Gary Payton takes his era of point guards over today

[Lebron23]

Gary Payton takes his era of point guards over today’s, calls him and Shawn Kemp ‘the original Lob City’

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Gary Payton is one of a dozen people being enshrined as part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend in Springfield, Mass. Leading up to this weekend, the Glove has made several noteworthy comments, which continued during Saturday’s press conference.

Earlier this week, Payton said that John Stockton was harder to guard than Michael Jordan, though, it wasn’t as outlandish of a statement when you hear Payton’s full explanation. However, on Saturday afternoon, Payton wasn’t asked about specific players, rather eras, and when it came down to points in the ‘90s as opposed to today’s lead guards, it wasn’t shocking who the new Hall of Famer chose.

“I like my era better,” Payton told reporters.

“Every time I went against a point guard, we just played tough,” Payton continued. “You had the Tim Hardaways, the Kevin Johnsons; a lot of them guys. I always thought about. I always liked my era because we can hand check, we can do a lot of stuff; we can control our teams. We didn’t have to score 25-26. We could get 17, 10 dimes and three or four steals.”

Payton cited the younger generation, the NBA lockout in 1999, rule changes and even the rise of the And 1 Mixtape Tour as contributing factors to how the point guard position and style of play has changed from his own era.

“It’s the way our kids are brought up,” Payton said. “You guys have to understand, basketball has changed.

“They had to build it up after the first strike. Basketball was down a little bit. David Stern did a great job of bringing basketball back because he knew kids wanted to see run-and-gun. They didn’t want to see defense like the Knicks were doing. Slowing the ball down, setting up defenses and stuff like that and running plays. Kids weren’t doing that in the playgrounds. So we sped the game up, and that’s what the kids liked. They liked to see dunking, they like to see running, they liked to see scoring and that’s just the way it went.”

The discussion of a fast-paced, dunk-filled style of play transitioned Payton into mentioning his playing days with Shawn Kemp in Seattle. Their alley-oops connection lives on in YouTube glory, which gave him the opportunity to remind the basketball world that there was an alley-oop combo before Chris Paul and Blake Griffin joined forces in Los Angeles.

“When people say Lob City or stuff like that, we were the original Lob City,” Payton said. “We don’t want to call it Lob City, we just called it Reign Man and the Glove.”

Although the game is different from Payton’s days in Seattle, that hasn’t stopped him from trying to revive his era in the new breed of floor generals, as he has been reportedly working out this summer with point guards such as John Wall and Damian Lillard.

The style of play Payton loved so much may be gone, but his accomplishments will forever hang with the rest of basketball’s greats following this weekend. The Glove completes his Hall of Fame enshrinement when he is presented as a new member by John Stockton and George Gervin at Springfield’s Symphony Hall on Sunday afternoon.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...inal-lob-city/

[moe94]

Remember that time some dude from a different era said his era wasn't better than the current one?

Payton, though, has a real point. Payton would be the best PG in today's game.

[Mr Exlax]

Remember that time some dude from a different era said his era wasn't better than the current one?

Payton, though, has a real point. Payton would be the best PG in today's game.

I like that he didn't say his era was better though.

[moe94]

I like that he didn't say his era was better though.

I meant the PG era.

Also, I guarantee you he believes his generation is better. It's Payton. Actually, he heavily hints that his game was more methodical and layered. He's saying the rules were changed to make the game more appealing to casuals and he's not the first, either.

[Mr Exlax]

I meant the PG era.

Also, I guarantee you he believes his generation is better. It's Payton. Actually, he heavily hints that his game was more methodical and layered. He's saying the rules were changed to make the game more appealing to casuals and he's not the first, either.

Which I agree with. I would like to see some of these super athletic PGs play in his era though. I would like to see him try and defend Westbrook in this era.

[MetsPackers]

BREAKING NEWS: Player claims era he played in was the best era

[ImKobe]

Payton would be the best PG in this era no doubt. A better defender than CP3 and he has near identical offensive numbers(CP3 the better passer). And he led his team to the Finals during the time when the Hakeem's Rockets came off championship runs and you also had Stockton & Malone.... and took the 72-10 Bulls to 6 games, nothing but respect for that guy.

[Jailblazers7]

Him and Kemp were the original lob city tho...but its not a fair comparison because we didn't get to see his era of PGs operate in space like guys get to do now. It would have been a lot harder for a guy like Steph Curry to do what he is doing because the #1 priority would be to handcheck him.

[imdaman99]

I would have loved to see him and Goatbrook battle it out 4 times a year

[2LeTTeRS]

I meant the PG era.

Also, I guarantee you he believes his generation is better. It's Payton. Actually, he heavily hints that his game was more methodical and layered. He's saying the rules were changed to make the game more appealing to casuals and he's not the first, either.

I'm not sure what he said that was so controversial. When he was at his best the following guys were playing (Stockton, KJ, Hardaway, Mark Price, Mark Jackson, Jason Kidd, Rod Strickland, Stephon Marbury, and Penny)

[Raymone]

Magic takes his era of point guards over Payton's era of point guards.

[Bandito]

I would have loved to see him and Goatbrook battle it out 4 times a year

For what? The starter position?

[215Philly]

Poor man's Mike Conley

[moe94]

homeless man's Mike Conley

fix'd

You were dissing Conley there.

[215Philly]

fix'd

You were dissing Conley there.