Top 103 Quotes & Sayings by Gary Payton
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American athlete Gary Payton.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
When I was playing, it was me playing both ends of the floor, playing offense, playing defense and I gave the ball up with assists. It wasn't like me doing one thing, scoring 25 and having three assists and one steal.
I'm not going to go to a team that's losing. I think that would be disrespectful to me to trade me to somebody like that.
Guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, they'll take bad criticism in a good way.
I think if you ask any young guy if they would want a career like Gary Payton, they would tell you yes.
It's just a great honor to even be associated with the Hall of Fame and get in. If I eventually do make it, it will be a great honor, and I don't care if it's the first or second time because it's an honor for anyone to make the Hall of Fame.
George Gervin was my childhood idol since I was little. In Oakland I had all his posters on my wall.
I am going to go on with my life, and if they call me and say 'Yo, you are going to be in the Hall of Fame or you are going to be in this,' then I am going to say, 'So be it.' If I make it, I will go to the ceremony, and I'll have fun.
The Glove is in the Hall of Fame with the greats.
When I went in to Seattle, I had eight veterans who were in the league over six or seven years. That was a plus for me, to teach me how to respect somebody.
What's the difference? Ninety million or 80 million. You still can't spend it all.
Basketball has turned into an offensive-minded situation. They don't play on both ends. They don't play defense.
In my day I think the toughest was Derek Harper. The old-school Derek Harper. He was tough. He had the most toughest, nastiest game ever. I hated playing against him because he would always try to rip you, and try to talk to you. People just didn't really know that about Derek Harper. I used to hate bringing the ball up against him, really.
I don't need to be in New York. If you've had a bad game, they're booing you and all that mess.
Patrick Beverley is one of my favorites. What he does is he brings a lot of energy.
Xavier McDaniel made me respect him. I thought I could do anything I wanted to. He grabbed me one time and almost choked me out. He said, 'You're going to do this. You're going to go get coffee. You're going to go get doughnuts.' It's a game of respect.
I've already gotten the big paychecks. I'll be fine.
I will not go to Oklahoma and retire my jersey there.
Assistants like Tim Grgurich worked with me and watched film of me from my Oregon State days.
I want to be the black Dick Vitale.
When you talk back to me and say something to me it made my game go to another level.
I've got a lot of stats. I did a lot of stuff.
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.
Gary Payton is evolving, but GP is in the Hall of Fame.
You don't hear about me being at parties, going out and gettin' drunk.
Kobe Bryant, to me, is still the best basketball player in my mind. He played with me and he was in my era. I still love him to death. He's a little brother to me.
I became real good friends with John Stockton and Karl Malone and am still good friends with them to this day. It was always good to go see them and then play with them in the 1996 Olympics as well. I idolized John Stockton at the time, I tried to model my game after him.
You make sacrifices. You sacrifice yourself. Do you want to possibly win a championship? Or do you want to be the same person you were when you were 20 and get those same numbers?
Money and all that stuff doesn't equal a ring, because you'll always be in the books as winning a championship and being on one of the best teams ever to play the game.
I want to finish my career in Seattle but it's rocky.
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.
People always talk about first-ballot Hall of Famer and all that stuff, but it doesn't really make a difference. Once you get in there, you're a Hall of Famer. It doesn't matter if you get in on the first, second or third ballot. It's the same thing.
It's always going to have an effect when your father comes up and scolds you in front of a lot of people.
My dad was known as a mean guy. He never smiled, and he had 'Mr. Mean' put on his license plate. But he was one of the neighborhood dads who looked out for everyone. He would take kids in and help them out.
If you see yourself in the paper every day and people keep talking about you, you will have a little breakdown in yourself, too.
I'm not a jealous guy.
I was really scared when I went to Oregon State. I wasn't sure I could play at the college level.
I was guarding the best player and getting 25 and having eight assists, and three-four steals.
I've done everything - All-Stars, Olympics. The only thing I haven't done is win MVP of the league. There's nothing else I haven't accomplished.
I'm a big fan of Marcus Smart.
My family played a big part of my success.
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.
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.'
As far as talking on the court was concerned, the whole family was behind me on that.
No one superstar can win a championship by himself. You've got to have help.
There was a lot of temptation to do lots of bad things in my neighborhood.
Seattle deserves a team. They got robbed of their basketball team.
I've done did a lot of things in the NBA, made a lot of stuff, so I'm happy with what I've done.
I got suspended from school once, and my dad came to the school and whooped me in front of everyone. I didn't want that to happen again, didn't want to be embarrassed like that. The guys that I ran with, they respected that and respected my dad too.
Prove to them people that you should have gotten picked earlier, and then you make your money. The privilege is just getting drafted, and once you get picked, prove to them that you were supposed to be drafted.
I haven't gotten in any trouble off the floor.
With Westbrook and myself, I can see the dog that he has in him. He's got that fire that he won't back down from anybody. His game is a little different than mine because he's a fast, get to the bucket type of player, finishing above the rim and things like that.
To Seattle, Washington, the SuperSonics organization and its fans, the best owners ever in the Ackerley family, I love you. But the best part is that you loved me back.
I'm not going to sit here and dwell on whether or not I am going to the Hall of Fame.
You can't regret anything - it's over with.
When we were playing, it was rough and tough. Even superstars like me fouled out a lot.
Don't hate, just play better, and then get that money.
I've always liked Deron Williams because has the same mentality as me.
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.
As people know in coaching, you can get fired and hired just like that.
I didn't grow up admiring anybody but George Gervin, and I didn't get a chance to play against him. That would've been one of my lifetime accomplishments. I probably would've went crazy if I played against him, because he's like a father to me now.
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