[high floorParticipant]

Although drafted two years apart (Payton in 2014, Dunn in 2016) both players are 23 years old and have a lot of the same strengths & weaknesses. Both Dunn & Payton have above average size for the PG position, are good athletes, and can get into the painted area. But both are notoriously poor shooters from the outside.

Now that Dunn is starting to show what he can do with an increase in usage percentage, up to 25.4% on the year, I think this could potetially be an interesting debate.

Elfrid Payton has not had a good season, at all. When Orlando was playing well, he was actually nursing a hamstring injury. He’s in a contract year as well, and with Orlando having new Front Office management in place he needs to get going quick if he has any chance of receiving a sizable offer from the Magic. 

So, who do you all think is the better player & will have the better career between these two interesting point guards?

 

[ksmith9Participant]

Payton has had 2 extra years in the league to develop with the top dogs and hasn’t done it yet. In that situation I almost always take the player who has been in the league less and developed more even though they are the same age. 

[HobbyOGParticipant]

 I take Dunn, Payton has been in the league longer and shows little improvent. Dunn has at least showed some type of improvement this year.

[Evan_MilbergParticipant]

I think Elfrid Payton has already reached his ceiling. He’s a decent passer, but no other part of his game is starter caliber. Dunn, on the other hand, is just starting to figure it out this year and showing some of the promise he showed at Providence. His shooting numbers for the year aren’t great, but I actually think his form has improved under Hoiberg. I also think it’s worth noting that Dunn is a great rebounder for the PG position. Without a doubt Dunn is not only the better player now, but has a much higher ceiling as well.

[SlickBouncePassParticipant]

but especially not Payton due to that hair.  Someone shave his head, I wonder what would happen to his game.   

[BeastMode716Participant]

 Dunn has that Dog in him on Defense 

Dunn survived a brutal childhood & people that go thru are able to put athletic pressure in proper context 

Paytom is a good young player too though 

You can’t have a super star at every position & both guys are solid young NBA point guards on Rebuilding NBA teams

 

 

 

 

[Kwame33Participant]

 There’s plenty of NBA players, both past and present, that grew up rough who have not panned out and were not good character guys for their team. Likewise, there have been plenty of players who grew up comfortably that were tough, high effort guys. I don’t see how upbringing is such a big thing for you.

[Lotto StudParticipant]

 Not basketball related but still on topic… I instantly thought of Richard Sherman after your response.

[BeastMode716Participant]

 the drug addict drug dealing mother was locked up. The addict mother disappeared often but one night she just never came home. Dunn & his older brother 13, had no idea if she was dead or alive. 

They had no family b/c years earlier when they were toddlers the mother took the kids & left the father & told no one 

Dunn’s father had no idea where they were for years – he tried thru the courts contacting the Mother’s mother – the boys grandmother 

But they had no idea where the mother & the kids were either. 

The boys told no one after the mother disappeared (locked up) b/c they were afraid they would be separated by the court system so they stopped going to school & survived by their own wits – at 9 & 13

I’m not criticizing Anyone who had a normal life. I had a horrific childhood, abusive father at a time when their was no help for abused women. I was the oldest & Learned to box just to fight my 6’3” 275 lbs father in the hopes of keeping him off my mother 115 lb mother – I was about 12 when I started fighting back. I suffered so much head trauma from his beatings that a promising athletic career in football ended b/c I suffered so many concussions I was medically forbidden to play contact sports by my school – I would lie about the injuries & this was in the 80’s when this stuff just wasn’t followed up on – plus my father was police & he had a license to do whatever he wanted 

We finally just ran away, hiding w/ relatives for 2 years & then we drowned in poverty, always hungry, always cold, always on the run – Even at my age & living comfortably I Still have the same childhood dreams of going to the Supermarket & filling the cart w/ Anything I wanted – I can do that today & it’s not often but I still have those dreams 

I grew up in North Phila & it’s a place where no one cares what happens to anyone. But thru all that my mother worked 2 & sometimes 3 jobs just to scratch by, she was the one constant in our lives that kept my brother & I going to school & out of jail

But going thru that hardens you, it changes you & you learn to not trust anyone b.c the people who were supposed to protect you hurt you

So for Dunn to have no father in his life at those ages, to have an addict for a mother & then to actually survive on their own for a year or so is Remarkable by Any standard. Dunn’s biolical father received some kind of court filing when the mother was finally sentenced – he was in Providence Rhode Island – the kids were in Maryland or Viginia

Dunn’s father tracked the boys down & took custody of them. I believe Dunn never saw his mother again. 

I’m not saying someone can’t succeed b/c they have a rough childhood, but Dunn;s situation was rough even by rough standards. I’m not criticizing anyone who had a normal life – I wish I had that life b/c children who grow up in a 2 parent home have a distinct advantage – numbers bear that out. I have been a teacher & adminstrator for 30 years & I have seen it. 

It doesn’t a kid from a two parent home can’t have a terrible childhood too. My only point was that nothing Dunn encounters in his pro career will ever compare to what he’s been through – it gives him th eperspective & maturity of someone w/ much more life experience & if all things are equal, that is a factor to consider but it’s just one factor – if Payton was a Much better player I would not care one bit about the childhood background, I’d take the better player. 

But that doesn’t make the struggle any less real for the people who are forced to walk that road – it is what it is

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[holefillers1Participant]

I would take Dunn over Payton. I would also like to tease this out a bit and throw Terry Rosier into the mix.  Could he do some of the things that Dunn is doing if given a higher usage rate on a team with less talent, like the Bulls or Orlando or even a team like Dallas.

[TRC1991Participant]

Elfrid Payton? you mean the NBA point guard who shoots 51% from the free-throw line?

 

Yeah give me Dunn.

 

 

[brodiejayParticipant]

Don’t forget that while Elfrid Payton is shooting 51% from the line, he also literally hits his stupid hair with the ball during his shooting motion!

In his defence though, Klay Thompson, George Hill, and Joe Ingles are all NBA Guards that are only shooting 47% from the line.

Oh wait… sorry, my bad. That’s the three-point line.

Seriously though, how does an NBA point guard shoot that poorly from the line?? I’m a 34-year-old Australian guy that never played basketball as a kid. I never played in high school, or college either. I’ve played pickup streetball in the park sporadically for the past few years. I recently decided to play my first  ever season of organised basketball (in Division 3 at my local gym) and even my novice, untrained, uncoached butt managed to shoot  82% from the line.

If I can do it by literally learning to shoot by WATCHING basketball, surely it can’t be that hard when it’s your JOB!?! 

 

 

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 I’d have to take Dunn as he has only played a fraction of the NBA games that Payton has and already looks a better scorer and I think that Payton has pretty much reached his creative play ceiling too whilst Dun has upside there,

[Author]

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