Magic fans know full well the phenomenon of “March Elfrid”, which is when the season hits the month of March and Elfrid Payton starts putting up huge numbers on a regular basis. He can be a middling PG the whole year, but when the calendar flips over to the third month, it doesn’t matter. It’s time for him to dominate. The Magic considered his propensity to kick booty once the games stopped really mattering for their team, and it didn’t stop them from trading him, which tells you what you need to know about this phenomenon.
The same thing is happening now. Once march hit, Payton decided it was a good time to put up FIVE consecutive triple-doubles. Like he was prime Rajon Rondo or something. Technically, if you want to get SUPER technical about it, this particular huge performance happened in April, not March. I’m not sure if the phenomenon usually extends into the next month, but I bet it does, since it’s more of a “late-season Elfrid” effect anyway.
The Pelicans are in the same place now that the Magic so often were during Payton’s tenure there: playing meaningless games at the end of the season after starting off with such hope and promise. The difference this time for Payton is that he has a contract to be playing for; his one year deal from this season doesn’t allow him to keep playing for additional years just because he wants to. He’s auditioning for the 30 NBA teams right now, and he wants to show them that if they want a point guard who only turns it on late in meaningless regular seasons, then he’s the guy to call.
I don’t even know what would happen if you tried to put him on a playoff team. Would it work at all? Has he just been unlucky playing for Orlando, Phoenix, and New Orleans? Is he a player who can thrive on a good team? Maybe we’ll get our answer next year.