Gary Payton Quotes

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Gary Payton

Profession : Athlete

Birth : July 23, 1968

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.

Gary Payton

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

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?

Gary Payton

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

I've loved my days at Oregon State.

Gary Payton

I like comfortable clothes, so I get most of my pants and shirts made.

Gary Payton

I'm not into the European-style clothes.

Gary Payton

I'm always going to admire my father more than anybody in life.

Gary Payton

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

Coming from Oakland, Calif., I never thought I'd be a Hall of Famer. I wasn't thinking about basketball like that.

Gary Payton

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

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

Part of being a leader means knowing who you can go after and who you should pat on the butt.

Gary Payton

The NBA tries to be about flash. But real fans recognize the guy who makes things happen.

Gary Payton

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.

Gary Payton

Guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, they'll take bad criticism in a good way.

Gary Payton

I hope they'll say I was one of the hardest-working basketball players on both ends of the floor.

Gary Payton

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