Minnesota Sports Forum

Today I watched Payne's game from yesterday. Was he as good as the box score looked? Nope. He was classic Payne mixed bag doing some good things and some bad sorta making up for a bad play with a good play and some awkward stuff that ended up working out. I am REALLY curious about what he communicates to teammates while on the floor because he is nearly always directing or imploring guys to do something. Does he know what the hell he is talking about it is he just saying stuff? Basically this game was just what you would expect from Payne at this level both good and bad.

Other observations:

Sum Bhullar is always fun to watch. He ha game but I don't know how much a guy with his size fits into the league.

Tyler Harvey has a smooth sweet stroke.

Greg Smith proved why he is a professional fringe NBA big man. He was doing work on pretty much anyone. Honestly Payne was the only guy that seemed to be able to slow him down but Smith still scored because of a really good pass over the top when Payne was fronting him.

That's about it. It was an ugly game the Raptors team was a lot better than the Prlando team Payne was playing for and the score reflected it.

Maybe someone has covered this in another thread but I just looked to see how Payne ended up doing in his short stint in the D league. He put up some pretty healthy numbers down there but of course it wasn't all good with a bunch of TOs. They are in different situations but there was a decent amount of talk about which guy you would rather have Payne or Bennett (along with the somewhat popular neither) but at this point Payne seems to be at least trending up somewhat and Bennett trending to be pretty much what he has been most of his career which is vastly below average.

Is it too early to say "I told you so" about Bennett or...?

I would still rather have AB. I can't believe his agent worked a buyout for him. What a bad move for him since it looks like he will never make that money back.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I would still rather have AB. I can't believe his agent worked a buyout for him. What a bad move for him since it looks like he will never make that money back.

Can you explain why you would rather have AB?

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I would still rather have AB. I can't believe his agent worked a buyout for him. What a bad move for him since it looks like he will never make that money back.

Can you explain why you would rather have AB?

I would rather have neither. That Payne move just looks worse and worse by the month.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I would still rather have AB. I can't believe his agent worked a buyout for him. What a bad move for him since it looks like he will never make that money back.

Can you explain why you would rather have AB?

I would rather have neither. That Payne move just looks worse and worse by the month.

+1

Q12543 wrote:

Can you explain why you would rather have AB?

I don't want either and it was kind of a bad joke on my part because at least AB would take a buyout.

bleedspeed177 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

Can you explain why you would rather have AB?

I don't want either and it was kind of a bad joke on my part because at least AB would take a buyout.

Ah I got part of the joke but not all of it obviously. Thanks for clarifying it for me. Lol

I'll say this much. Obviously AB wanted out and to be honest even if he lost out on some money I still think he made the right decision going somewhere else for a change of scenery. AP has been somewhat worthwhile considering low expectations and has barely gotten time here although more than AB has gotten in Toronto. The Wolves one way or another obviously had AP above AB on the food chain. At least that looks like a wise decision.

Giving up a pick for Payne isn't a good deal but I do have some hope Payne could end up being worthwhile as a bench player. If that were to happen it would help that trade look less bad but I'm over it either way generally speaking.

Honestly I think AB has more talent, but the guy is jacked up. He just mentally is off and I wonder what he would be like if he stayed in school 4 years and not come out after a good freshman year and not been injured. He shouldn't be in the league, but wouldn't be shocked if 4 years down the road he gets it figured out.

Payne was just a horrible decision by Flip from the second he did the deal. Not a franchise killer, but just a risk not worth taking. I would rather have Hummel on these team than Payne. I think we have the young talent now we just need to make sure we surroud them with smart players that will let them grow..