A couple of things to consider: 1. The numbers are skewed towards modern-day players since it’s way easier to vote now than it was back in the day. 2. Some votes may be missing as the league has only released the full results since 2017. Before …
1. The numbers are skewed towards modern-day players since it’s way easier to vote now than it was back in the day.
2. Some votes may be missing as the league has only released the full results since 2017. Before that, we only got the numbers of the players with the most votes by position.
Anyway, it’s safe to say that that the Top 3 players on the list are all Laker superstars. You can check the gallery above to see the whole thing.
Few writers know more about the life of Kobe Bryant than Roland Lazenby, who wrote the 2016 biography “Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant.”
Few writers know more about the life of Kobe Bryant than Roland Lazenby, who wrote the 2016 biography “Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant.” Lazenby witnessed many of Bryant’s milestones in-person, from his first NBA field goal in 1996 to his first championship in 2000. In addition to interviewing a ton of people in Bryant’s life for his book, he developed a unique bond of his own with Kobe.
Lazenby’s book has been translated into nine different languages, so he’s spent the last several days doing interviews with outlets in many different countries and witnessing how the entire world has been affected by this tragedy. HoopsHype spoke to Lazenby about his relationship with Bryant, his favorite memories, Bryant’s legacy, the impact that Kobe had on his daughter and more.
First of all, how are you holding up?
Roland Lazenby: I haven’t really spent much time thinking about me, beyond being numb. Kobe lost his daughter. When I first started interviewing him, my youngest daughter was just starting to play basketball. She was in AAU and then eventually she played in high school and college. When she was about 12 or 13 years old, Kobe sat down and wrote her a note, telling her to never give up on her dreams. She is a mother now, living in Boston, and she has sort of followed Kobe’s coaching of his daughter from afar because Kobe had a tremendous impact on her when she was that same age. Like Kobe, she is a grinder with a fierce work ethic. When I got done doing interviews last night around 11:00, I was driving home and I called her. She had found that letter that he had written for her and… Kobe was our guy. It was our father-daughter thing. It’s something we share and she had always had such high regard for Kobe, even through all of his troubles. It’s a mix of personal and professional [feelings].
How did you learn about Kobe’s death?
RL: I’m not the kind of guy who goes back and reads my books when I’m done working on them, but what’s really weird is that on Sunday morning, before I heard anything, I picked up my Kobe book and I read a good portion of it. Maybe 10-15 minutes after I put it down, the phone rang and I just… Like everyone else, I was devastated. I introduced Kobe to George Mumford, the mindfulness guy who was the team psychologist for the Bulls and Lakers. George texted me right away. He had just been called by TMZ. He said, “I thought it was a cruel joke.” That’s what he told me. It has been cruel, but there’s not much joke to it. It’s so tragic.
Millions of people all over the world are grieving and celebrating Kobe’s life right now. Why do you think Kobe resonated with so many people?
RL: Oh, I think that part of it is easy. He had many flaws. He, at one point, literally destroyed his career and then had the will (and the luck) to rebuild it. But the one through line that remained consistent throughout Kobe’s life was his competitive integrity. It was unrivaled, in many ways. He left no stone unturned, no chore undone and he shirked no duty. He trained ridiculously hard, to the point of even doing damage to himself. And he went at it with a pure spirit that was evident in him from his first days playing the game.
When did you first meet Kobe and what was your relationship like over the years?
RL: Early in the 1996-97 season, during his first trip to New York, he declared to the media in the Garden that he was going to be the greatest player of all-time. This was an 18-year-old kid starting his career, but he meant every word of it. This wasn’t some idle, boastful threat. He was rising early every morning to put in more work because practice wasn’t enough for him. He had a circle of friends at Lower Merion who would go into the gym early with him for hours of training. This wasn’t some idle boast. He had all of this ambition. He would tell me, “I just want to be the man.” He would say that over and over: “I just want to be the man.” He wanted to be the greatest of all-time. And, of course, when you start announcing things like that, people start to question your sanity (laughs). It was a little crazy! Right after that New York game, his next game was in Charlotte and that’s when I met him. He made his first NBA field goal, a three-pointer. After the game, he came bouncing out of the locker room and he hit me with a soul shake, as I stood there with my microphone and notebook. He had no idea who I was. But he was eager to greet the world.
He maintained that fierceness and put a lot of pressure on those Lakers veterans as a rookie. He was a nightmare in practice and wouldn’t make things easy for any of them. They viewed him as a kid and they knew he had the big adidas contract, so he was in a different standard. Rick Fox explained to me that the way they viewed him was like the kid who cut in line at the cafeteria. But he won them over. When he was young and frustrated in the ‘90s, I had the password to his hotel room, so I could call him or visit with him and we’d have these long talks. Or I’d see him at the Lakers game and we’d talk. Kobe was a lost guy in those early years with the Lakers. It was sad, and that was when we really talked a lot. That’s why I introduced him to George Mumford. I had George fly down to Houston, so I could introduce him to Kobe courtside. We’re mourning Kobe right now, but I don’t have a tightly packaged narrative about his life.
Vincent Laforet – Getty Images
You wrote books about both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Considering you’ve research both men, what were some of the similarities between the two and what were the biggest differences?
RL: Well, I would always turn that question over to my dear friend Tex Winters because he coached Michael longer than anyone and he was Kobe’s Yoda and protector. When I introduced Tex and Kobe, Tex was a Bulls assistant and Kobe was a lost kid. Tex would always say that the main difference between Kobe and Michael is that Michael went to UNC and played in that very limiting offense for three years. He felt that his experience in that setting at North Carolina prepared him for the NBA and allowed the Bulls to win those six championships. Tex would say that time and again. The difference is Kobe went right from Lower Merion to a very veteran team with the Lakers. It may have been great at first, but it quickly cratered. It became hell for Kobe Bryant and that ultimately led to a lot of his mistakes. He had so much anger and frustration coming out of the ‘90s. Even the championships couldn’t prevent a lot of that. He ended up throwing his parents out of his life; they were controlling and he was in love and wanted to get married. Then, he got rid of his agent, Arn Tellem, who Sonny had gotten for him. Then, he got rid of his deal with adidas. Then, he started in on getting rid of Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson. In the midst of that, he got charged with sexual assault. He was a guy who was tearing apart his world by the numbers. The only thing consistent in all of it was that competitive focus – that unparalleled competitive drive.
There were similarities, though. The first time that I decided I wanted to write about Kobe was just watching him in the post and seeing that he already had all of Jordan’s post moves down. Tex considered Jordan much stronger; he’d say that it was tougher to move Jordan out of the post. But Kobe had studied Jordan so much and had many of his moves down.
What are some things that you learned about Kobe that most fans may not realize? Or what are some misconceptions about him?
RL: I think most people understand what a creative mind he was. But there were a lot of layers to Kobe. And he was so cocky, which only helped feed the assumptions about him. But he had to have all of that confidence [in order to succeed]. His father, Joe, had struggled with inconsistent confidence and it almost became his personal mission to have a confident son. They had their battles. When Kobe finally beat him in one-on-one, Joe would never play him again (laughs).
The one thing that I will say is that before the family split up and had their issues, they lived in a little village outside of Pistoia, Italy. They lived in a beautiful chalet in this little mountain spot. Pam Bryant, Kobe’s mother, would host this beautiful Christmas party every year and all of their friends and family would be there. The Italians loved the Bryants, from the fans to the owner of the Pistoia team. I was talking to the owner of the Pistoia team in 2016 and he knew all about the heartbreak of Kobe and his family splitting up and the lawsuits that followed. He told me, “My dream for them is that we’ll all go back to have one more Christmas in the mountains. Pam’s house will be resplendent and gorgeous and the Bryant family will all be together again.” That was his sincere wish for the Bryant’s. One of the things that I couldn’t help but think about and it’s only made me even sadder is that they’ll never be able to work past all of those things and have that moment.
Looking back, what was your experience writing the Kobe biography?
RL: Well, that’s hard. The Kobe book came on the heels of the huge success of the Jordan book and these publishers put a lot of pressure on me. Suddenly, they had a very tight deadline: They wanted the Kobe book done, from start to finish, in one year. I had gotten burnt out twice while doing the Jordan book. I had never been burnt out before that. When I started the Kobe book, I was so burnt out. But I worked around the clock. I went to Italy, did all the interviews and just really worked overtime. In March of 2016, it was finally all completed and turned in, and that same day, my sister died. Like any rush job in publishing, it’s not a smart thing to do, especially on a 600-page biography. It was a mistake. I should not have agreed to it. I hadn’t been able to unpack Kobe because I was hurting. Then, in all of my anger and grief, I had to go back into that manuscript [and make changes] because it was a rush job and it shouldn’t have been done that way. I made them go past the deadline. It was a battle to make sure that we could extend the deadline and get it right.
To look back on Kobe Bryant’s extraordinary life and legendary career, Alex Kennedy is joined by his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate, Mo Evans. Evans and Bryant were teammates for a year and a half, with Evans guarding Bryant in every practice. Evans discusses their time together on the Lakers, lessons he learned from Kobe, the impact that Kobe had on millions of people, how he’s processing this tragedy, Kobe’s growth as a person and much more. Time-stamps are below.
1:15: Evans shares how he learned about Kobe’s passing. Ironically, he was just ending a business call with a film company that had asked Evans to help them get in touch with Bryant about producing an upcoming project.
2:45: Evans shares his favorite memories of Kobe from their stint together on the Lakers and details what it was like playing with the legend.
6:38: There are many legendary stories about Kobe’s practices. Evans talks about being the person who guarded Kobe in every practice, and how it was an honor for him and allowed him to learn so much.
8:05: Evans talks about just how tough Kobe was to match-up against and how he was always able to elevate his game against other stars.
10:00: Kobe clearly impacted the lives of millions of people. Evans talks about why he resonated with so many people, including many he never met.
11:50: Evans talks about how traveling with Kobe was like being with a rock star and how sometimes he didn’t have a choice but to isolate himself from the world.
13:50: As Kobe got older, he seemed to let more people in, trust his teammates more and become more interested in various off-court endeavors. He also became a father, and his girls became the center of his universe. Evans talks about watching Kobe evolve as a person over the years and how his post-NBA success provides a blueprint for young players.
18:30: How would Evans like for Kobe to be remembered?
21:00: Evans shares lessons that he learned from Kobe on and off the court.
22:20: What are some misconceptions about Kobe or things that most fans would be surprised to learn?
28:00: Like Kobe, Evans is a 41-year-old father and he discusses how that has affected him as processes this tragedy.
30:50: Evans talks about Kobe’s legacy and how he’ll continue to impact the world for years to come, even though he’s no longer with us.
The Indiana Pacers gave HoopsHype a behind-the-scenes look at their organization, with access to their executives, coaches and players.
In 2017, the Indiana Pacers promoted Kevin Pritchard to president of basketball operations and hired Chad Buchanan as their new general manager. That summer, Pritchard and Buchanan sat down with Peter Dinwiddie, the team’s senior VP of basketball operations, to discuss what kind of culture they wanted to create in Indiana.
After figuring out their organizational approach and style of play, they realized that a certain NBA player epitomized their way of doing things. During training camp, the front office quizzed their players on this individual’s identity.
“I asked our players a trivia question,” Buchanan recalled. “I said, ’Name the player: He’s a combo guard who spent his entire 13-year career with one team, won 60 percent of his games and earned All-Defensive honors twice. His career-high in assists was higher than his career-high in points, and he once had 25 assists in a single game. He was never a full-time starter and he never took more than 15 shots in a single game (but he grabbed eight or more offensive rebounds as a guard on two different occasions). Who is it?’”
Players shouted out guesses ranging from John Stockton to Lou Williams, which amused Buchanan. Finally, he revealed the answer: Nate McMillan.
The players were stunned, as most of them were young children when McMillan’s playing days came to an end. They only knew him as their head coach, which is why Buchanan wanted to highlight McMillan’s achievements and show that he practiced what he preaches to them every day.
“When they put it up on the board and asked who the player was, it took me a minute,” McMillan said with a laugh. “He just said it’s ‘a player,’ so I’m thinking it’s a current player as opposed to a retired player, but they went back in the past and pulled up my stats. It was interesting because most of the players didn’t know. It makes them realize, ‘Wow, this isn’t just something that they’re throwing at us players, it’s something that Coach really believes in.’ We feel it’s important for everyone to buy into this and have both feet in to create that culture.”
The Pacers sum up this culture with the “Three Ts,” which stands for Togetherness, Toughness and Trust. During Pritchard’s playing days, he found that it could be difficult to identify what a new team wanted from him and what they were all about as an organization. Now that he’s running a franchise of his own, he wanted to ensure that everyone was on the same page about the franchise’s values.
“Whether it’s corny or not, and it probably is a little bit corny, the guys know what’s important here and what we value,” Buchanan added. “It’s the basis of our whole basketball-operations philosophy and approach. Our Three Ts logo is all over our building and we’ve put it on things like water bottles, sweatshirts, bracelets and hats to give to the players, coaches and staff members.”
Spelling out what they want from their players has made it easier to determine if someone will fit in their organization when evaluating talent.
“Even our scouts will now mention the Three Ts when they write up a report about a player like, ‘He is a Two-T player,’ or, ‘He’s a no-T player,’” Buchanan said. “It has become part of our verbiage around here. We challenge our scouts to really know the players they’re evaluating and be able to answer, ‘Is he going to fit in our locker room?’”
“We work so hard before we sign a player, sitting down with them and getting a feel for them,” Pritchard added. “You’re trying to get a feel for whether they’re truly a long-term fit. And if they’re a short-term fit, that’s okay too and you both know that going in.”
Another key to shaping the team’s culture, Pacers executives said, was meeting with each of their players and valuing their suggestions.
“Looking back, I think the most important thing that we did as a front office was get our players’ input,” Buchanan said. “We asked Darren Collison, ‘What do you want from a front office?’ At the time, Boston had just traded Isaiah Thomas after he had played in the playoffs right after his sister died. He said, ‘Do you want the honest truth? Players in our league don’t trust front offices, for the most part. You guys can just trade us – regardless of how loyal we are to the team.’”
When asked how the Pacers could earn back their players’ trust, Collison said, “I want to know ahead of time if I might be traded. I don’t want to find out on Twitter or ESPN.”
After hearing similar things from veterans like Thaddeus Young, Al Jefferson and Cory Joseph, the front office reached an agreement with their players: If they entered serious trade discussions, they would inform each player involved in the possible deal – but if the deal fell through, the player needed to stay committed to the organization.
The arrangement worked well. Buchanan said that in 2017-18, two different trades nearly happened and both sides held up their end of the bargain. Indiana’s front office told the two players about the potential trades once the talks became serious and, after the deals fell through, both players didn’t let the news affect their commitment to the team.
When Victor Oladipo joined the Pacers, he was impressed by the front office’s communication with players and willingness to listen.
“I haven’t played on many teams, but based on the teams I have played on, it’s pretty rare for upper-management to take the players’ input and opinions to heart and really try to apply those things throughout the entire program,” Oladipo explained. “For them to do that, it just shows what kind of people they are and it shows what kind of organization we’re trying to build.”
THE MARKET
Among all markets with a major professional sports team, Indianapolis ranks 25th in size as of October 2019 (according to Nielsen data obtained bySports Media Watch). That presents some unique challenges for the Pacers.
Indiana isn’t a team that has landed stars through free agency. In an underground tunnel that connects Bankers Life Fieldhouse to the Pacers’ practice facility, there’s a large collage that honors every All-Star in franchise history. Interestingly, every single Pacer who’s earned an NBA All-Star nod has arrived in Indiana via the draft or a trade.
They’ve had some success acquiring underutilized players and then developing them into All-Stars, as was the case with Oladipo and may soon be the case with Domantas Sabonis (who could be selected as an All-Star reserve this year). However, most of the stars throughout Pacers’ history were homegrown.
“I think our culture is built around player development,” Pritchard said. “When you bring a player in, you’ve got to figure out – in our system, in our culture – can he come in and be a different player? Could he be a little bit better with us or show a little different skill set? Because we can’t play the percentages. If we play the percentages, we’re just going to be average or below average all the time. We have to find value when it’s not there.”
Because the Pacers are dealing with less money than big-market teams, they have to be very careful when giving out a large deal.
“You don’t have as much of a buffer for making mistakes in a small market,” Buchanan said. “If your budget is not the same as the Lakers or Knicks, one really bad contract on your books can just sink you. We have to be very conscious of signing the right guy who fits in with our culture. If a player doesn’t perform well, but he is a good person and doesn’t disrupt the team? Hey, I can live with that. If we overpay a guy who ends up disrupting our culture, that’s a killer for us. We have to be really smart.”
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
In July, the Pacers gave Malcolm Brogdon a four-year, $85 million contract. But they’ve loved Brogdon dating back to the 2016 draft, when they tried to acquire a first-round pick to select him. They had done a lot of homework on Brogdon and they couldn’t find anyone with something negative to say. Then, what they saw (and heard) during his first three NBA seasons only confirmed their suspicions about who he is on the court and off the court.
So far, it certainly appears that the Pacers were right about Brogdon.
“This has been the best situation for me since I’ve been in the NBA,” Brogdon said. “This is a working culture here and there are a bunch of guys who badly want to win, and they are guys who go about everything in a humble way. We don’t really have any flashy guys here and we don’t have a flashy coach. Nate McMillan isn’t like that; he just wants to win, he’s no nonsense and he wants to do things the right way. It’s right up my alley. I love playing here. It’s all about basketball; it’s not about the hype, it’s not about the politics. The people here come to work every day, and everybody is part of such a cohesive unit.”
Pritchard admits that luck does play a significant role in landing the right players. However, there’s also a ton of preparation that goes into it as well.
“I think I’m really lucky,” Pritchard said. “Given the choice to be great or be really lucky, I think I’ll choose to be really lucky. How do you predict human behavior? There are so many things that go into it. Chad Buchanan, [director of player personnel] Ryan Carr and [director of pro scouting] Vance Catlin are consumed by finding players that, in a unique situation, would be better.”
One reality of being a small-market team that doesn’t typically pay the luxury tax is that you sometimes lose players whom you badly want to re-sign. One example for the Pacers was Bojan Bogdanovic, who was a key piece for Indiana before ultimately signing with the Utah Jazz.
“It’s not really ‘small market versus big market.’ When you bifurcate it out, it’s more so teams that are going to spend and teams that have to be a little bit more cautious,” Pritchard said. “Sometimes, it’s really hard to see a player walk when you like them, and we’ve had that happen. It’s just part of the natural progression of this business. Because of that, you always have to have your eye on the future. You’re always looking like, ‘Okay, if we lose this player, then what?’ We spend a lot of time in the room trying to figure out what [Plan B] looks like. Some teams have to do that a little bit more than others.”
There’s no question that there’s less of a spotlight on teams in smaller markets. Despite winning 48 games last season, the Pacers have only six nationally televised games this year (not counting NBA TV broadcasts).
“I think there have been a couple of years where the team really wanted the spotlight,” Pritchard said. “And then there have been some teams that really wanted to stay as the underdog like, ‘Don’t talk about us, we’ll sneak up on you.’”
However, there are some benefits that come with running a team in a smaller market. For example, Buchanan pointed out that it’s easier to sell your game environment when you’re the only show in town.
“I think we can plant our roots deep here because [owner] Herb Simon allows us to have longevity in this business. That’s one competitive advantage,” Pritchard added. “And sometimes in big markets, there are big egos.”
THE TRADE
Buchanan’s first transaction as the Pacers’ general manager was acquiring Oladipo. That’s because Buchanan took over as Indiana’s GM on June 30, 2017, which is the same day that Paul George was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder (and the eve of free agency). He was thrown in at the deep end, but he learned a lot from the chaotic experience.
“My first day on the job as general manager, we traded Paul George. It was literally my first day and I remember thinking, ‘Oh man, this GM position is going to be tough!’” Buchanan said with a laugh. “I flew to Orlando because we were playing in the Orlando Summer League. Kevin and Peter [Dinwiddie] were at the hotel and they were like, ‘Get you’re a** over here! We’re getting close to a deal; we have a couple of options.’ When I got over to the hotel, we met in Kevin’s room. We were bunkered up in there to look at some different options. We spent all day in that hotel room.”
Pritchard explained that he wanted to trade George sooner than later (rather than holding onto him until the February trade deadline to see if the offers improved). He also had orders from ownership to stay competitive.
When it came time to trade the All-Star forward, Pritchard was surprised that there were only two teams that were seriously interested. In addition to the Thunder’s offer, Indiana strongly considered a three-team deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets. While Pritchard wouldn’t reveal details,ESPN reported that Cleveland would’ve received George (pairing him with LeBron James), Denver would’ve received Kevin Love, and Indiana would’ve received Gary Harris and a first-round pick (with more pieces possibly involved).
“We really thought that there was going to be 29 teams throwing the kitchen sink at us,” Pritchard said. “But at the end of the day, the number of teams that were after Paul was very small. I think there were just two offers that were real offers. We were thinking, ‘We want to do this quick and all we have is two offers right now…’ I got back on the phone, and I was talking with Denver pretty significantly and I was talking with Oklahoma City significantly. Cleveland was in there, but it was a three-way with Denver.
“We had some incredible debates for a couple of hours. I mean, intense, in-your-face, phenomenal debates where we got everything out and discussed the good and the bad. I wish we could’ve recorded those debates!”
When Oklahoma City agreed to add Sabonis to their package, the Pacers’ brain trust pulled the trigger.
“Here’s what happened: When Victor was in [OKC’s offer] and they said, ‘Okay fine, we’ll put Sabonis in too,’ in my mind, the deal was done,” Pritchard said. “When I heard Domantas’ name along with Victor’s name, I felt like that was enough. You can be really, really greedy in this business. But I felt like Sam [Presti] made a really honest, good offer and it was what I wanted to hear. I felt good about it.”
Photo by Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
“We made the trade later that afternoon,” Buchanan said. “We just felt like Victor and Domantas, with their upside and character, were the best option. I remember going back to my room probably around midnight and I was just exhausted. I turned on the TV before trying to fall asleep and we were just getting crushed for the trade. I remember feeling like, ‘Oh gosh…’ My wife called me and she was like, ‘Uh, you guys really aren’t getting much good press for your trade…’”
Now, the return of Oladipo and Sabonis looks excellent – especially since George was poised to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, which limited his trade value. However, the general consensus at the time was that the Pacers had been ripped off – with many critics pointing to Oladipo’s “bad contract” and the fact that Indiana didn’t get back a single draft pick in the deal. While Pritchard knew that the deal would likely be polarizing, he was shocked by the intensity of the criticism.
“After we did the trade, we were thinking, ‘Okay, you ready for this avalanche?’” Pritchard said. “I knew that there was going to be some harsh criticisms: ‘Why didn’t you get another pick? Why didn’t you leverage longer? Why didn’t you go [talk] to Boston? Why didn’t you go to all these other teams?’ I knew it was going to come, but I didn’t know it was going to come that hard. It came hard from the community, it came hard nationally.”
In the face of all that criticism, Pritchard said he received tremendous support from Pacers owner Herb Simon, who called to check in every day.
“You’re not on an island,” Simon said, according to Pritchard.
“When he said that, I could breathe,” Pritchard recalled.
The day after the trade, Oladipo met with Pritchard and Buchanan at the Orlando Summer League. According to Buchanan, Oladipo told them: “I hear what people are saying about you guys and about this trade. I got you. Trust me. You guys are going to look smart.”
“I remember KP and I just being like, ‘Wow.’ That really made us feel good,” Buchanan said. “I always think back to that conversation with Victor where he basically said that he heard the criticism and that we shouldn’t worry about it because he was going to prove everyone wrong.”
Sure enough, Oladipo earned an All-NBA selection in his first season with the Pacers, Sabonis made an immediate impact and Indiana ended up making the playoffs.
“I think we were predicted to win 28 games and we won 48 games,” Pritchard said. “That was literally the most fun season I’ve ever had – as a player, coach or executive. It was the most fun year I’ve ever had in my life.”
Oladipo admits that the negative response to the trade gave him some extra motivation.
“I mean, I was always working hard before they had their criticism and opinions and I’m still going to continue to do that, but they definitely added the fuel to the fire,” Oladipo said. “To this day, everybody keeps adding fuel to the fire. I see people underestimating me as I come back from rehab, and I see people underestimating this team. People are going to have their opinions; it doesn’t really matter. I know my approach, what I’m capable of and what I can become. That’s all I focus on.”
Not only has Oladipo become Indiana’s face of the franchise, his positivity and poise have spread throughout the organization. During his first month with the Pacers, he was constantly smiling and singing. Pritchard and Buchanan asked him how he’s always in such a great mood and Oladipo told them: “Every day is a reset for me. No matter what happened yesterday – good or bad – I reset myself and just look forward.”
Pritchard and Buchanan were impressed, and they tried to instill this mindset in their other players.
“We actually put a red button the wall of our training room that is labeled ‘reset,’” Buchanan said. “When the guys are in the training room or walking out to the practice court, you’ll see that some of the guys press it. It obviously doesn’t do anything, but it’s symbolic of how we want our guys to be no matter how things are going individually or with the team. It’s a long year and you’re going to have ups and downs, so just reset every day and have calm waters.”
Photo by Alex Kennedy
Buchanan has many books in his office and one of his favorites is “Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball’s Winningest GM” by former Atlanta Braves GM John Schuerholz. In the book, Schuerholz stresses the importance of maintaining “calm waters.” Essentially, whenever someone observed the Braves in their clubhouse, he wanted them to walk away thinking, “I’m not sure if they’re in first place or last place.” This is something that Buchanan and the Pacers have adapted, and Oladipo’s ‘reset’ approach absolutely promotes calm waters.
“As I continue to grow and continue to get older, I realized that every day is a new day. Great people know how to treat it as such,” Oladipo said. “They know not to take the good and the bad [from previous days], no matter what it is, and apply it to the new day. Every day is a fresh start, a new start. You just have to keep the same even-keeled approach no matter what’s going on.”
(Even if people all over the world criticize a team’s decision to add you).
Without Oladipo, the Pacers are currently the fifth-seed in the Eastern Conference. Once Oladipo returns (likely on Jan. 29), the world will finally see what this team looks like at full strength.
“I think we could be really special,” Oladipo said. “I think we could make some real noise, and I think we got a chance to shock a lot of people.”
“I’m super excited,” Brogdon said of Victor’s return. “He’s a perennial All-Star, so adding a guy like that will only make the game easier for me. He’ll make the game easier for everybody. He will make us even more unpredictable and harder to guard.”
The Pacers have been to the playoffs in four-straight seasons, but they have yet to advance out of the first round since 2013-14 (although they took the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in 2018 and took the Toronto Raptors to seven games in 2016). They have a strong core in place with Oladipo, Sabonis, Brogdon, Myles Turner and TJ Warren among others, but the next step in their development is experiencing postseason success.
Indiana has created a strong culture and assembled a talented team. They’ve seemingly positioned themselves to win a lot of games in the years to come, but this league is unpredictable.
“So much in this league is just luck,” Buchanan said. “It’s hard to predict how things are going to go. You can map out what you think you need to do or how you think a trade is going to work out or how a draft pick will pan out, but you just don’t know. Things change so fast. You just have to stay true to what you believe in.”
Any competitive advantage in an NBA season is important whether it is home cooking or the comfort and familiarity of your own locker room.
Any competitive advantage in an NBA season is important whether it is home cooking or the comfort and familiarity of your own locker room.
For this study, we subtracted the difference from the team winning percentage on the road from their winning percentage at home. This illustrates, in part, the impact of playing in their own city has had on franchises around the league. We looked at all games played since the Basketball Association of America merged with the NBA in 1946-47.
Note that all numbers included below for teams are based on their records when playing in their current cities. That means that Golden State Warriors accounts for San Francisco both now and in the 1960s (not Oakland) while the Nets are in Brooklyn (not New Jersey), the Grizzlies are in Memphis (not Vancouver), the Jazz are in Salt Lake City (not New Orleans), etc.
Overall, this research helps show how much better a team has historically played depending on the location of the game.
Perhaps the most obvious takeaway is that the two NBA cities with the highest elevations (Denver and Utah) both rank in the Top 3. In fact, the Nuggets have won nearly twice as many games when they have played at home compared to their road appearances.
Back in 2013, Neil Payne contextualized the geographical advantages for these games (via ESPN):
“One explanation for this phenomenon is that Denver and Salt Lake City are, at 5,883 feet and 4,227 feet, respectively, the two highest-altitude cities in the entire NBA by far. (Ranking third in elevation is Phoenix at a paltry 1,132 feet.) Certainly, this is a major factor – the relatively thin air at such high elevations causes the players’ bodies to have less oxygen available for circulation to their muscles, resulting in quicker fatigue. Denver and Utah players seem to acclimate to this, offering them a presumed advantage.”
The aforementioned advantage is so distinct that in 2015, the league made an effort to schedule the Nuggets as the first stop on a trip from the east or put a day of rest in between games for teams coming from the west.
Another interesting takeaway is that cities that are known for a more vibrant nightlife (Miami, Los Angeles and New York) all fall fairly low on this list. It is common to hear “Los Angeles nightlife is undefeated” or the “South Beach Flu” after the Heat or the Lakers win a game at home. But the win-loss totals indicate that visiting teams may not be as impacted as many thought.
For further proof, Sports Insights NBA expert Carl Sack told The Action Network’s Matt Moore in 2018 that his data also indicated a regression to the mean rather than anything particularly noteworthy about party cities.
One final note is that the teams that have played the fewest total games at home (Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors) fared the worst for these rankings.
These three teams rank in the Bottom 4 for home games based on sheer volume and newness in their home arenas. Whether it’s based on earning loyalty from the fans or something deeper, it was particularly interesting to see some kind of correlation even if there is no causation.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report
Gary Payton opens up about trash-talking, matching up against Michael Jordan, Seattle’s push to get an NBA team again, fatherhood and more.
Gary Payton is one of the best defenders in NBA history and one of the game’s all-time great point guards. The Hall of Famer impacted games in many ways, as evidenced by his career stats: He ranks fourth all-time in steals (2,445), 10th all-time in assists (8,966) and 38th all-time in points (21,813).
In addition to earning Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1996, Payton made nine All-NBA Teams and nine All-Defensive First Teams. He was also a nine-time All-Star, and the NBA recently made him available to encourage fans to vote for the 2020 All-Star Game starters before the deadline on Jan. 20. Fans can vote on NBA.com, on the NBA app or on Google.
HoopsHype spoke one-on-one with Payton and the NBA legend was extremely candid and honest throughout the conversation.
You’re one of the all-time great trash talkers in professional sports. Were there ever any opponents who surprised you with their trash talk? Any guys who chirped back when you didn’t expect it?
GP: (Laughs) Well, whoever I went at didn’t usually come back at me. Reggie Miller’s trash-talking was good, Michael Jordan’s was good. I only got to see Larry Bird twice in two years and he was hurt, really, most of the time. But when he did get on the floor with me, he had a lot of nice ones. He was a chatterbox and I didn’t really know he was like that. But he was! He was cocky and arrogant; he’d go at you and tell you where he was going to shoot it and tell you that he was going to shoot in your face, you know what I’m saying? Those three were the main ones, basically. Then, Kevin Garnett got onto the scene and he would start with his talking. Those were the main ones. Those four guys were the ones who I really wanted to go up against because I knew there’d be some chatter back. Most guys wouldn’t say anything or, if they did, their coach would tell them to be quiet and leave me alone because they didn’t want to wake up the beast. It was one of them things. But it was them four that I really looked forward to playing against.
Do random people ever come up to you on the street and talk trash to you, just so they can say that they’ve talked trash to Gary Payton?
GP: Yeah, that’s a lot of people’s main thing. They’ll see me somewhere and then they’ll say something to try to get me to go back and forth with them. Then, they’re like, “This is all I wanted! This is why I came up to you! They always say that you trash-talked a lot on the court, so we wanted to hear it and see if you trash talk everywhere!” You know if it’s someone who is trying to egg you on to do something. A lot of people, a lot of fans, will do things just because they want to see if they can push your buttons. Sometimes, you’ll go along with it and have fun with it; sometimes, you just have to let it go because some people let it get out of hand. But, yes, it does happen.
You did a phenomenal job of locking up Michael Jordan in the 1996 NBA Finals. It may be one of the best defensive efforts against Jordan. What were those battles with MJ like and do you take pride in the fact that you were one of the toughest defensive matchups he faced?
GP: It was just a challenge. It was like… He was the best offensive player and I was the best defensive player. It was just a challenge. I looked forward to those matchups all the time because I knew if I talked to him, he was going to talk back and we were going to go at it. That would make TV [ratings] go up and a lot of things go up; that’s what we were doing. Then, I would make it a point to challenge myself. I’d think, “I know I can’t stop him, but I can contain him.” You know you’re not going to stop him altogether – that’s not going to happen – so you just focus on how you can slow him down. If he’s usually scoring 35 or 40 points per night, can I hold him to 23 or 24 points? Yeah, I could. I would just make things a little bit difficult for him. If you let any great player be comfortable, they’re going to dominate you. If you take them out of their comfort zone and make them do things that they aren’t used to doing, you’re going to be effective. That’s all I’d try to do with Michael. I tried to pressure him and make it really difficult for him to get the basketball. Then, if he got the basketball, I’d just be a gnat. If you make him miss a couple shots and then you go down on the other end of the floor and you’re scoring on him when he’s guarding you, he’s going to want to come back and go right at you. They get frustrated when the last four or five trips down the floor, I’m scoring and they’re not, especially if the referees aren’t calling anything for them. That’s all I’d try to do. I wanted to get under his skin a bit and see what happens.
When I interviewed Ron Harper, he said that trash-talking would sometimes cause Michael Jordan to flip a switch and take his game to another level. You obviously had a lot of success against Jordan, but did you ever hold back against certain players (or at certain times) because talking trash may have fired your opponent up and helped them?
GP: I didn’t care. That was my whole thing, going in every night and trash-talking because… what can you do? Can you out-talk me? Are you going to get frustrated? Are you going to be focused enough to not concentrate on me throughout the entire game? Because I’m going to continue to talk and continue to play well. I’m going to play well because that’s my game. I never went into a game like, “Let me not talk to this guy.” None of my teammates or coaches ever said that either. They’d say, “Let’s just let Gary do what he do.” That’s what I did. That was my game-plan. I want to get my opponent in a different state of mind. If they’re focusing on me instead of their teammates and the game-plan, I got you. I’m going to trap you in, and then you’re about to get subbed out in a minute because you’re going to start making a lot of mistakes. That was my whole approach.
When I spoke with Michael Cooper, we discussed how he’d fare as a defender in today’s NBA. He said that even though he couldn’t be as physical these days, he’d still lock down today’s stars because of his length and speed. He said Kevin Durant would give him trouble, but he could cover anyone else. Do you ever think about how you’d fare in today’s NBA, defending guys like James Harden and Stephen Curry?
GP: The younger guys always say, “Well, in your era, you guys couldn’t do this or that.” If that’s the case, I wish you could come to our era and play in our era. I wish we had a time machine so that we could put them in our era and see how they would fare. Sometimes, they say, “Well, you couldn’t play in this era because of the shooting and scoring!” Well, when we were in our early 20s, we were pretty athletic and dominant too; that’s why you know about us. It’s just changed. You can’t put your hands on guys. The league is about scoring; they want you to score and they want to run up the points, so it’s entertaining. In our era, we were talking about locking guys down. We were talking about beating you up. We were talking about putting you on your back if you tried to come in the paint and dunk. We wanted you to think that you may get hurt every time you came in the paint. You know what I’m saying? Now, that will get you a flagrant or get you kicked out of the game and they may even suspend you after evaluating it. We didn’t have all of that. We’d put you on your back, they’d look at it and then you’d go on about your business. It’s just so different.
If I played in this era, I would adjust to it. If I played now, the first thing I’d do is go straight to the referees and say, “Look, here’s how I’m going to play. Make sure you let me play defense. If you’re going to let them play offense, let me play defense.” It’s just like what Patrick Beverley is doing right now. He gets into you and, because the referees know what he’s doing and how he plays, they let him play. You just have to get to the point where the refs know how you play, so they adjust. I would probably go talk to all of the refs before every game like, “You know how I play. If you want this game to be okay, let me play defense like you let him play offense. Now, if he pushes off, call it. If I foul him, call it. But let us play.” And then I’m going to go back at my guy on the other end and see if he can guard me. That’s a big difference from our era: We wanted to go back at the player who was scoring on us. Now, there’s all of the switching and stuff. We wouldn’t have played that way. I’m going at that guy, locking him down and making some else beat us.
Are there any current NBA players who remind you of yourself in terms of their game or tenacity? You mentioned Pat Beverley, so I’m guessing he’s one.
GP: There are two: Marcus Smart and Patrick Beverley. They both remind me of myself. They’ll go at you. Beverley is a little bit different because he doesn’t have the offensive game that I had. But Marcus is starting to become that kind of player – he’s starting to score and shoot the ball. But both of them are dogs on the defensive end. My son, [Gary Payton II], has a little of that in him and he’s doing the same thing. He can get at you when he wants to and he’s long for someone who’s 6-foot-3, so his length with hurt you too. When you have them type of guys who can play defense that type of way, it’s always a bonus for their team. When you have a guy who can lock down like that, he’s always giving you great stuff on that end. But can they give you something on the other end? All three of them need to work on their offense. My son needs to work on it, Pat needs to work on it and Marcus is starting to become a good scorer to be a two-way player, but he’s still working on it too. But those three guys remind me of myself defensively.
Last year, Tim Hardaway told me that he used to be really tough on his son, Tim Jr., to the point that they no longer discuss basketball because they agreed it was ruining their relationship. I’ve read that you were very tough on your son, Gary Payton II, and you even walked out of one of his high school games because you weren’t impressed with his effort. You obviously have so much information that you want to share with your son, but how do you find the right balance between pushing him really hard and giving him space to learn on his own?
GP: That’s a good question. It was the same way with me; I was the same way Tim was. I pressed my son too much. He was around basketball all the time and he got pressed a lot. It’s one of those things where you can steer your son away from loving the game of basketball. My son stopped liking it. As of today, he listens, but he don’t listen. It’s gotta come from somebody else. Then, when they don’t make it and they aren’t productive like they want to, you want to go say, “See, what did I tell you? Why don’t you want to listen to me?” But that’s not the right thing to do. So I’ve backed off from my son. When he calls me, if he calls me, I’ll say what I say and then leave it alone. I won’t even go into it anymore. Now that he’s got his guaranteed contract for the first time and he’s staying up, I told him, “You should’ve been doing this since day one.” But they always got excuses. This is a different era and they always got excuses, man. “They should’ve let me play!” or, “They let me play, but [they should’ve] let me do this or that!” It’s not about all that. It’s about seeing what the coach wants and doing it, doing what the organization wants. But, nowadays, I just let him do what he gotta do and however he wants to do it. I just don’t want to stray him away from nothing. And it is hard to listen to the caliber of father than I am, with what I did in the NBA and what I’ve become. It’s hard to do that, especially being named after me. It’s kind of hard and now, I just let it go. I just try to support him. If he calls and wants to talk about something, then I’ll talk about it. Other than that, I don’t call him after games or anything like that; I don’t do that anymore.
Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
You’re ambidextrous; you write with your left hand and shoot with your right hand. Obviously, a lot of NBA players learn to be effective with both hands, but you were actually born ambidextrous, so how much do you think that helped you in the NBA?
GP: That was just natural. I can bat on both sides. I shoot pool with my left and write with my left. I can throw left or right. It’s just something that came to me and then, I broke my right thumb when I was young. I had a cast on, so I played with my left hand during that time. That came easy to me. Then, when I got the pros, I posted up on my left side all the time and threw up shots, scoops, hooks or whatever I needed with my left hand. It’s just something that came to me and I was always happy that I could do things with both. Now, it’s still the same thing. People will say, “Why don’t you shoot with your left? Why are you doing that?” When I play Pop-A-Shot in an arcade, people will say, “You’re right-handed, so only shoot with your left!” And I’ll go, “Okay, I’ll shoot with my left!” They don’t read up on me! Then, after the game, they’re like, “Oh man, you’re making even more with your left!” Then, I’ll tell them, “I’m kind of left-handed, if you think about it.” Some people have looked and seen that my watch is on my right side, so they’ll ask, “Are you left-handed?” And I’m like, “Duh!” It’s just kind of fun to mess with people. (Laughs)
I wrote about Seattle’s basketball culture and how Jamal Crawford helps the next generation of Seattle players by training with them and mentoring them. He’s even let some prospects live with him. Jamal said that he’s just passing on what you and Doug Christie did for him when he was young. He said that when he was 15 years old, you guys helped him a lot and let him train with you. Do you remember getting to know Jamal as a teen and how nice is it to see that he’s been able to pay it forward and do the same thing for many young players?
GP: I basically helped raise Jamal. Jamal lived with me for a little bit when he came out of Michigan for one year of college. It’s a great feeling to see a kid like him, who’s so humble, give back to Seattle and do those things. I always knew he was going to be one of a kind because he would always listen and he was so humble. He was never talking about how good he was. And he was so knowledgeable, even when he was younger. What he’d do is pick your brain. Anytime there was an older guy or a veteran around, he would ask questions and try to learn different ways that he could better himself. Now, to see him grooming other players and doing the same stuff that we taught him, it’s a special thing. It’s nice to be able to look at him and say, “He listened! He learned it!” We just wanted to help him. Now, he’s doing that for other guys – and they’re going to listen to him and learn from him, so that they can be the next guys who do this and help the next generation.
Speaking of Seattle, what would it mean for you to stand in Key Arena and have your jersey retired in front of those fans at some point in the future?
GP: It would mean a lot to me. Those fans really were the ones who made everything happen for me. I was there for 13 seasons and that’s where I became a Hall of Famer. And the fans deserve it. I think they deserve to see that happen, just like they deserve to see Shawn Kemp’s jersey raised up and Detlef Schrempf’s jersey raised up – not just mine. You know what I’m saying? It would be great for those fans to see that and feel that because I know they’d go crazy, and it would be a great moment for myself too. I hope that we have an opportunity to do that. I do think it will come. I think basketball will get back to Seattle.
You’ve gotten involved with the fight to bring the NBA back to Seattle and you’ve said that the city could have a team in the next three-to-four years. Do you still think Seattle will get a team in the next few years and what are some things Seattle is doing to become even more appealing?
GP: I’m involved in that. We have a team of people who are really involved with that and we’re talking with Adam [Silver] all the time. We’re getting there. First of all, we have to make sure that we have an arena to play in. Key Arena is getting revamped for the hockey team that’s going to be there in 2021. After that, a lot of other little things have to happen like the TV deal has to come up again and we have to see if we can get a basketball team. They know. Like I said, Adam Silver is listening. We have a group that I’m a part of that is really, really working on it, so we just have to hope that it happens. We’re just laying low right because we want to make sure that everything is right so that when we that time comes and we do get that opportunity, they can be ready to move right in and give us that team.
I loved seeing you and Shawn Kemp back together for ESPN’s recent Monday Night Football intro prior to the Seahawks-Vikings game. It generated a huge response among fans too. How did that idea come together and what did you think of the fan reaction?
GP: It was something that the guys ESPN came up with and they got in touch with me and my people. Kenny Mayne from ESPN was really the one who really got it started. He told them, “I’ll get in touch with Gary,” because me and Kenny are really tight. He got in touch with me and when I heard the concept, I thought, “That’s great.” I knew it would trigger a lot of [nostalgia] and feelings about the Sonics. People hadn’t seen Shawn and I together in a long period of time. To see us doing that for the Seahawks and getting the fans ready for Monday Night Football against Minnesota, it was fun.
You reached the NBA Finals with three different teams – the 1996 Sonics (with Kemp), the 2004 Lakers (with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone) and the 2006 Heat (with Shaq and Dwyane Wade). Having seen what it took for three different franchises to reach the Finals, what would you say are the biggest keys to a team advancing that deep? Are there any specific characteristics that all three of those teams had in common?
GP: The Seattle team was a little bit different because we were already really good all year. We were really, really good. The other two teams, the Heat and the Lakers, we struggled, but then we got into a rhythm. When you get into a rhythm and get everyone on the same page at the end of the year, anything can happen. At the beginning of the year with that Lakers team, we were good and then Karl Malone got hurt so we went through a lull. I played all 82 games that year, but the other three guys didn’t play as many games and so we needed other players to step up. Then, we got into a rhythm and our team got that unity.
With the 1996 Sonics team, we were already there. We were the No. 2 team in the NBA right behind Chicago; people don’t remember that we won 64 games that year and they won 72, so we weren’t too far behind them. We beat them once during the season too, so we were one of their 10 losses. To me, you have to be in a rhythm at the end of the season, unless you’re a great team that wins all season long – like this Milwaukee team. This Bucks team can win a championship; they’re playing like we were in ’96, playing great all season. To me, you have to be in a rhythm and you have to be together. You need everyone to be clicking and playing well at the same time. That’s what we did in Miami, that’s what we did with the Lakers and that was happening the whole season in Seattle. The two Finals losses is that we just couldn’t overcome a great team. Detroit was playing really well to beat us in 2004. With Chicago in 1996, we [showed up] too late against them. We got over the hump in Miami in 2006 because we were able to take down that Dallas team. But I think rhythm and unity is what it’s all about.
You, Jason Kidd and Damian Lillard are all from Oakland. I know you really pushed Kidd when he was in high school, making him better and toughening him up, and you’ve mentored Lillard too. All three of you guys play have a similar poise and swagger. Why do you think Oakland keeps producing superstar point guards and would you agree that there are certain characteristics that you guys have in common because of your similar backgrounds?
GP: Yeah, I think we have a chip on our shoulder because of where we come from. You come out of the neighborhood and you’re always hearing about New York, Philly, L.A. and people say, “They’ve got the best basketball players!” You always hear that. I always said, “Well, why don’t you come down to the North. Come to Northern California! Let’s see what you can do here and see if you can do the same things you do everywhere else.” A lot of people come to Northern California and then they get these guards like us and they’re like, “Whoa!” But we’re not really pressed with all that. When you’re from this neighborhood, you go to different blocks and you go up against different players and we prove ourselves. I think we all have a chip on our shoulder and we want to prove everybody wrong. That’s what we do. We also had JR Rider, Antonio Davis… A lot of people don’t know this, but Bill Russell grew up in Oakland. Paul Silas grew up in Oakland. We have a lot of great basketball players, great baseball players, great people coming out of Oakland. It’s just that we don’t need to prove nothing until we get to the highest level. Go ahead and overlook us, but then look what happens. You end up with two Hall of Famers in me and Jason, and Dame is going to be one too. We just have a chip on our shoulder because people want to overlook us.
Gary Payton is one of the best defenders in NBA history and one of the game’s all-time great point guards. The Hall of Famer impacted games in many ways, as evidenced by his career stats: He ranks fourth all-time in steals (2,445), 10th all-time in …
Gary Payton is one of the best defenders in NBA history and one of the game’s all-time great point guards. The Hall of Famer impacted games in many ways, as evidenced by his career stats: He ranks fourth all-time in steals (2,445), 10th all-time in assists (8,966) and 38th all-time in points (21,813).
In addition to earning Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1996, Payton made nine All-NBA Teams and nine All-Defensive First Teams. He was also a nine-time All-Star, and the NBA recently made him available to encourage fans to vote for the 2020 All-Star Game starters before the deadline on Jan. 20. Fans can vote on NBA.com, on the NBA app or on Google.
HoopsHype spoke one-on-one with Payton and the NBA legend was extremely candid and honest throughout the conversation.
You’re one of the all-time great trash talkers in professional sports. Were there ever any opponents who surprised you with their trash talk? Any guys who chirped back when you didn’t expect it?
GP: (Laughs) Well, whoever I went at didn’t usually come back at me. Reggie Miller’s trash-talking was good, Michael Jordan’s was good. I only got to see Larry Bird twice in two years and he was hurt, really, most of the time. But when he did get on the floor with me, he had a lot of nice ones. He was a chatterbox and I didn’t really know he was like that. But he was! He was cocky and arrogant; he’d go at you and tell you where he was going to shoot it and tell you that he was going to shoot in your face, you know what I’m saying? Those three were the main ones, basically. Then, Kevin Garnett got onto the scene and he would start with his talking. Those were the main ones. Those four guys were the ones who I really wanted to go up against because I knew there’d be some chatter back. Most guys wouldn’t say anything or, if they did, their coach would tell them to be quiet and leave me alone because they didn’t want to wake up the beast. It was one of them things. But it was them four that I really looked forward to playing against.
Do random people ever come up to you on the street and talk trash to you, just so they can say that they’ve talked trash to Gary Payton?
GP: Yeah, that’s a lot of people’s main thing. They’ll see me somewhere and then they’ll say something to try to get me to go back and forth with them. Then, they’re like, “This is all I wanted! This is why I came up to you! They always say that you trash-talked a lot on the court, so we wanted to hear it and see if you trash talk everywhere!” You know if it’s someone who is trying to egg you on to do something. A lot of people, a lot of fans, will do things just because they want to see if they can push your buttons. Sometimes, you’ll go along with it and have fun with it; sometimes, you just have to let it go because some people let it get out of hand. But, yes, it does happen.
You did a phenomenal job of locking up Michael Jordan in the 1996 NBA Finals. It may be one of the best defensive efforts against Jordan. What were those battles with MJ like and do you take pride in the fact that you were one of the toughest defensive matchups he faced?
GP: It was just a challenge. It was like… He was the best offensive player and I was the best defensive player. It was just a challenge. I looked forward to those matchups all the time because I knew if I talked to him, he was going to talk back and we were going to go at it. That would make TV [ratings] go up and a lot of things go up; that’s what we were doing. Then, I would make it a point to challenge myself. I’d think, “I know I can’t stop him, but I can contain him.” You know you’re not going to stop him altogether – that’s not going to happen – so you just focus on how you can slow him down. If he’s usually scoring 35 or 40 points per night, can I hold him to 23 or 24 points? Yeah, I could. I would just make things a little bit difficult for him. If you let any great player be comfortable, they’re going to dominate you. If you take them out of their comfort zone and make them do things that they aren’t used to doing, you’re going to be effective. That’s all I’d try to do with Michael. I tried to pressure him and make it really difficult for him to get the basketball. Then, if he got the basketball, I’d just be a gnat. If you make him miss a couple shots and then you go down on the other end of the floor and you’re scoring on him when he’s guarding you, he’s going to want to come back and go right at you. They get frustrated when the last four or five trips down the floor, I’m scoring and they’re not, especially if the referees aren’t calling anything for them. That’s all I’d try to do. I wanted to get under his skin a bit and see what happens.
When I interviewed Ron Harper, he said that trash-talking would sometimes cause Michael Jordan to flip a switch and take his game to another level. You obviously had a lot of success against Jordan, but did you ever hold back against certain players (or at certain times) because talking trash may have fired your opponent up and helped them?
GP: I didn’t care. That was my whole thing, going in every night and trash-talking because… what can you do? Can you out-talk me? Are you going to get frustrated? Are you going to be focused enough to not concentrate on me throughout the entire game? Because I’m going to continue to talk and continue to play well. I’m going to play well because that’s my game. I never went into a game like, “Let me not talk to this guy.” None of my teammates or coaches ever said that either. They’d say, “Let’s just let Gary do what he do.” That’s what I did. That was my game-plan. I want to get my opponent in a different state of mind. If they’re focusing on me instead of their teammates and the game-plan, I got you. I’m going to trap you in, and then you’re about to get subbed out in a minute because you’re going to start making a lot of mistakes. That was my whole approach.
When I spoke with Michael Cooper, we discussed how he’d fare as a defender in today’s NBA. He said that even though he couldn’t be as physical these days, he’d still lock down today’s stars because of his length and speed. He said Kevin Durant would give him trouble, but he could cover anyone else. Do you ever think about how you’d fare in today’s NBA, defending guys like James Harden and Stephen Curry?
GP: The younger guys always say, “Well, in your era, you guys couldn’t do this or that.” If that’s the case, I wish you could come to our era and play in our era. I wish we had a time machine so that we could put them in our era and see how they would fare. Sometimes, they say, “Well, you couldn’t play in this era because of the shooting and scoring!” Well, when we were in our early 20s, we were pretty athletic and dominant too; that’s why you know about us. It’s just changed. You can’t put your hands on guys. The league is about scoring; they want you to score and they want to run up the points, so it’s entertaining. In our era, we were talking about locking guys down. We were talking about beating you up. We were talking about putting you on your back if you tried to come in the paint and dunk. We wanted you to think that you may get hurt every time you came in the paint. You know what I’m saying? Now, that will get you a flagrant or get you kicked out of the game and they may even suspend you after evaluating it. We didn’t have all of that. We’d put you on your back, they’d look at it and then you’d go on about your business. It’s just so different.
If I played in this era, I would adjust to it. If I played now, the first thing I’d do is go straight to the referees and say, “Look, here’s how I’m going to play. Make sure you let me play defense. If you’re going to let them play offense, let me play defense.” It’s just like what Patrick Beverley is doing right now. He gets into you and, because the referees know what he’s doing and how he plays, they let him play. You just have to get to the point where the refs know how you play, so they adjust. I would probably go talk to all of the refs before every game like, “You know how I play. If you want this game to be okay, let me play defense like you let him play offense. Now, if he pushes off, call it. If I foul him, call it. But let us play.” And then I’m going to go back at my guy on the other end and see if he can guard me. That’s a big difference from our era: We wanted to go back at the player who was scoring on us. Now, there’s all of the switching and stuff. We wouldn’t have played that way. I’m going at that guy, locking him down and making some else beat us.
Are there any current NBA players who remind you of yourself in terms of their game or tenacity? You mentioned Pat Beverley, so I’m guessing he’s one.
GP: There are two: Marcus Smart and Patrick Beverley. They both remind me of myself. They’ll go at you. Beverley is a little bit different because he doesn’t have the offensive game that I had. But Marcus is starting to become that kind of player – he’s starting to score and shoot the ball. But both of them are dogs on the defensive end. My son, [Gary Payton II], has a little of that in him and he’s doing the same thing. He can get at you when he wants to and he’s long for someone who’s 6-foot-3, so his length with hurt you too. When you have them type of guys who can play defense that type of way, it’s always a bonus for their team. When you have a guy who can lock down like that, he’s always giving you great stuff on that end. But can they give you something on the other end? All three of them need to work on their offense. My son needs to work on it, Pat needs to work on it and Marcus is starting to become a good scorer to be a two-way player, but he’s still working on it too. But those three guys remind me of myself defensively.
Last year, Tim Hardaway told me that he used to be really tough on his son, Tim Jr., to the point that they no longer discuss basketball because they agreed it was ruining their relationship. I’ve read that you were very tough on your son, Gary Payton II, and you even walked out of one of his high school games because you weren’t impressed with his effort. You obviously have so much information that you want to share with your son, but how do you find the right balance between pushing him really hard and giving him space to learn on his own?
GP: That’s a good question. It was the same way with me; I was the same way Tim was. I pressed my son too much. He was around basketball all the time and he got pressed a lot. It’s one of those things where you can steer your son away from loving the game of basketball. My son stopped liking it. As of today, he listens, but he don’t listen. It’s gotta come from somebody else. Then, when they don’t make it and they aren’t productive like they want to, you want to go say, “See, what did I tell you? Why don’t you want to listen to me?” But that’s not the right thing to do. So I’ve backed off from my son. When he calls me, if he calls me, I’ll say what I say and then leave it alone. I won’t even go into it anymore. Now that he’s got his guaranteed contract for the first time and he’s staying up, I told him, “You should’ve been doing this since day one.” But they always got excuses. This is a different era and they always got excuses, man. “They should’ve let me play!” or, “They let me play, but [they should’ve] let me do this or that!” It’s not about all that. It’s about seeing what the coach wants and doing it, doing what the organization wants. But, nowadays, I just let him do what he gotta do and however he wants to do it. I just don’t want to stray him away from nothing. And it is hard to listen to the caliber of father than I am, with what I did in the NBA and what I’ve become. It’s hard to do that, especially being named after me. It’s kind of hard and now, I just let it go. I just try to support him. If he calls and wants to talk about something, then I’ll talk about it. Other than that, I don’t call him after games or anything like that; I don’t do that anymore.
Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
You’re ambidextrous; you write with your left hand and shoot with your right hand. Obviously, a lot of NBA players learn to be effective with both hands, but you were actually born ambidextrous, so how much do you think that helped you in the NBA?
GP: That was just natural. I can bat on both sides. I shoot pool with my left and write with my left. I can throw left or right. It’s just something that came to me and then, I broke my right thumb when I was young. I had a cast on, so I played with my left hand during that time. That came easy to me. Then, when I got the pros, I posted up on my left side all the time and threw up shots, scoops, hooks or whatever I needed with my left hand. It’s just something that came to me and I was always happy that I could do things with both. Now, it’s still the same thing. People will say, “Why don’t you shoot with your left? Why are you doing that?” When I play Pop-A-Shot in an arcade, people will say, “You’re right-handed, so only shoot with your left!” And I’ll go, “Okay, I’ll shoot with my left!” They don’t read up on me! Then, after the game, they’re like, “Oh man, you’re making even more with your left!” Then, I’ll tell them, “I’m kind of left-handed, if you think about it.” Some people have looked and seen that my watch is on my right side, so they’ll ask, “Are you left-handed?” And I’m like, “Duh!” It’s just kind of fun to mess with people. (Laughs)
I wrote about Seattle’s basketball culture and how Jamal Crawford helps the next generation of Seattle players by training with them and mentoring them. He’s even let some prospects live with him. Jamal said that he’s just passing on what you and Doug Christie did for him when he was young. He said that when he was 15 years old, you guys helped him a lot and let him train with you. Do you remember getting to know Jamal as a teen and how nice is it to see that he’s been able to pay it forward and do the same thing for many young players?
GP: I basically helped raise Jamal. Jamal lived with me for a little bit when he came out of Michigan for one year of college. It’s a great feeling to see a kid like him, who’s so humble, give back to Seattle and do those things. I always knew he was going to be one of a kind because he would always listen and he was so humble. He was never talking about how good he was. And he was so knowledgeable, even when he was younger. What he’d do is pick your brain. Anytime there was an older guy or a veteran around, he would ask questions and try to learn different ways that he could better himself. Now, to see him grooming other players and doing the same stuff that we taught him, it’s a special thing. It’s nice to be able to look at him and say, “He listened! He learned it!” We just wanted to help him. Now, he’s doing that for other guys – and they’re going to listen to him and learn from him, so that they can be the next guys who do this and help the next generation.
Speaking of Seattle, what would it mean for you to stand in Key Arena and have your jersey retired in front of those fans at some point in the future?
GP: It would mean a lot to me. Those fans really were the ones who made everything happen for me. I was there for 13 seasons and that’s where I became a Hall of Famer. And the fans deserve it. I think they deserve to see that happen, just like they deserve to see Shawn Kemp’s jersey raised up and Detlef Schrempf’s jersey raised up – not just mine. You know what I’m saying? It would be great for those fans to see that and feel that because I know they’d go crazy, and it would be a great moment for myself too. I hope that we have an opportunity to do that. I do think it will come. I think basketball will get back to Seattle.
You’ve gotten involved with the fight to bring the NBA back to Seattle and you’ve said that the city could have a team in the next three-to-four years. Do you still think Seattle will get a team in the next few years and what are some things Seattle is doing to become even more appealing?
GP: I’m involved in that. We have a team of people who are really involved with that and we’re talking with Adam [Silver] all the time. We’re getting there. First of all, we have to make sure that we have an arena to play in. Key Arena is getting revamped for the hockey team that’s going to be there in 2021. After that, a lot of other little things have to happen like the TV deal has to come up again and we have to see if we can get a basketball team. They know. Like I said, Adam Silver is listening. We have a group that I’m a part of that is really, really working on it, so we just have to hope that it happens. We’re just laying low right because we want to make sure that everything is right so that when we that time comes and we do get that opportunity, they can be ready to move right in and give us that team.
I loved seeing you and Shawn Kemp back together for ESPN’s recent Monday Night Football intro prior to the Seahawks-Vikings game. It generated a huge response among fans too. How did that idea come together and what did you think of the fan reaction?
GP: It was something that the guys ESPN came up with and they got in touch with me and my people. Kenny Mayne from ESPN was really the one who really got it started. He told them, “I’ll get in touch with Gary,” because me and Kenny are really tight. He got in touch with me and when I heard the concept, I thought, “That’s great.” I knew it would trigger a lot of [nostalgia] and feelings about the Sonics. People hadn’t seen Shawn and I together in a long period of time. To see us doing that for the Seahawks and getting the fans ready for Monday Night Football against Minnesota, it was fun.
You reached the NBA Finals with three different teams – the 1996 Sonics (with Kemp), the 2004 Lakers (with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone) and the 2006 Heat (with Shaq and Dwyane Wade). Having seen what it took for three different franchises to reach the Finals, what would you say are the biggest keys to a team advancing that deep? Are there any specific characteristics that all three of those teams had in common?
GP: The Seattle team was a little bit different because we were already really good all year. We were really, really good. The other two teams, the Heat and the Lakers, we struggled, but then we got into a rhythm. When you get into a rhythm and get everyone on the same page at the end of the year, anything can happen. At the beginning of the year with that Lakers team, we were good and then Karl Malone got hurt so we went through a lull. I played all 82 games that year, but the other three guys didn’t play as many games and so we needed other players to step up. Then, we got into a rhythm and our team got that unity.
With the 1996 Sonics team, we were already there. We were the No. 2 team in the NBA right behind Chicago; people don’t remember that we won 64 games that year and they won 72, so we weren’t too far behind them. We beat them once during the season too, so we were one of their 10 losses. To me, you have to be in a rhythm at the end of the season, unless you’re a great team that wins all season long – like this Milwaukee team. This Bucks team can win a championship; they’re playing like we were in ’96, playing great all season. To me, you have to be in a rhythm and you have to be together. You need everyone to be clicking and playing well at the same time. That’s what we did in Miami, that’s what we did with the Lakers and that was happening the whole season in Seattle. The two Finals losses is that we just couldn’t overcome a great team. Detroit was playing really well to beat us in 2004. With Chicago in 1996, we [showed up] too late against them. We got over the hump in Miami in 2006 because we were able to take down that Dallas team. But I think rhythm and unity is what it’s all about.
You, Jason Kidd and Damian Lillard are all from Oakland. I know you really pushed Kidd when he was in high school, making him better and toughening him up, and you’ve mentored Lillard too. All three of you guys play have a similar poise and swagger. Why do you think Oakland keeps producing superstar point guards and would you agree that there are certain characteristics that you guys have in common because of your similar backgrounds?
GP: Yeah, I think we have a chip on our shoulder because of where we come from. You come out of the neighborhood and you’re always hearing about New York, Philly, L.A. and people say, “They’ve got the best basketball players!” You always hear that. I always said, “Well, why don’t you come down to the North. Come to Northern California! Let’s see what you can do here and see if you can do the same things you do everywhere else.” A lot of people come to Northern California and then they get these guards like us and they’re like, “Whoa!” But we’re not really pressed with all that. When you’re from this neighborhood, you go to different blocks and you go up against different players and we prove ourselves. I think we all have a chip on our shoulder and we want to prove everybody wrong. That’s what we do. We also had JR Rider, Antonio Davis… A lot of people don’t know this, but Bill Russell grew up in Oakland. Paul Silas grew up in Oakland. We have a lot of great basketball players, great baseball players, great people coming out of Oakland. It’s just that we don’t need to prove nothing until we get to the highest level. Go ahead and overlook us, but then look what happens. You end up with two Hall of Famers in me and Jason, and Dame is going to be one too. We just have a chip on our shoulder because people want to overlook us.
Miami Heat sophomore wing Duncan Robinson was never expected to be a starter in the NBA when he played Division III basketball in college.
Miami Heat sophomore wing Duncan Robinson was never expected to be a starter in the NBA when he played Division III basketball in college.
But he was the DIII Rookie of the Year in 2014 and then transferred to the University of Michigan, where he eventually played in the NCAA national title in 2018.
“This guy, along with several other players in that locker room, put a ridiculous amount of time into this team and into their improvement when no one is watching,” explained Miami heat head coach Erik Spoelstra.
Robinson is averaging 1.24 points per possession so far this season, per Synergy, which ranks in the 99th percentile among all players in the NBA. Meanwhile, no one in the league has scored more points than Robinson has (7.9 PPG) off the catch in a set offense.
Those numbers have helped him appear as a starter in 34 of his 39 games for Miami so far this season.
“That shot does not happen by accident,” continued Spoelstra. “A lot of that happened before he even got here. He learned how to become a pro shooter in our system but he’s got a tremendous work ethic and he is persistent. This league is tough. The competition is tough. You’re not going to have great nights every single night. He’s had some tough ones but he’s been persistent. That’s one of the words I think about with Duncan when I think of him. He’s just going to keep on going.”
We spoke to Robinson before his game against Brooklyn Nets about how he has been able to have the success he has had for Miami so far this season.
What are some of the things that you did during the offseason to help prepare for the new role you’ve had with the Heat?
Duncan Robinson: Probably the biggest adjustment was my body and just trying to prepare physically to play an 82-game season on both ends of the floor. I put on about 10-15 pounds. I am always continuing to work on my ability to shoot on the move. Shoot my away shots, shoot in transition, that sort of thing, because I knew I wasn’t just going to be able to catch and shoot.
You have done a lot of shooting in transition and off the dribble. What are some of the things that you work on to do that?
DR: Just a lot of repetitions. Getting comfortable shooting, sprinting and shooting. It’s an adjustment, just because all my life I was just a floor spacer, standing still in the corner, on the wing, spaced out. So now I’m working on just having an understanding of the different actions that I’d be put in and then putting in repetitions with those.
What are some of the things that you picked in the G League on the Sioux Falls Skyforce that helped you get to where you are today? You were dominant out there but it was a different offense.
#GLeagueAlum Duncan Robinson caught FIRE on Tuesday night 🔥
DR: I learned how to get my shots off, like you said, as a key point in that offense. A lot of times, teams were trying to scheme to take away my catch-and-shoots. So I was learning how to still get shots off and be creative while screening off the ball, setting picks, stuff like that. Just finding ways to get an opportunity.
What are some of the things that have surprised you most about Miami’s conditioning and the way Miami practices? It’s known around the league as being one of the more intense ones.
DR: Just the consistency of every single day. They preach it every single day and they hold you accountable to it every single day. We’re always having weigh-ins and that sort of thing. There’s a big emphasis on it and they take a lot of pride in it.
I spoke to Coach Spoelstra a bit before the game and he said that the word he thinks of with you is persistence. What does that mean to you in terms of your game?
DR: It means a lot because I feel like Coach Spoelstra exemplifies persistence as well. Honestly, he shows up every single day. He preaches it to us but that’s because he practices it. My mantra is to stack as many good days as possible. You’re not going to become a different player overnight but if you continue to stack good days on top of each other, you’re going to have something to show for it.
How did playing at the University of Michigan help prepare you for this kind of a role that you’re in now?
John Beilein gushing about Duncan Robinson before coaching against him is really something. pic.twitter.com/iOWRPUR1aT
DR: They prepared me a lot. Obviously, being on a winning team and a part of a winning program, learning how to buy into a role, I developed a lot as a player at Michigan. A lot of credit to Coach Beilein at his staff, from the head coach all the way to the assistants. I made a lot of strides at Michigan and I’m just trying to continue that trajectory.
How did you and Caris LeVert push each other while you were there? I’m sure you had a chance to catch up with him a little bit before the game against the Nets.
DR: Yeah. Caris is my guy, man. We’re still really close. We stay in touch all the time. When you talk about two competitive people and two people that love being in the gym, that’s us. So we had a lot of one-on-one games, a lot of shooting competitions. Sometimes, also just the competitive nature of him getting a workout inspired me wanting to get one in too. I never wanted to feel like he was outworking me and he never wanted to feel like I was ever outworking him. It’s definitely contagious and I respect it. Just everything that he’s dealt with in his career, in terms of his injuries, he just keeps showing up. He keeps getting better and better. He’s still just beginning to scratch the surface of what he could be as a player.
Is there anything people don’t really know about your game that you think people should know or should be discussed more?
DR: I just try to do my job to the best of my ability, do what my teammates and coaches ask of me, be aggressive, just try to be a pest defensively. I feel like I’ve made some improvements there, and I feel like I haven’t reached the potential of where I could be as a player and I’m excited to continue to learn and grow. I’m just going to continue to put the work in and see where the chips fall.
Tony Parker announced his retirement last summer following a memorable career that saw him win four NBA titles and make the All-Star Game six times. His final year with the Hornets was not the stuff of legend, but one particular event during that …
Tony Parker announced his retirement last summer following a memorable career that saw him win four NBA titles and make the All-Star Game six times. His final year with the Hornets was not the stuff of legend, but one particular event during that season made his NBA career even more remarkable. In beating the Spurs in a January game, the French guard accomplished something no other player had: a positive record against all 30 franchises.
Parker is not the only longtime Spur without a losing record against any of the other teams. David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are part of that exclusive club, but of course they could never get a winning record vs. San Antonio since they spent their entire time in the NBA rocking the black and grey of the Spurs.
Danny Green, who is currently 9-9 vs. Milwaukee, could become the second player with a positive record against every single NBA franchise this season should the Lakers beat the Bucks on the road in March.
Other players without losing records against any franchise include Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Bill Russell, Sam Jones, KC Jones and Bob Cousy, but it was easier to achieve that back in the day (especially in the case of Celtics legends) since there were fewer NBA teams then.
For decades, the largest NBA salaries were given to dominant centers. But as the three-point era has dawned, that landscape has changed.
For decades, the largest NBA salaries were given to dominant big men. But as the three-point era has dawned, that landscape has changed drastically.
In researching league salaries for the last three decades, we can see how teams used to allocate their resources. Between 1990-91 and 2017-18, for example, it was always centers or power forwards who ranked on top.
During the 1999-00 campaign, all 13 of the top salaries (Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning, Juwan Howard, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen, Hakeen Olajuwon, Karl Malone, Dikembe Mutombo, Jayson Williams, Rik Smits, Larry Johnson and David Robinson) were given to frontcourt players.
Back in 2002-03, big men were eating half of the salary pie of the league. They are at a record low 34.6 percent right now, although still handsomely paid. In fact, the average center makes more money ($7.7 million in 2019-20) than the average player in other positions. It’s just that there fewer of them.
For context, 43.2 percent of the players in 2011-12 played primarily power forward or center. But now in 2019-20, that has dropped to only 36.3 percent.
As such, gone are the days of bigs leading all NBA players in total annual salary. If you look at the top earners this season, for example, there is a very noticeable trend.
Centers went from earning 27.7 percent of the total salary in 1990-91 (which was the first year of our research) to a likely all-time low of 18.9 percent this season. Based on current expenditures, point guards account for 22.9 percent of the salaries in the NBA – ahead of all of the other position players.
Guards combine for 44.4 percent of salary money right now, which is the highest number we have on record.
Point guards leading the charge is a distinct change from as recently as the 2015-16 season. Even then, none of the seven highest-paid players in the NBA (Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh and Kevin Durant) were point guards.
Now the three highest-paid players (Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul) are all point guards. Veterans like John Wall and Kyle Lowry currently rank in the Top 10. Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving and Mike Conley do not trail far behind.
Overall, the average point guard salary increased almost $1.4 million while the average center salary dropped around $750,000.
Over the next few years, expect this trend to only continue. For example, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard will earn $47.8 million per year when his next deal kicks in for the 2020-21 season.
With these rates in mind, young point guards like Trae Young and De’Aaron Fox should be in for big paydays when their eligibility arrives as well.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa conducted research for this report
