Gary Payton
This is what kids want to see. You see these Playstations, they scoring 50 and 60 with one player, that's what they want to see on TV and I don't go with that.
Patrick Beverley is one of my favorites. What he does is he brings a lot of energy.
My way is to talk to my opponent so he makes it a personal thing. He starts playing me one-on-one, and forgets about his team. Meanwhile, I'm still playing team ball and eating him up. Some guys tried talking back, but you can't get a talker when a talker's talking to you.
As far as talking on the court was concerned, the whole family was behind me on that.
I was really scared when I went to Oregon State. I wasn't sure I could play at the college level.
I want to be the black Dick Vitale.
To go into Key Area every day, sold out, it was hard to come in there and get a win against us. That's when we used to make people understand, you can't come in and get a win against us. We were probably one of the hardest arenas to win in. Our fans were crazy. They would camp out.
I would go after any rookie. Any rookie with a lot of hype. I used to do it to Jason Kidd. I would go at him. I'd be like, 'Young fella, you're going to get a rude awakening in the NBA.'
Every rookie that thought they was good, I went at them to make sure they knew I was the best point guard in the league, and they had to go through me. That's just the way I was.
The thing that I regret is not having better relationships with a lot of people. Being the hard-nosed guy that I was, I think I could've come off a little bit better in my relationships with a lot of people, and I didn't.
There's a lot of things that I appreciate that people can't appreciate.
I did a lot of things I regret.
If Seattle could put my jersey on top of the Space Needle, they would.
No one superstar can win a championship by himself. You've got to have help.
I can't think ok, I got 35 points, he got 35, I did something good.
If he's averaging 25 points and I can contain him to 17, then I've won the battle. If he averages 12 assists and I kept him to seven, I'm winning the game.
The point guards that I like are the ones that are playing like point guards.
When I was talking a lot of trash, a lot of the guys knew that when I started getting serious was when I started getting a little bit quieter. If I started locking up somebody, then I'd start talking even more and I'd talk more aggressive. But once I stopped, they knew I was really serious.
My father and my brother are chefs.
I own 60 retro jerseys. I've got everybody - the late Derrick Thomas, a lot of people.
When you play defense what happens is everybody pays attention and they start talking about how you're the stopper, you can stop this guy. All of a sudden your game gets better on the offensive end and you become that versatile guard that everybody wants.
Coaching is something I really would do. A lot of people don't think I'm serious about it. I like working with the kids. When you work with the guys one-on-one and get them to understand it's a little bit better. That's the way I was taught by Tim Grgurich. That's how he taught us.
I don't miss basketball because I've already got in my mind that I did what I had to do for 17 years. I think I'm satisfied with what I did.
I don't give a damn about MVP.
I'm not a practice player.
Wilt Chamberlain, by far, is my best basketball player. Best athlete ever.
LeBron is making a case for himself to be one of the greatest players to ever play.
I like Draymond Green's intensity... but every time I didn't get a call I didn't cry all the time.
You've got to be on all-league teams before you can say that you are going to be a great basketball player.
You don't have to like me, but I'm going to tell you the truth. If you don't like what I'm saying, then go out and prove it.
I know who can play and who can't play and I'm very straight-forward... If you can play, you can play; if you can't, you can't.
To let somebody get 30 points on you, and you feel good because you got 35 on them, that's not good for me, you know what I'm saying? If I get 35, I want him to get 12 or 14 because that means I've done something. I've done my job. I went out there and played hard and did what I had to do.
Larry Bird was a talker. He'd tell you something and you'd be like, are you kidding me? You're really telling me that?
You talk about rowdy - in Oakland the players were on you. The refs were on you. The stands were on you. You had to talk back or you were a sissy; you'd get run out of the league. Afterward? Yeah, it was kind of a, uh, struggle to get out of the gym. Cops had to be everywhere. Which was lucky.
I've loved my days at Oregon State.
I like comfortable clothes, so I get most of my pants and shirts made.
I'm not into the European-style clothes.
I'm always going to admire my father more than anybody in life.
I was really excited about going to Miami because of coach Riley. And getting with him has been a change for me and really good for me.
Coming from Oakland, Calif., I never thought I'd be a Hall of Famer. I wasn't thinking about basketball like that.
When I made it to the pros I wanted to be a guy who could stay in the league, be OK, do whatever I had to do to make some money and do what I do. As the years started coming, I started getting better.
You don't just come in and say, 'Bam, I'm mature; I'm the leader.' It took time for me to grow into this and learn how to talk to certain players and how to handle certain situations.
Part of being a leader means knowing who you can go after and who you should pat on the butt.
The NBA tries to be about flash. But real fans recognize the guy who makes things happen.
Because of how I am on the court, people think I'm wild and crazy. But really, I'm a kick-back guy, so Seattle suits me fine.
Guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, they'll take bad criticism in a good way.
I hope they'll say I was one of the hardest-working basketball players on both ends of the floor.
The trash-talking, I think I would like to take that back. I really didn't want to get known as that, but that was just the way I was, the way I grew up back in Oakland, Calif., back on the playgrounds.
It is much easier to be the hunter than the hunted. When you are the one not expected to do anything, you play better.Collection: Play