Elfrid Payton
Wow. I mean, honestly: outside of the wins and losses (the Suns are 0-3 since his acquisition), could the start to Elfrid Payton’s career with the Suns have gone any better?
Not only did he appear to jump right into the flow of the Suns’ offense in game one, but in game two he was an offensive juggernaut for the Suns finishing with 29 points, only a single point off of his career-high, and then in game three he recorded his ninth career triple-double, the first with Phoenix, and the shortest amount of time that a player has ever recorded his first triple-double with the Suns in franchise history break Kevin Johnson’s record by seven games.
His averages are a bit inflated at the moment, and they will come down a bit as the season wears on. He is likely not the second coming of Jason Kidd (although he definitely looks the part so far), and I still believe that Suns fans should reserve judgement on him until the at least the end of the season to see if he really is the biggest trade steal in franchise history, or a player worth only a second round pick to help close out a season, then nothing more.
I expect that Payton is going to play his butt off for the Suns and will look quite good during the final 24 games, but we shall see.
Next: How the Phoenix Suns can win the offseason
Grade: A