I totally understand that Elfrid Payton was pretty much required to chop off that crazy hair thing he had been rocking for the previous few seasons. That thing was just gross. It gave me communicable diseases just by watching it on TV. Just thinking about that greasy, clumpy mass gives me a strong urge to wash my hands. Suffice to say, that hair-visor he had going on was straight up wack. Absolutely 100% wack. Full stop.
But, honestly, that hair made him a lot easier to identify on the court when watching from a distance. Now that he has a generic flattop thingy going on the top of his head, he looks just like every other NBA player. I rely strongly on visual cues such as interesting hair or body art to keep players straight when they’re moving too fast to read the names on the backs of the jerseys. If I could somehow commit jersey numbers to memory, then I wouldn’t need to use clues like “Payton is the one with the flaccid hair mass flopping on his head like an ill-fitting hat”, but I can’t. My brain doesn’t hold numbers in that way.
Hopefully this highlight video contains all the right clips and not any misplaced clips of Frank Jackson/Kenrich Williams/Darius Miller/Solomon Hill/Dairis Bertans, because Elfrid is so generic-looking now that he resembles any of those guys on any given play.