Gary Payton Quotes

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Gary Payton

Profession : Athlete

Birth : July 23, 1968

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

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

There was a lot of temptation to do lots of bad things in my neighborhood.

Gary Payton

Assistants like Tim Grgurich worked with me and watched film of me from my Oregon State days.

Gary Payton

What's the difference? Ninety million or 80 million. You still can't spend it all.

Gary Payton

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

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

I'm a big fan of Marcus Smart.

Gary Payton

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

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

When we were playing, it was rough and tough. Even superstars like me fouled out a lot.

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.

Gary Payton

Patrick Beverley is one of my favorites. What he does is he brings a lot of energy.

Gary Payton

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

As far as talking on the court was concerned, the whole family was behind me on that.

Gary Payton

I was really scared when I went to Oregon State. I wasn't sure I could play at the college level.

Gary Payton

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

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

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

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