Quotes by Gary Payton - Page 2 | QuoteForever

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If you see yourself in the paper every day and people keep talking about you, you will have a little breakdown in yourself, too.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Breakdown
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Miami
Change Good Me
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Satisfied
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Olympics
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Contain
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Respect
Eight
League
Plus
Seattle
Seven
Six
Teach
Respect Me Who
Veterans
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Scoring
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Basketball
Basketball Player
Brother
Little Brother
Bryant
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Championship
Best Money Always
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Owners
Love Best Family
Best Part
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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 / Basketball Player
Point Guard
Best Good Me
Guard
Rookie
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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?
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Championship
Sacrifice
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Mature
Time Me Grow
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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.'
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Awakening
Hype
Jason
Nba
Rude
Fella
Rookie
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Guy
League
Coming
Stay
Getting Better
Pros
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Oakland
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
License
Neighborhood
Mr
Dads
Looked
Plate
Smiled
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Privilege
Money Your People
Drafted
Earlier
Money People Your
Picked
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Defense
Offense
Me Doing Three
Floor
Scoring
Steal
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Regret
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Ceremony
Life I Am Me
Have Fun
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I would never have wanted to play with Magic Johnson, I would never have wanted to play with Michael Jordan, I would never have wanted to play with Karl Malone or John Stockton in my prime. We wanted to play against the Shaqs, the Kobes.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Johnson
Jordan
Magic Johnson
Michael Jordan
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My oldest brother and my middle brother would always beat me up and take the ball from me. I used to cry a lot, so I used to come in here and get my dad. He used to be on my team, so he used to hold them down and let me score the basket.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Dad
Brother
Team
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Associated
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Admiring
Lifetime
Accomplishments
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Embarrassed
Suspended
Dad Me School
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Ballot
Hall
People Always Talk
Make A Difference
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Coffee
One Time
Choked
Grabbed
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Attention
Defense
Guy
Happens
Offensive
Talking
Versatile
Game
Gets
Guard
Pays
Start
Sudden
Wants
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Finishing
Type
Above
Anybody
Fast
Mine
Rim
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Idolized
Olympics
Time Good Always
Time Good Game
Became
Model
Good Friends
John
Tried
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Eating
One On One
Talking
Team
Talk
Ball
Me Way Talk
Talker
Forgets
Guys
Meanwhile
Opponent
Personal
Personal Thing
Tried
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Arenas
Camp
Sold
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Coaching
One On One
Work Better People
Tim
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Feel Good
Good Me Feel
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Aggressive
Serious
Trash
Locking
Quieter
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Oakland
Sissy
Afterwards
Cops
Stands
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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.
Gary Payton / Basketball Player
Hated
Rip
Toughest
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