Gary Payton
Gary Payton
Gary Dwayne Paytonis an American former professional basketball player. He started at the point guard position. He is best known for his 13-year tenure with the Seattle SuperSonics, and holds Seattle franchise records in points, assists, and steals. He also played with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, the last with whom he won an NBA championship. He was nicknamed "The Glove" for his excellent defensive ability. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth23 July 1968
CityOakland, CA
I didn't like him as light as he was,
He didn't like the 19 (points) and 10 (rebounds, actually 7.8) he was getting (in the playoffs). This year we'll get him back to 26 and 12 or 13, and we'll be fine.
It's not a lollygag thing. You've got to go hard on everything.
I'm going to try to help Jason as much as possible. He has never had a guy like me to guide him. When I come into camp, I'm going to try to help him. I'm not going to try to beat him up or beat him down.
They're athletic and young and they're all freewheeling. They're playing really loose, so it's going to be a good challenge.
They're all athletic and young and they're all free willing. They (Chicago) are playing really loose. It's going to be a good challenge. We're going to have Shaq back in there and all of us playing on the same page with everybody back.
They've got a legit team. You can't go in there and say it's a win. You've got to take those guys seriously now.
A lot of guys are stepping up, a lot of things are happening for us that are good. Everybody's stepping in and playing their roles, so all we think about is winning right now. We're starting to jell a little bit.
It's got to be up to Shaq. If he hits the boards like that with us, we're going to win a lot of basketball games.
Hopefully it's not going to be long for him to be out. He's a big guy. He came down and twisted his ankle pretty bad. I saw it.
They wanted the scores to go up because they wanted the fans to come back. They want high-flying dunks, a lot of people scoring and that's what they're getting. The people they want to see score, they're getting that, and their TV ratings go up.
It's been very hard coming from where I come from, starting all my time. But right now it's not about that. It's about what we have to accomplish to get to a championship.
I hope we've gotten past that sense of lackadaisical play.
We have people calling from out-of-state who want to come and help. As we begin this recovery, we will serve as a referral service for volunteers.