depressed.
Payton finished the game with zero points, four rebounds, an assist, and two turnovers in 13 minutes of play.
As has become the new normal for him and the Knicks, his 13 minutes were split between two stints at the start of the first and third quarters, with Derrick Rose and Alec Burks filling the spots in between.
The Weakest Link
There’s no greater indicator of Elfrid Payton’s negative impact than the team’s numbers when he’s off the floor.
His on/off swing of (-9.8) is by far the worst number on the team.
Additionally, the team is scoring 108.5 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, which is good for the 26th percentile. And that’s opposed to the 112.4 they score with him on the sidelines.
For a team that’s struggled all year to find its footing offensively, it seems that their point guard may ironically be the largest inhibitor of any progress.
And it’s not just on offense either.
For a player so often proclaimed as defensively efficient, the Knicks are surely a better team without him.
New York’s top-5 defense this season becomes all the more impressive when you look at the swing their numbers take with Payton on-and-off the floor.
For example, in points allowed, that number goes from 111.6 (65th percentile) across 2,965 with him down to 105.8 (95th percentile) in the 3,763 possessions they’ve played without him.
In summary: fans and analysts alike are running out of reasons as to why Elfrid Payton maintains his starting role.
With playoffs looming, the pressure on Thibodeau to reach a solution on seemingly his only capable to be criticized decision all season long is at an all-time high.
But he’s got no plans to give in, yet.
Thibodeau Reluctant to Change Rotation
Ahead of Sunday’s Game 1 against the Atlanta Hawks, head coach Tom Thibodeau met with the media (via the New York Post) after practice on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming playoff series.
When asked about whether or not he’d bench Elfrid Payton, he remained adamant that the guard is a contributor:
There’s things that Elfrid provides for us that are a big asset to our team. His size, his defense, those are important factors. And then you look at it in totality – how does the team function? As is the case with most young players, there’s going to be ups and downs. You don’t have to shoot well to play well. Just go out there and give us what you can.
As much as that’s likely to frustrate fans now and in the moment, Thibodeau offered an olive branch in potentially adding Frank Ntilikina to the rotation:
Frank has sort of been in that role as a defensive stopper. He adds great value to our team. What you guys don’t see is he and Kevin Knox and a bunch of other guys who aren’t in the rotation, how hard they work in practice. They’re providing a lot to our team and whatever their strengths are, we’re going to try to take advantage of that.
New York’s eighth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft has as up-and-down a year as one can have. It’s best personified in his recent stretch over the last seven games.
Ntilikina, after not playing in five of the previous 10 games, has played the last seven consecutively.
And in those, has seen a varying role, playing anywhere from merely seconds over the season’s final two games, to extended stretches (23 minutes) in must-win matchups like May 11th’s bout against the LA Lakers.
Berman mentioned in his aforementioned appearance on Locked On Knicks that Ntilikina has a better rapport among the locker room than current starter Elfrid Payton.
It seems he’s yet to win over the head coach, however.
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