Jason Kidd | Learning From Gary Payton | JasonKidd.com

In this exclusive interview for JasonKidd.com, Jason Kidd discusses the role that Gary Payton, mentor and friend, played in his development as a player. Jason passed Gary for the third-most steals in NBA history on March 6, 2011.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Jason Kidd
• Gary Payton
• Steals
• Dallas Mavericks
• NBA
• basketball
• Hall of Fame
• All STar

[wrath0ff]

"I said get that stuff out of here. But I didnt say stuff" lol

[gamoto96]

great player!! so happy he got into half of fame what an incredible person!

[Strutization]

Gary Payton is one of the greats and seems like a good guy, he also trained Jeremy Lin and turned Lin into the player he is today... Linsanity.

[218Ghost]

They grew up in Oakland togeather

[razkable]

wow he learne dfrom the freat glove! didnt know that cool!

[iglles93]

GET THAT SHIT OUTTA HERE, NIGGA !!!!!!!!!!

[ChandlerPol]

@sumskater999 Yeah, but games where Jordan shot under 40% proved fairly rare and he represented a better all-around player than Iverson, so he could help his team win in more ways. Of course, Iverson also constituted a skilled passer, but one could argue that he was more of a black hole, that he didn't play within the flow like Jordan. For the record, Iverson actually shot below .390 (.389) in the 2001 playoffs (22 games), so he proved very inefficient on average.

[sumskater999]

@ChandlerPol Well it's a lot easier for bigs to be great defenders. I think Payton made a HUGE defensive impact as a PG. He would close guys out and make it almost impossible to get a good shot off or even a solid pass, which ruins the whole flow of the other team since the PG is the play-maker. I think Pippen totally deserved one, because he would close out a whole team single-handedly, but he also camped in the paint a lot. I think it's a healthy debate, but Payton was right up there.

[sumskater999]

@ChandlerPol I would say that he was. In that 2001-02 season, I think he was still playing better defense than a guard like Kobe Bryant, who is also a great defensive player. By the time he got to the Lakers, he had obviously lost some of his fight.

[sumskater999]

@ChandlerPol You see the same thing with Kobe Bryant. Even Jordan had playoff games where he would shoot well under 40%, and yet they still won so many rings. I think that their mere presence allows their teammates to elevate their game, and play with the same kind of heart those guys played with after watching the amazing things they did on the court.

[ChandlerPol]

@sumskater999

I'll view Game Four of the 1996 Finals on Youtube at some point, although one game can obviously be something of an aberration.