CONGRATULATIONS! So deserving, to me this guy is the best point guard whose career I have seen from start to finish. I dare people to find a hole in this guy's game. Efficient scorer and distributor who was capable of dominating a game either way. He could shoot the ball from the perimeter or punish guys on the box. He was always smooth, but never flashy, he found style in function. He was equally comfortable on the break or in the half court. Defensively, he was probably the one hyped up perimeter defender whose reputation was entirely deserved. He had a tremendous motor, too, never ran out of gas. If that doesn't sell you, he once came up to then rookie Steve Francis at tip off and licked the side of his face. Welcome to the league!

He came to the league with a few holes like a weak jumper but perfected his game until he was an all timer.

Said he stole a ton of little details of the game from Stockton. Offensively he was very similar but he said he took a lot of little defensive tricks. I guess Jerry Sloan gets some credit by proxy.

I'm not sure he quite hit Stockton's level on O but on D he more than made up for it.

to his game.

Might be my favorite non-Laker of all time. Will never forget his D, especially on Jordan in the Finals

>Might be my favorite non-Laker of all time.

both guys played important roles earlier in the year but finals time malone was hurt and payton had dead legs. payton carried them for a stretch in the regular season that year, they had injuries and leaned on him real hard. he came through then but i think it cost him later.

Out of the big 4 for a little while

"Since Gary Payton had the pill for the Sonics"

(c) Bronsolini

Just heard that song, line makes me smile ear to ear

Congrats to the Glove

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Always had love for dude. Congrats and its extremely well-deserved.

(c) Rappin 4-Tay's homie Young Fly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aWALqfK1qU&t=4m36s

This is some bullshit.

I woulda bet on spm playing contrarian but subjctmatter makes sense too!

Nique had the "one dimensional" knock or whatever, didn't they make Alex English wait, too?

We may get noire than 1 person hating on him in this post.

one of the best shit talkers of all time

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

HOF trash talker and player.


----------------------------
Same as it ever was!

well deserved

I hate to hear people talk about GP as a ring chaser and whatever. He didn't want to leave Seattle, he chipped in big with the Lakers and even in Miami he was critical in winning that Finals series. He hit the game-winner that swung the momentum in the series and a go-ahead shot in that pivotal game 5, basically two winning shots in a Finals series where they rallied from an 0-2 hole.

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

it's really that simple.

Perhaps the cult basketball player of our
generation

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

down. the baddest sonic ever and a winner period.

congradulations he did his thing.

they showed a replay of GP locking stockton down so bad, he thought he was being double teamed

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-AMtjN4um0

besides reign man

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

i remember being so mad that day 'cause i wanted the Bulls to sweep

Glove would've fouled out by the middle of the second quarter in today's league :(

Must see TV for those Sonics/Warriors battles between him & Tim Hardaway in their primes. He gave Penny fits too. Size wasn't an issue the way he leveraged cats in the post on both sides of the floor. Wasn't a big fan the first few years here when his mouth was>his game. Once he flipped that script he became one of my favorite players ever. There was a 2 or 3 year stretch where he might've been the best finisher in the league. Once he got to the cup it was as good as gold.

And hell yeah, him against T Bug was amazing. Hardaway was so exciting before he blew out his knee and still effective after. I wish we could have seen like TBug circa 1992 against GP circa 1998 or so, whew, would have been a $1000 ticket every time out.

>And hell yeah, him against T Bug was amazing. Hardaway was so
>exciting before he blew out his knee and still effective
>after. I wish we could have seen like TBug circa 1992 against
>GP circa 1998 or so, whew, would have been a $1000 ticket
>every time out.

Their playoff battle in 92 was the pinnacle

I will still buy every color lol. I had a white/black/green pair but sold it a couple months ago knowing this was in the works, got $350 for a worn pair! That'll pay for the two OG colors when they drop. I never had the black ones, for some reason they kept eluding me. I will definitely cop this time.

unfortunately that Bucks team just didn't have it and it was more like putting lipstick on a pig. Not his fault.

my two favorite GP interviews from that time period were where he talked about gary sheffield warning him about milwaukee and where, upon his decision to sign with the lakers, he made it clear that he was going to play with "his man Shaq" and then clarified to say he was only excited to play with Shaq lol.

Stockton was an underrated defender, a better shooter and still a better operator of an offense at any speed. But Gary was faster, bigger, stronger, had a stronger motor and still played considerably better D.

>still a better operator of an offense at any speed.

How can you say this? He ran the same offense with the
same all-time great power forward for his entire career.

How can you gauge his all-around ability to operate
an offense at any speed?

Payton's field generalship was actually more diverse.

And Payton's ability to be good as a role player actually
adds to his legend. Stockton is completely worthless
as a role player. Nothing to add if he's not running
pick & roll and dominating the ball.


But Gary
>was faster, bigger, stronger, had a stronger motor and still
>played considerably better D.

This sound like most of Payton's advantages were genetic. He was
actually barely quicker than Stockton, if at all (Stockton was
VERY quick laterally, actually...just not Hardaway and Kevin
Johnson quick, which few players ever ere). Payton also had
better anticipation and timing on defense, which is cognitive,
rather than athletic.

>
>>still a better operator of an offense at any speed.
>
>How can you say this? He ran the same offense with the
>same all-time great power forward for his entire career.
>
>How can you gauge his all-around ability to operate
>an offense at any speed?
>
>Payton's field generalship was actually more diverse.
>
>And Payton's ability to be good as a role player actually
>adds to his legend. Stockton is completely worthless
>as a role player. Nothing to add if he's not running
>pick & roll and dominating the ball.

LOL, classic "Stockton had Malone argument," do you go to a discount store to buy these boring shit opinions? Stockton ran the Jazz brilliantly at any tempo and whether or not Malone was on the floor. Get out of my face with this shit, I watched both these guys' careers, you were asleep during them. BTW Payton played with all-star PFs almost his entire career, too, still managed to never come close to sniffing Stockton's assist numbers.

>But Gary
>>was faster, bigger, stronger, had a stronger motor and still
>>played considerably better D.
>
>This sound like most of Payton's advantages were genetic. He
>was
>actually barely quicker than Stockton, if at all (Stockton was
>
>VERY quick laterally, actually...just not Hardaway and Kevin
>Johnson quick, which few players ever ere). Payton also had
>better anticipation and timing on defense, which is cognitive,
>
>rather than athletic.

Payton had way better end to end speed and changed speeds better, too. The size advantage and the extra dimension it added to his game at both ends is indisputable. Otherwise, Your own sensitivity is showing (as always) because I've already compared the detail-oriented acumen and cerebral nature of their games in this very thread. There was a book written about the 90s Sonics where Payton talks in detail about his admiration for Stockton and the things he patterned in his own game after Stockton. Stockton has also talked about the mutual respect for Payton. Payton was a guy looking for every edge out there, looking to dominate psychologically. No one is suggesting he was just a physical freak, that's absurd, but in some ways he was, mainly his stamina. Top motors I have ever seen on guys would be him, Iverson, Sprewell and for a while there Rip Hamilton. There are other guys whose reputations I know, but out of guys in my lifetime, those are the hardest guys to wear out.

I always wanted to be the defensive stopper. Payton was one of those guys I admired.

Payton was a key part of the blueprint for how I envisioned defense should be played (and what I tried to model myself after when playing ball).

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li1d2xtyLF1qdi785o1_500.jpg

http://i4.minus.com/jbqVx4JxPXBtZJ.jpg

He gave no fucks whatsoever about playing against Jordan in that Finals. No stage was ever too big for him, glad he got his with Miami before that final curtain fell on his ability to contribute.

bout time