Cameron Payne: Phoenix Suns 2015 Draft Profile

Strengths

The Suns have a clear affinity for combo guards between Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight over the last two years. Payne doesn’t fit that profile at all as a 6’2″, 183-pound point guard, but his ability to facilitate off the bench would definitely be an asset to a team whose current backup point guard is shooting guard Archie Goodwin.

Payne proved himself to be fully capable of taking over for the Racers after Isaiah Canaan‘s NBA departure, impressing people with his intelligence, excellent court vision and clever playmaking. He’s not known for his athleticism, but he can still get up high enough to do fun things like this:

It doesn’t hurt that he increased his field goal percentage from 40.4 percent as a freshman to 45.6 percent as a sophomore. He also upped his three-point shooting from 34.1 percent to 37.7.

Since he was attempting 6.4 threes per game, you can be certain that’s a skill he’d want to translate to the NBA level. He’s undersized, but he’s also quick off the dribble and can change speeds rapidly to catch defenders off guard. Even though he was an able scorer in college, his greatest attribute is his passing, however.

Payne is the closest thing this draft has to a pure point guard. He can work the pick and roll, he finds open shooters when defenses overplay him and his unselfish play makes him an attractive lottery option.

Again, he’s a tad undersized, but he should be able to defend at the next level thanks to his speed and his 6’7″ wingspan that gives him plenty of length to bother opposing point guards. Payne doesn’t have the same upside as Russell or Mudiay, but he’s close to being the complete package.

Next: Weaknesses