Milwaukee Bucks 2016-17 Season Review: Gary Payton II

The Worst of Payton II

As a second or third guard you are expected to either hold the fort until the starters get their rest or be the spark plug igniting a run to take the lead and change the game. In the six games Payton II played, the statistics don’t necessarily suggest either of those goals were accomplished.

Payton II had a plus minus of negative 9.7 points for his six games in Milwaukee. In fact, the Bucks were a net negative for each of the six games when Payton II took to the court.

Payton II’s long range shooting is a notable weakness, despite his first NBA points coming from a three-point field goal. As it turned out, that was also his last deep make of the season as he went on to record a three-point percentage of 11.1 percent by missing his next eight attempts.

Extending that beyond his work with the Bucks, Payton II only made 30.7 percent of his triples in the D-League last season too.

Again, it doesn’t seem too wise to place too much value on Payton II’s NBA statistics as he only played 99 NBA minutes in total, but his shooting is an area where his overall track record doesn’t exactly debunk what the small sample size is indicating.