Produced by Russian city dance king Thunder, abandoned by CBA ... In the seventh year of his career, Payne collected all kinds of basketball fans like collecting stamps and then presented the results to fans.
In the series where the Suns eliminated the Lakers, Payne averaged 13.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game before G6, and the average score per game has quietly ranked third in the team.
On the court, he will still have the shadow of the thunder period-when his teammates make free throws, he will stand outside the three-point line and dance gently. However, compared with sitting on the bench that year, Payne really released energy on the court.
For a player who was once abandoned by the NBA and even said that "he can't even play CBA", it is enough for people to say that he can return to the NBA and shine-this boy is also famous.
Payne debuted in Thunder.
Shao Wei's younger brother, the king of urban dance.
Before Payne's high-profile performance in the Sun, the labels in fans' memory were nothing more than words like "Shao Wei's partner" and "King of Russian Dance", and more experienced fans would shout out the title of "CBA deserter".
The story begins on 20 15.
In June, the Barclays Center in new york was crowded, and Presty, the general manager of Thunder, repeatedly rubbed his number 14, which was one of the few winning lottery tickets in recent years.
Last season, Durant received a bone transplant on his right foot and only played 27 games for reimbursement. Thunder also fell from the second place in the league last year to the ninth place in the west, and the lottery number 14 is their best reinforcement opportunity.
At this point, they urgently need a backup point guard. Before the draft, the Thunder just sent off the pretentious reggie jackson, and they are looking for a cheerful teammate who can make Shao Wei happy. If possible, it's best to give Shao Wei 10 minutes to catch my breath every game.
14 is not high, but it is enough for Presty. He once selected Adams in 12 and Ibaka and Reggie in 24th place.
In the last round, the Suns selected Devon Booker with the "13 draft pick shooting guard" buff prize, so the Thunder selected Cameron Payne, a dual-energy guard from Murray State University. He averaged 20.3 points, 6 assists 1.8 steals in the second season of NCAA, with a three-point shooting rate of 37.3%.
And his original prediction of the overall position was only the edge of the first round.
Shao Wei's "dancing partner".
The reality is really as imagined by Thunder management. Casual Payne soon got mixed up with Shao Wei-before the competition, they always met with all kinds of dances. As we all know, there is a thin servant around Shao Wei, who will attract everyone's attention with strange dances.
Since then, the name of "Russian city dance king" has spread like wildfire.
As for letting Shao Wei rest for 10 minutes, the dancers who consumed physical strength before the game were not competent, so Thunder had to find someone else to replace the point guard Buddha.
Donovan once commented: "Like Payne, many players from NCAA were the scoring champions of the team, but in the NBA they must know what is a better offensive opportunity. Payne doesn't have to be a pure point guard, but he should also know the timing of passing the ball. "
So, the "dancing king" took a curtain call and turned to leave. At that time, the Oklahoma media bid farewell to his report, and the headline began like this: "Thunder trades Westbrook's partner."
Payne was traded to the Bulls.
This man can't play NBA at all.
2065438+On February 24th, 2007, Bull and Thunder made a big deal for five people: Thunder exchanged Payne, Moreau and Laufner for Ty Gibson and mcdermott of Bull, and Bull also posted the second round in this deal.
I have to look back on the deal a year later from the perspective of Thunder management: Gibson got a big contract in the Timberwolves, and Thunder beat Anthony from the Knicks with mcdermott and Bulls in the second round; On the other hand, Moreau hurried to BIG3, Laufern returned to Europe, and Payne stayed in the team.
At first, Payne was the target of the bull trade. Even when he first arrived in Chicago, the Bulls management firmly said, "Remember, Payne was traded by Gibson. If you think about how Gibson played, Payne can do the same."
But an insider of Bulls, who asked not to be named, gave the opposite answer: "The team didn't know until the second training that this person could not play the NBA at all." And the accompanying sentence "the general manager is ball blind."
Payne growled after scoring against the Lakers in the playoffs this year.
However, Payne doesn't think so. He looked forward to the future of the media with a smile: "I don't have many opportunities in Thunder, because there are Shao Wei and Augustine in front of me, one is MVP, and the other is playing in Magic now, which shows that I am buried. I really feel good about myself. "
What can come to you is not inflation, but persistent injury. The fracture of the fifth metatarsal of the right foot has just healed, and I want to make a big impact, so I increased my training. As a result, on the first day of training camp, my right foot was broken again.
The bull watched for three years and finally gave up Payne.
At that time, the optimistic Payne laughed at himself. "I heard that the average age of the NBA is 3.2 years old. I have played for 3.5 years, which is still very promising."
This lotte attribute may come from family. "In my warm family, I am well protected." Payne once described his surroundings like this. "They saw unfair comments, but they didn't let me know that this was the best protection."
On 20 19 10/9, the bulls chose to cut Payne. Payne was sleeping when the agent called him. He stayed in bed all day before he got the news.
Payne came to CBA Shanxi team.
Become a "CBA deserter"
Family can bring warmth, but you can't find a job.
Payne, who had no ball to play, reluctantly chose the Shanxi men's basketball team in CBA. "It was a terrible decision for me, but I did it anyway."
It took him a month to go through all kinds of passport procedures, but a carefree teenager who grew up in a warm family didn't know the hardships of wandering in a foreign land.
When he and his girlfriend landed in mainland China and Hongkong as excited as moving, the Shanxi Men's Basketball Team didn't prepare the pick-up service for him.
So he and his girlfriend had to walk nearly 1 km to the hotel. Of course, I have to carry six big boxes with me. Payne, who finally arrived at the hotel, collapsed again, because even the luggage brought by Payne could not fit in the room.
In fact, this is all due to the poor service of CBA teams. After all, it is the nearest hotel, and Payne may not understand how luxurious a six-suitcase hotel in Hong Kong is.
"My first reaction was that this is not the NBA." For Payne, all this has to be adapted. "I can't take the treatment of the NBA for granted."
Payne and Zhao Jiwei clashed.
In CBA, he didn't play for the first time, but sat on the bench for a month. After all, Shanxi team has always been more willing to look for foreign aid with super offensive attributes, while Franklin is a "three wonders" with an average of 30. 1 minute10/assists and 9.5 rebounds, and Payne is just his "spare tire".
It was not until Franklin was injured that Payne had a chance to play at the end of 20 19.
Against Liaoning, he scored 19 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 steals, but most people think of the scene where he elbowed Zhao Jiwei; Against Beijing Control, in the face of three foreign AIDS, Payne scored 26 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists, but at the same time there were 4 mistakes and many breakthroughs, and Shanxi suffered 23 points.
In two games, most people gave the answer: "This person can't play CBA."
Now Payne recalls that experience and says with a smile, "I'm cramping all over. I haven't played for a long time. I've been drinking coke. I thought I would never play again. "
After two away games, Payne didn't even have time to make his home appearance, and Shanxi announced his termination-because Payne's heart floated back to the NBA. According to Zhu, Shaanxi wanted to stay, but Payne refused.
Later, Payne frantically called agent Jason Grosson: "I'm going to play the NBA Development League."
This trip enabled him to unlock another achievement: CBA abandoned generals.
Payne's performance in CBA is not outstanding either.
"How long do you want to play?"
Payne, who returned to the Development League, played for Legendary Team, a subordinate team of Lone Ranger. But after the NBA rematch, the lone ranger chose trey burke who had Iverson's "duplicated skin". The latter did not disappoint the lone ranger. After the rematch, he averaged 12.0 points, 3.8 assists 1.9 rebounds, which made the playoffs shine.
For Payne, all the efforts seem to have been in vain. "This is my profession." Payne recalled this.
Until the agent called for the second time, "What do you think of Monty Williams?"
Among the agents, Monty is the head coach of the Suns-during the 20 15-20 16 season, Monty worked as an assistant to the Thunder and rookie Payne for one season. Now that the Suns are short of a backup guard, Monty thinks of Payne.
On the other end of the phone, Monty asked Payne if he still remembered a conversation they had at the Thunder training base during the rookie season-Shao Wei had started training at the arena in the early hours of Ohio, so Monty said to Payne, "When do you still want to play?" Go to the gym before Shao Wei. If you persist, you can beat him. "
Of course, Payne did this at first, but two days later, Shao Wei couldn't see his little brother. "I was still young and didn't treat all this correctly." Payne promised that he is now ready for the NBA.
Monty Williams saved Payne.
As he said, he averaged 10.9 points, 3 assists, 3.4 rebounds 1 steals, hit 5 1.7% from three-pointers, and averaged 1.9 three-pointers.
Although the Suns didn't make the playoffs, Payne gained a firm foothold. After Paul joined the team, he also became the team's backup guard.
In this year's playoffs, when Paul was injured and Booker was at the peak, Payne, who was once thin, stood out from the bench, not only shouldering the team, but also becoming the most dynamic player of the Suns.
He fought for the Lakers' back line, tirelessly assisted defense and made up for the position, and even grabbed rebounds with Davis James and others. He put his passion for dancing before the game into the arena.
Then, you will quietly find that Payne has become the third team in this series-G6 averaged 13.6 points, 3.8 assists and/kloc-0 steals, averaging 2.0 points. In the sixth game, Payne also scored 7 points.
At this time, fans also began to shout slogans: "Thunder products must be fine."
Payne broke through caruso's defense.
"I was hit by reality. I don't want to be eliminated by this alliance. I just work hard every day to gain a foothold in the league. " This is what Payne said after the regular season. Coincidentally, against the Lakers, he scored 19 points and 7 assists in that game.
Today, Payne is back, but he feels that he is still one step behind. "I must work hard to get the next contract."
Proofreading: Xu Yijia