It ended badly but an unpredictable season of success and he was our starting PG. Nobody stepped up and he prevailed and this after a pay cut to come back.
Maybe in a covid short off season he had few or no choices. Thats his business. We gave him another shot and he performed to his ability.
The kid played, we won more than lost and perhaps his mojo lost or he was worn out, or injured. IN any situation he said the right things, did not put up a stink and team did well until the last 3 games vs ATL.
For that we should give him a round (not standing, but with some enthusiasm) of applause, wish him well in his future endeavors and a happy and healthy life in what ever he does. Be nice if he could Play for Nola again on a modest multi year deal. Good kid.
Elf was not the solution but he was not the problem either.
agree 100% - so many people dump on players - but we got some good run out of him, and honest, at the right money - would not mind him back as an 11th man & 3rd PG back up!
Benching him was the worst move Thibs made all season, and it came at the worst time of the season.
It put too much pressure on rose, it wreck the bench chemistry, and force Burks to be a playmaker rather than a scorer
That he became the whipping boy when playing 15 minutes a game is the stuff that disgusts me about some fans. But that's the way some need to be it seems. He was one of my Big 15 and definitely not the cause of us losing playoff games. But part of how we got there.
Gets in the lane well. Plays defense well when motivated.
he played with Randle a lot. I think he knew best where to get him the ball. That’s his guy. Didn’t like the playoff switch to rose.
Rose worked well with the second unit.
We won 41 games with the Payton Randle show lol
I think we should have rode it out the way we played all season. No second guessing. I felt that way when I saw the early hook in the playoffs.
Thought he started the season off well and started to slowly regress after the Rose trade. I think when he got in his slump, it affected him mentally especially towards the end.
I agree with 1248. Thibs biggest mistake was yanking him after 5-8 minutes of play and then finally benching him and messing up the team chemistry.
I’ll be appreciating him on another team’s bench next season
Swishfm3 wrote:Thought he started the season off well and started to slowly regress after the Rose trade. I think when he got in his slump, it affected him mentally especially towards the end. I agree with 1248. Thibs biggest mistake was yanking him after 5-8 minutes of play and then finally benching him and messing up the team chemistry.
The only game we won in the playoffs was because Elf didn’t play the entire second half of game 2
Thibs should have started Frank and continued to have Rose come off the bench as 6th man
There was a video of him sitting at the end of the bench looking disinterested after his demotion. Then there was that one F U game during the season which came after there was talk of his demotion. He can penetrate but he doesn't pass from penetration ever never under any circumstance. Overall I think his presence has caused our youth to miss in game development ( Quickley and Frank) I will reluctantly say that I only appreciate him because he was a Knick during our turn around season. I really hope he is off the team next season.
1) I definitely don’t appreciate how he played even though he did have a pretty solid stretch at one point or so.
2) Coach, well deserving of COY, 100% f’ed that situation up, even though Elfid was playing horrible. He could have put Frank in the starting lineup instead. It wouldn’t have been any worse.
3) I don’t think it would have made a difference at all.
ramtour420 wrote:There was a video of him sitting at the end of the bench looking disinterested after his demotion. Then there was that one F U game during the season which came after there was talk of his demotion. He can penetrate but he doesn't pass from penetration ever never under any circumstance. Overall I think his presence has caused our youth to miss in game development ( Quickley and Frank) I will reluctantly say that I only appreciate him because he was a Knick during our turn around season. I really hope he is off the team next season.
Since this is an appreciation thread I declined to post anything, but I totally hear what you're saying.
I'm constantly on record berating VanGundy's coaching chops for riding Charlie Football through the '99 Finals, so I can't fault Thibs in a firefight with the Hawks to fully demote Elfred J. Fudd.
He was a part of getting us to the 4th seed (gee whiz, did we really finish in the top 5?), and maybe Thibs thought Rose had enough in the tank after not starting all season to go into 8th gear for the playoffs.
We had a good season with Elf on the floor, and we got the COY.
ramtour420 wrote:There was a video of him sitting at the end of the bench looking disinterested after his demotion. Then there was that one F U game during the season which came after there was talk of his demotion. He can penetrate but he doesn't pass from penetration ever never under any circumstance. Overall I think his presence has caused our youth to miss in game development ( Quickley and Frank) I will reluctantly say that I only appreciate him because he was a Knick during our turn around season. I really hope he is off the team next season.
Just appreciation of what he did, not what he is not. He is human, ok to be disappointed. Full season he played to his ability. I won’t crush him for being disappointed in himself or the decision. These are human beings. Its not like he sabotaged the team.
I’m happy to move on but as Jrod said, 4th seed and was the PG for 90% of what got Thibs his COY.
Team succeeded with him far mor than not. If you bank the whole thing on the last series were were we were clearly not the better team and kills the season for you thats too bad. It was great!
He made some contributions during the regular season, but certainly nothing like an NBA starter. Not his fault, we're building slowly which is good. He's simply not a keeper unless at end of bench with low expectations.
I agree with above posters that Thibs fubar'd the PG spot in playoffs. He rolled the dice on his man and it backfired. S'all good, Leon will do his thing and have a legit starter at the 1 next season. Elfrid will get a job as a backup on another team and perhaps exceed expectations.
Moonangie wrote:He made some contributions during the regular season, but certainly nothing like an NBA starter. Not his fault, we're building slowly which is good. He's simply not a keeper unless at end of bench with low expectations.I agree with above posters that Thibs fubar'd the PG spot in playoffs. He rolled the dice on his man and it backfired. S'all good, Leon will do his thing and have a legit starter at the 1 next season. Elfrid will get a job as a backup on another team and perhaps exceed expectations.
Its like the 4th seed and how we got here was ignored. thibs adjusted by reducing his playing Time heading into playoffs. It did not execute in part because ATL roster construction. It blow my mind that we assume the 4th seed, just by a game some how made us the legit favorites to win the series? The match up just was not in our favor.
I appreciate Paytons season in what ever contribution he made to get us there given his 4mm salary! The day he set foot in Tarrytown he simply outplayed everyone else for the host of reasons all well documented.
Nobody is suggesting we retire his jersey or resign him. Warts and all he goes into Raymond Felton territory of being there in a good run.
Nalod wrote:ramtour420 wrote:There was a video of him sitting at the end of the bench looking disinterested after his demotion. Then there was that one F U game during the season which came after there was talk of his demotion. He can penetrate but he doesn't pass from penetration ever never under any circumstance. Overall I think his presence has caused our youth to miss in game development ( Quickley and Frank) I will reluctantly say that I only appreciate him because he was a Knick during our turn around season. I really hope he is off the team next season.
Just appreciation of what he did, not what he is not. He is human, ok to be disappointed. Full season he played to his ability. I won’t crush him for being disappointed in himself or the decision. These are human beings. Its not like he sabotaged the team.
I’m happy to move on but as Jrod said, 4th seed and was the PG for 90% of what got Thibs his COY.
Team succeeded with him far mor than not. If you bank the whole thing on the last series were were we were clearly not the better team and kills the season for you thats too bad. It was great!
I have thought about it and I have located some newfound appreciation for Payton.
Thank you Mr. Payton for playing for us the way that you did. You probably did your best, honestly. Thanks to your play it is crystal clear what the weakest spot on the team is and what kind of a PG we actually need on the team. It's called negative example and I fully appreciate you for that. No sarcasm, I am actually being honest in how I feel
As much as I talked bad about Payton....I appreciate how professional he was with his demotion without being a locker room cancer. This has nothing to do with Payton. But more to do with fit. Payton is an old dog not willing to learn new tricks. He is who we thought he was. I dont think he was a good fit on this team. Hope he finds success elsewhere. Great slasher and finisher overall. Better at attacking the rim than I thought. Personally I didn't know his shooting was that bad, and I thought his defense was better. But he was still a professional on and off the court.
Its ironic that in an attempt to appreciate his 2 yrs here, Elfrids name is misspelled in the thread title. Pretty much sums up the Elfrid/Elfred Era/Error!
Uptown wrote:Its ironic that in an attempt to appreciate his 2 yrs here, Elfrids name is misspelled in the thread title. Pretty much sums up the Elfrid/Elfred Era/Error!
Ouch! Good catch!
blkexec wrote:As much as I talked bad about Payton....I appreciate how professional he was with his demotion without being a locker room cancer. This has nothing to do with Payton. But more to do with fit. Payton is an old dog not willing to learn new tricks. He is who we thought he was. I dont think he was a good fit on this team. Hope he finds success elsewhere. Great slasher and finisher overall. Better at attacking the rim than I thought. Personally I didn't know his shooting was that bad, and I thought his defense was better. But he was still a professional on and off the court.
How was he a bad fit with our success? To have bought in another guard might have cost us in another area. Its easy to say the team would be better with an upgrade. Its obvious. But to do that comes at not having Burkes, bullock or Rose? They contributed also to what was a great season.
Of course he is flawed. He is paid like a scrub and what ever he did he helped and never detracted from the over all result.
For that I have appreciation. Not a long term contract and a big raise. Just a “thumbs up”.
Nalod wrote:blkexec wrote:As much as I talked bad about Payton....I appreciate how professional he was with his demotion without being a locker room cancer. This has nothing to do with Payton. But more to do with fit. Payton is an old dog not willing to learn new tricks. He is who we thought he was. I dont think he was a good fit on this team. Hope he finds success elsewhere. Great slasher and finisher overall. Better at attacking the rim than I thought. Personally I didn't know his shooting was that bad, and I thought his defense was better. But he was still a professional on and off the court.
How was he a bad fit with our success? To have bought in another guard might have cost us in another area. Its easy to say the team would be better with an upgrade. Its obvious. But to do that comes at not having Burkes, bullock or Rose? They contributed also to what was a great season.
Of course he is flawed. He is paid like a scrub and what ever he did he helped and never detracted from the over all result.
For that I have appreciation. Not a long term contract and a big raise. Just a “thumbs up”.
Point taken....Hes a bad fit as a starter for this team...Due to the lack of consistent shooters around him and terrible floor spacing in the paint. Hes not a bad fit in general. Now if we had a center that shoots 3s and a SF who's a shooter and not just a slasher, we probably wouldn't even have this thread. Payton, RJ and Randle need space to operate. RJ and Randle are cornerstone pieces, so Payton takes the blame. In reality you can point the finger at the FO or Thibs who put this starting 5 together. It's not Paytons fault. He did what he was supposed to do and what he's done his entire career. I believe the starting 5 lineup exposed Paytons weakness. A good coach knows how to hide weaknesses and increase strengths. Glad coach got COY, but he's at fault for putting this starting 5 together, without making adjustments sooner. Vs waiting until the playoffs.
