I’m wondering if someone could give a little clarification on Payton’s alleged “poor handles.”
I understand the criticism with JB, when he decides to split a double or go 1 on 3 and gets stripped, but Payton was supposed to be a good ball handler coming out of Oregon. I remember seeing it watching highlights after the draft. I remember in camp that year him showing off his dribbling skills. He was not Kyrie, but he looked to have good handles.
To be sure I wasn’t misremembering I looked at his draft profile and his shooting, passing and ball handling were all above average. His size, speed and drawing fouls were listed as weaknesses.
A quote from NBAdraft:
Dynamic scorer both on the drive and from beyond the arc … Can create his own shot with above average ball-handling, a fluid shooting motion and limitless range
Another weakness was “sometimes careless with the ball.” I didn’t see Payton play much last year, and when I did I saw a few things he gets legitimately criticized for, like not getting to the rim and not probing the defense hard enough before passing. I didn’t see loose handles.
Rewatching some college highlights he often settles for a floater rather than going through contact to the rim. That seems like something that hasn’t changed? A weakness was not drawing enough fouls and that still seems to be the case. He was fine creating space using single and double cross over dribbles and dribbling through traffic while being double teamed. He just wasn’t forcing his way to the rim if there wasn’t a clear path and settled for floaters or passing the ball.
Is that what people are actually complaining about when they see/say “poor handles?” Sometimes careless with the ball and not continuing to the basket, because otherwise I’m not getting the criticism?
Yeah, this bolded part is what I am talking about. He is secure in his handles in basic ball-handling responsibilities such as bringing the ball upcourt and starting the offense but he provides little to no dribble penetration.
Not just not getting all the way to the rim but hardly ever even gettin to the paint. We talk about reluctant shooters; Pritchard is a reluctant driver / dribble penetrator. He shows little to no capacity to beat his man off the dribble and/or beat bigger slower defenders off the dribble in switches.
His handles are extremely limited. And this has a knock-down effect on his shot creation (almost entirely 20 feet out) and his playmaking (because he cannot collapse the defense).
