The Blazers signed Gary Payton II, a member of the new champion Warriors, for 3 years and 28M.Although the Blazers have a lot of salary space this summer, after taking Grant’s 20.9M salary with a trade exception, it has actually been determined that it will exceed the salary line. Therefore, in addition to renewing their own players with complete bird rights, the available signing method is the middle-class clause.In the end, the pioneers decided to use the middle-class exception on Payton.
This isn’t the first time Payton has come to the Blazers: “GPII” had been on the team briefly on a training camp contract before the 2018-19 season, but was not on the season-opening roster when the team was full at the time and under pressure from the luxury tax . After playing for a few teams, now by winning the championship to make a fortune and join the pioneers, it can be said that the hardships have come through.Payton is also familiar with Oregon State: his college is at Oregon State.Father Gary Payton is also an honorary alumnus of the school, and Lillard is also a representative point guard from Oakland.
backcourt lock
Gary Payton II’s career so far this season: 17.6 MIN, 7.1 PTS, 3.1 REB, 1.4 STL, 61.6% FG%, 35.8% 3P%Among them, the number of games played, the average playing time per game, and the points, interceptions, etc. have all set new career highs.
Among them, GPII is most praised for its defensive skills. In the Warriors defensive system, Payton can often be seen standing at the top of the three-point arc, watching the enemy’s best backcourt offense from the front line. GPII is good at reading the attacker’s movements and mentality. Unlike most defenders in the league, he tends to take a position closer to the ball carrier to apply pressure, and constantly uses his agile pace and quick hands to interfere with opponents. The ability to interfere with the attacker and the degree of pressure can be regarded as a defender in the front section of the league. Looking deeper into the data,GPII Interference Balls Per Game（Deflections）times reached 2.5 times, even if the Per 36 MIN The frequency of viewing is only slightly lower than that of Thybulle in the league; at the same time, STL% is also 34.4% Ranked at the forefront of the league.
Although he is only 6-3 in height, with his 6-8 wingspan and never-say-back defensive attitude, he can get good results in defending three positions in the backcourt. Although he is thin, his physical confrontation ability is better than expected, and he will not be easily eaten alone after switching defenses. He can exchange teammates’ time to return to defense through short physical confrontation. The GPII can quickly turn back and continue to tangle with the ball carrier, even if it is sometimes easy to get caught by screens because it is too close to the ball carrier.Payton’s willingness to fight and entanglement makes him often used by Kerr to serve the opponent’s ball-holding center, destroying the enemy’s offensive layout from the starting point.In the playoffs that pay more attention to the value of stars, such a one-on-one defense is more valuable.
armed defense
Finding GPII, the Blazers’ attitude is self-evident: it is to strengthen and deepen the team’s defense.It’s not hard to understand Cronin’s thoughts, after all, the Blazers’ defense has been at the lowest level in the league for the past three seasons: defensive efficiency ranked No. 27, 29 ,29 name. At first glance at the team’s lineup, it is often assumed that the lack of high-level pioneers is only because the penalty area is ravaged by the opponent, but this is not the case.The biggest problem with the Blazers’ defense has always been that the first line is too prone to flaws, so it needs the penalty area and even weak-side players to help defend.The arrival of Payton is expected to alleviate this problem. Even if his playing time is only 20 minutes, it will bring a certain improvement to the Blazers’ perimeter defense.
But what fans are really curious about is whether the Blazers can make Payton play the same amazing defensive efficiency he did in the Warriors? It was mentioned earlier that the Warriors would have the GPII at the top of the arc to press the ball carrier, but they could do so because the Warriors’ entire team was very good at help-defense and rotation efficiency. The Blazers, as a team with a normal defensive efficiency at the bottom of the league in recent years, often have problems in rotation and assist defense.Can the Blazers really cover up the lack of defensive ability in the backcourt by adding a defender?This is quite suspicious.
More curious, though, is Payton’s playing time and positioning.Did the Blazers see the GPII as a guard? Or will it eat up wing minutes? From the current point of view, after Payton arrives at the Trail Blazers, he should not start with his name point guard position, but the latter. After all, the team’s two main scoring players: Lillard and Simons are both point guards. However, if Payton tops out at No. 2 or even No. 3, that would be a problem with too small a lineup for the Blazers. At that time, how to protect the rebounds and the common weaknesses of small lineups such as restricted area defense will be a situation that the pioneers need to seriously think about.While Payton often played with the Splash Brothers and even Poole during the Warriors’ days, the two teams have not played together this season.Rebounding Protection RateIt’s a different level: the pioneers are also ranked lower here. Although the data is somewhat distorted by the massive training after the star game, it still cannot change the fact that this aspect needs to be strengthened.