"The Glove" Gary Payton 1991-95 Highlights

Since he was right before the youtube generation, I wanted to make sure no one forgot how awesome Gary Payton was.

He would quickly prove to be one of the absolute best players of his time, but Gary Payton's career started off quite rocky. While he was already a passable rebounder and passer and defender, his scoring was atrocious his first two seasons. Posting only a pedestrian 8.3 points, but solid 6.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 steals on 45 percent from the field. His free throw percentages and three point percentages were a big reason for his lack of scoring prowess and he committed three personal fouls a game. He looked like a bust, and wasn't even sure he still wanted to play basketball.

With Gary Payton struggling, the Sonics needed a change. They fired K.C. Jones and hired George Karl. Within the next two years Seattle would go from 8th in the west to 3rd and Gary would turn his career around. Bumping his points per game up to 16.5, while still averaging 6.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and only 2.1 turnovers playing 35.1 minutes a game. He still struggled as a perimeter shooter, shooting 28% from three, but he notched 77% from the charity stripe and managed to post an impressive 50% from the field, no easy feat with the old rules, clogged paint and his lack of perimeter shooting at the time.

But that was just the start for Gary Payton. With George Karl at the helm, the Sonics would rely on Payton more. He thrived. He would double his win shares and VORP over the next two seasons and earn his famous nickname, "The Glove" for his ability to control even the best ball-handlers, (specifically the great Kevin Johnson during the 1993 western conference finals).

Less than five years into their careers Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp had become the perennial all-stars Seattle had hoped, and their smash-mouth, in your face style quickly became one of the most exciting in the league. Assistant coaches Tim Grgurich and Bob Kloppenburg implemented a defensive scheme that heavily utilized Gary's ability to disrupt an offense and the team immediately won more.

Three years into Gary's career Seattle would notch it's first 50 win season of the 90s. And they would stay over 55 for the next 6 seasons. Those six seasons, while filled with insane highs, were not without their lows and 1994 was a prime example of both. The Sonics added Detlef Schrempf and won 62 games, locking up the the first seed and looking like the clear cut favorite to win the NBA Finals. But they were upset in the first round, becoming the first number 1 seed to in the first round. That series is also infamous for a famous altercation between the 25 year old Gary Payton and 34 year old Ricky Pierce that involved threats of gun violence. They were divided between young and old and the organization sided with its young core, they traded Ricky Pierce after the altercation. And Gary would only continue to improve his game.

The next season was the first of his peak and over his next ten seasons with Seattle he would play in the all star game 9 times (losing one all star oppurtunity in one of the best years of his career due to a lockout season, he lead the league in Offensive Box Plus Minus (OBPM) over Shaq that year).

During that time Gary proved that he was much more than just an all-star. He was a superstar. Able to impose his will on the game in a variety of ways. Over his next three years with an all-star teammate in Shawn Kemp, Gary posted tremendous numbers. 20.6 points a game, 7.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.6 steals, while only turning the ball over 2.8 times over 38.3 minutes a game. He also managed to improve as a shooter, going 49% from the field, 32% from deep and 73% from the line (on double the free throw attempts). And he did it all while anchoring one of the best defensive teams of all time, winning defensive player of the year in 1996. He still remains the only point guard to win the award.

The Gary Payton-Shawn Kemp Sonics were a force, going head to head with a strong west, making the conference finals multiple times as well as NBA finals, but personal problems, and Seattle overpaying backup center Jim McIlvaine, put an early end to the duo as the front office relationship with Shawn soured. Soon Gary was the sole superstar in Seattle, but that's a story for another video.



I don't own any of the clips, highlights or music, I just compiled them for educational purposes.

Music Credit:

a bird in the hand ice cube

nuthin but a g thang doctor dre and snoop dogg

gin n juice snoop dogg

i get around tupac shakur

can't c me tupac shakur

2 of amerikkkas most wanted tupac shakur and snoop dogg