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Chicago Bulls New Player Profile: Cameron Payne

By Daniel Coughlin

Jan 12, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cameron Payne (22) against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Thunder defeated the Timberwolves 101-96. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 12, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cameron Payne (22) against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Thunder defeated the Timberwolves 101-96. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /
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Cameron Payne is the point guard of the future, said no one ever. Until Gar Forman and John Paxson got together and spent 15 minutes on YouTube before the trade dealine. This is the 2017 Chicago Bulls experience.

Must Read: Chicago Bulls Weekly Grades: Feb. 26th

Forman pulled the trigger on a deal centered around sending out Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott and receiving Payne. Let’s take a look at Payne, now.

Player: Cameron Payne

Position: Point Guard

Remaining Contract:

2016-17 $2,112,480
2017-18 $2,203,440
2018-19 $3,263,295 (Team Option)

Hey, it’s the point guard that Gar and Pax really like. He’s on a super cheap rookie deal for the next three seasons. This is an ideal contract for a player that you’re trying to find out more about, but doesn’t have a great deal of upside and might not be around long enough to see out the deal.

It’s a really cheap option and that has to be appealing to Chicago’s front office. They can keep making money and don’t have to worry about spending it. At least, not on a point guard that they have been giving a lot of lip service since acquiring him on February 23 at the deadline.

Career Info: 2-year Veteran

This is only Payne’s second season in the league. He played 57 games as a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder and played an additional 20 games there this season before being traded. He’s played one game, 12 minutes, for Chicago since joining the team.

He’s carrying some foot injury nonsense, but is supposedly healthy now. He’s able to play just fine and the question isn’t if he is healthy, it’s more about his ability to stay healthy and the scary factor in NBA players and foot injuries.

He’s only played 78 games in the NBA to date, and nothing about his numbers jumps out. He has a career line of 5.1 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, shooting only 32.5 percent from 3-point range and 38.7 percent from the field overall.

He’s 2-for-3 overall in his one game and 12 minutes with the Bulls, all of those shots coming from 3-point range.

Role for Bulls: Point Guard of the…future?

I have no idea what Chicago’s front office is thinking. Payne is known for one thing – his pre-game dances with Russell Westbrook.

This isn’t to say that he can’t turn into a good NBA player, it’s to say that he hasn’t done anything to date which would indicate there is a great, NBA-caliber starting point guard in him.

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He’s still young, only in his second season at the age of 22. The lack of 3-point shooting will be problematic for him, as will his generally low field goal numbers. Still, can’t really make much of a judgment on what he will bring to the table until they give him more run.

So far, he’s played one quarter of Bulls basketball, hit two 3s and committed some turnovers. Jerian Grant is still the man right now with Rajon Rondo getting those backup minutes and Michael Carter-Williams is currently sidelined with injury. That means the guy they just traded for is occupying approximately third on their point guard depth chart. For now.

Payne is still new to the Bulls and should see some increased playing time, but with the dissonance of Chicago’s management, it would be like them to acquire a player like Payne as the centerpiece of a bad trade, claim publicly that they intend to develop the young players on their roster over the remainder of the season, and then just relegate the new guard to a deep bench role.

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