Player Preview: The backup point guard we didn’t know we wanted or needed?

So far, so good for the once hated journeyman

When the Knicks signed Cameron Payne to a one-year $3.1 million deal in July, the initial reactions were mixed. While some fans were optimistically excited about what the veteran guard could bring, the majority of the fanbase was confused, if not downright upset, at the signing. Payne, who fans just saw play for the hated Sixers in the playoffs, was coming into a situation that, at the time, had very little playing time for him with Deuce McBride, and one of Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart slotted in as the backup guards. So bringing him in when the team needed more forward and center depth seemed like a head-scratcher at best, and a mistake at worst.

But when New York pulled off the blockbuster deal for Karl-Anthony Towns, they parted ways with DiVincenzo, which turned the Knicks’ guard depth from a strength into a question mark. That made the Payne signing make more sense, and seemingly out of nowhere, he started to look more like a necessity than an outlier. And through a few preseason games, Payne has won over a lot of fans and brought some much-needed faith back into the second-unit in the process.

It is just three games and three pre-season games at that, which means he’s playing some of his minutes against guys who won’t get consistent rotational minutes. So the sample size is small and not the most reliable. But Payne has looked really good thus far, averaging 12.3 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 2 RPG while shooting 41.7% from the field and 37.5% from three while playing 23 MPG. Those numbers won’t wow anyone, and the belief is that they’ll eventually come down a bit. But that’s okay. Even if the numbers do cool off, the little things that he has done might be even more notable.

One thing that jumped off the screen was the 30-year-old’s pace. In his first three games as a Knick, he has done an amazing job of consistently pushing the pace- something the team has been missing since Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley departed. With Payne now running the second-unit, there’s a noticeable increase in pace, which should help the team get easier looks.

But that isn’t even the best or most significant part. More than anything, Payne is a point guard. Maybe not a point guard in the purest sense, like a floor general, but a point guard nonetheless. And that has been pivotal in unlocking McBride’s shooting abilities and letting him focus on scoring instead of having to stress about creating for others as well. Even when the team fails to push the ball in transition and is forced into their half-court offense, Payne has been incredibly adept at orchestrating the offense, especially when running pick and rolls.

That’s exactly what the Knicks need from him, and that’s exactly what we should all expect. Payne isn’t going to light the world on fire and consistently take over games like the aforementioned Rose and Quickley did off the bench as potential Sixth Man of the Year candidates. But Payne has had some really big games throughout his nine-season career. And overall, he just needs to keep things simple.

New York’s second-unit offense lacked a creator last season and it was painfully obvious. Enter Payne. If he can infuse the second-unit with some much-needed pace, and creation, and run a serviceable pick and roll while doing so, the Knicks should be happy with their investment.

And defensively, if he can continue to be the competitive and fiery pest-like defender we’ve seen him be in the past, he and McBride should lead to an undersized but still very annoying and competitive defense, especially against opposing second-units. And while the Knicks lost some toughness and fight with Isaiah Hartenstein, Julius Randle, and DiVincenzo now all gone, New York fans should also quickly fall in love with Payne’s competitive spirit and toughness as well.

Statistically, Payne is coming off a season in which he only averaged 7.4PPG, but that was also while only playing 16.7MPG. Obviously Brunson and McBride will get a large chunk of minutes but Payne should still be able to carve himself a role where he hovers around 20MPG. And if he can do that, he shouldn’t have too much of a problem averaging around 10PPG along with three to four assists per game, as he did over three seasons in Phoenix when he averaged 9.8PPG and 4.2APG in 20.2MPG in 174 games.

But we aren’t quite finished. Payne will get the majority of the backup point guard minutes under the veteran-preferring Tom Thibodeau, and rightfully so. But there will almost surely come a time when fans will ask for more minutes for rookie Tyler Kolek. We saw the same happen with both Quickley and McBride and Thibodeau didn’t give in for a season or two. And given the Knicks are in a prime window to compete for a championship, it’s unlikely that anything changes. But the minutes distribution between Payne and Kolek, and how he and the fans react to that, should continue to be something we all monitor moving forward.

That being said, a lot of those concerns voiced by the fans came when, one, Alec Burks and Elfrid Payton were the Knicks’ point guards, and two, when the team was underperforming. If Payne plays to his expectations, and the team is winning, those rumblings may end up being more quiet than initially expected.