Gary Payton mentoring Giannis?

[ReasonablySober]

ESPN ranks the four american sports teams every year. The rankings came out this week and the Bucks are 122nd out of 124th.

It still baffles me when fans get indignant or offended when players bash the Bucks and Milwaukee. It's been a garbage franchise in (relatively speaking) the worst demo in the league. A hall of fame player hated it. I'm sure he's one of many who have played here.

I'll take it as a positive that Payton is even willing to help the team out.

[bigkurty]

I'm scared ****. Could be a good move on one hand. Could destroy our franchise if Gary turns sweet Giannis into a giant dbag who hates MKE.

[cinematographer]

A seven foot tall Gary Payton is I can't even

[VooDoo7]

ESPN ranks the four american sports teams every year. The rankings came out this week and the Bucks are 122nd out of 124th.

It still baffles me when fans get indignant or offended when players bash the Bucks and Milwaukee. It's been a garbage franchise in (relatively speaking) the worst demo in the league. A hall of fame player hated it. I'm sure he's one of many who have played here.

I'll take it as a positive that Payton is even willing to help the team out.

Yeah. I have no idea why people would take issue with some jagoff bashing their city.

[ReasonablySober]

ESPN ranks the four american sports teams every year. The rankings came out this week and the Bucks are 122nd out of 124th.

It still baffles me when fans get indignant or offended when players bash the Bucks and Milwaukee. It's been a garbage franchise in (relatively speaking) the worst demo in the league. A hall of fame player hated it. I'm sure he's one of many who have played here.

I'll take it as a positive that Payton is even willing to help the team out.

Yeah. I have no idea why people would take issue with some jagoff bashing their city.

I'm a huge Bucks fan and I think Milwaukee is a hole. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Bernman]

ESPN ranks the four american sports teams every year. The rankings came out this week and the Bucks are 122nd out of 124th.

It still baffles me when fans get indignant or offended when players bash the Bucks and Milwaukee. It's been a garbage franchise in (relatively speaking) the worst demo in the league. A hall of fame player hated it. I'm sure he's one of many who have played here.

I'll take it as a positive that Payton is even willing to help the team out.

Nobody is being indignant about players bashing the Bucks. They should have. I did, as did most others, while we still called ourselves fans.

That's obviously not our problem and is a straw man.

Our problem and argument is it's adverse to have him potentially influencing our players because the negativity about the city itself (which has not changed) he's voiced. He trashed it incessantly in the media, regularly mocking the entertainment, weather, etc. There's nothing reasonable about that point of view when he was here for a few months, making many millions during that period, playing a game for a living, in a metro area of 1.5-2 million. That makes him a boring, spoiled, prima donna, who it doesn't behoove us to have our current players around at the risk of some of those same traits rubbing off on them even a little.

BTW, GP sucked when it counted the most, in the playoffs, and not just when he was here. Ray's performances blew his out of the water. Many other players did in his and other generation. Go look at the advanced stats. And GP isn't exactly an eloquent guy. And they aren't that similar of players. So even ignoring the obvious bad influence he could provide off the court, what's so good about him mentoring Giannis as opposed to a plethora of other guys?

[EastSideBucksFan]

Well, if it happens, might as well hope for the best. Didn't like Payton during his stint here. Haven't liked him dogging the Bucks and the city of Milwaukee ever since.

Loved everything about his game and what he brought on the court. If Gary Payton can help turn Giannis into one of the craziest and most unique point guards in the history of the game and an all world talent, then I can change my mind about Gary Payton. Hopefully these guys can mold this talent and take it to the next level and the Bucks won't be bottom feeders in a few years.

If Lasry & Edens are able to recruit someone who literally hated the crap out of Milwaukee here and working for us, it bodes well for the future of the Bucks. In 3-5 years when we are ready to complete, when we have cap space, we'll have Giannis, Jabari, Kidd and Payton recruiting for us. That's something we've never had before. Build a great basketball program and you can sign good players. Simple as that.

[AussieBuck]

Listening to Payton speak he seems about the Mark Jackson caliber of basketball brain. Maybe he can teach him to trash talk?

[raferfenix]

If the report is true, I'm more excited about the prospect of the Bucks committing to Giannis becoming a true PG than pissed that Payton would be coming into the fold to help make it happen.

[breakchains]

If the report is true, I'm more excited about the prospect of the Bucks committing to Giannis becoming a true PG than pissed that Payton would be coming into the fold to help make it happen.

Bingo. It's the reasoning behind the Payton thing that is encouraging more than anything.

[The Wet Whistle]

A HOF'er is mentoring one of our face of the franchise type guys- someone who seems to have unlimited potential- and it's somehow a bad thing? This is very encouraging news that we are attracting more attention from the NBA community outside of Milwaukee

[blazza18]

Honestly can't believe the hysteria over this from some people. You think L&E would be fine with Payton bad mouthing the franchise/City to Giannis ? He's being brought into mould Giannis into a better player. We should all be ok with that.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

One of the best players in NBA history is mentoring the future of this franchise. His on court attitude is exactly what I want from the leader of the team. I think there's plenty to love.

IIRC, you were indifferent about Ray, a guy with statistically a comparable career (win share wise) to GP, leaving Milwaukee over 10 years early. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/paytoga01.html

But GP to you is one of the best players in NBA history and even his extra coaching one of our players now you love in spite of the negative influence he had when he was here?

Ray Allen never had as much positive impact on his team in a single season as Gary Payton did, and that occurred multiple seasons. Gary Payton was simply a more impactful player than Ray Allen.

Ray Allen had not had a HOF career yet when he was traded from Milwaukee. His career had stagnated, and he had difficulty dealing with injuries for the first time in his career. Being traded ended up being a wake up call for Ray to snap him back into trying to be the best he could be. He redoubled his efforts, addressed his health/injury issues and wound up having quite a resurgence for a few years after he left Milwaukee. He then elongated his career and slowed down his decline by determining to have an elite focus on health and conditioning. He has now become a team leader, by virtue of example, work ethic, and dedication. That was not the case yet while he was a Bucks.

Gary Payton, on the other hand, was always a leader on the court and brought a great desire to win and dedication to being the best, for his entire tenure as a Sonic. He was an PG on both ends of the court.

I certainly was not a fan of how he went about leaving Milwaukee and how he treated us afterward, but I believe that Giannis will have enough positive influences on him that we can risk having him be mentored when it comes to PLAYING by Payton. Having Giannis be taught by both Kidd and Payton is outstanding.

Well, if it happens, might as well hope for the best. Didn't like Payton during his stint here. Haven't liked him dogging the Bucks and the city of Milwaukee ever since.

Loved everything about his game and what he brought on the court. If Gary Payton can help turn Giannis into one of the craziest and most unique point guards in the history of the game and an all world talent, then I can change my mind about Gary Payton. Hopefully these guys can mold this talent and take it to the next level and the Bucks won't be bottom feeders in a few years.

If Lasry & Edens are able to recruit someone who literally hated the crap out of Milwaukee here and working for us, it bodes well for the future of the Bucks. In 3-5 years when we are ready to complete, when we have cap space, we'll have Giannis, Jabari, Kidd and Payton recruiting for us. That's something we've never had before. Build a great basketball program and you can sign good players. Simple as that.

Exactly. Significant people in the NBA world actually WANT to come and be a part of our franchise. Far more than had been the case under the Kohl tenure. This is a good thing.

Kareem would like to rejoin the franchise as well. Maybe we can get him to come work with Larry Sanders. Kareem has mellowed a ton since his time with the Bucks and perhaps can also teach Sanders that he can have strong opinions that others might view as somewhat controversial (drug legalization, race relations) without being an idiot about it.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

If the report is true, I'm more excited about the prospect of the Bucks committing to Giannis becoming a true PG than pissed that Payton would be coming into the fold to help make it happen.

Yes, that is far more exciting to me than Payton being brought in. I honestly would have been just as excited if the report just talked about Kidd deciding to spend a ton of extra time working with Giannis individually to help mold him into a PG.

[Flap Jackson]

Some people take the attitude of "he is 6'11", well gee golly he has to be a power forward." Others think beyond that PG, SG, SF, PF, C mentality.

I loved GP, one of my favorite players of all time for how he played the game. With that said, I really don't care about his coaching ability. The point of this story is that Kidd recognized what many of of Giannis torch carriers have been dreaming and he is now showing commitment to Giannis as a point guard.

Giannis plays within the team, the right way, doesn't make stupid passes (usually very crisp at that), and is potentially one of the greatest mismatches of all time. Many of us on this board have been dreaming of him handling the offense, not to score 30 ppg, but because of his unselfish team orientated play.

This is unbelievably good news, not because of Payton's potential coaching ability, but because Kidd has seen what we have seen (in addition to one of the best PGs in the last 20 years seeing it too). Thank god the Bucks ditched Drew for Kidd.

[Chapter29]

Gary Payton is a PG. This makes me think that Kidd may actually want Giannis playing PG. Clearly it may be just an effort to help our Point Forward develop better passing and defensive skills, but I really wonder. Is Kidd going to try and play or start Giannis at PG this year?

Our other starting options may be less appealing. Knight is not a PG and shouldn't even be an option IMO. Wolters who I like may not be ready and will never be a great PG. He may be a consistent steady relatively complete PG without many major deficiencies. Then you have Marshall who I think is the most likely to be our starting PG. He comes with some major deficiencies though, most notably his terrible defense. Giannis might be our best option at PG. Hmmmm.

This would allow us to put Parker at 3 and to have Ersan, Henson and Sanders as our FC rotation baring any trades. Does Kidd really love Ersan? If so he may be our starting PF.

I would be very intrigued by Giannis at PG, but somehow I just don't think it will work out. Point Forward is more likely our best option I would guess.

I could care less about what Payton said in the past. I will go on record that I thought that trade might have been the worst trade in Bucks history landing a guy who hated Milwaukee and was a shell of his former self. As far as him mentoring Giannis I think that great as long as he isn't still bashing Milwaukee and being a cancer in some areas. Otherwise we are talking a great PG and an even better defender. I'll take that.

[Matches Malone]

I dislike Payton in the way that many older Bucks fans I know disliked Alcindor. If Payton has grown up a bit and can truly help Giannis ON THE COURT, I'm willing to give it a shot. Of course I'll have in the back of my head that Giannis is going to turn into a diva and dump on Milwaukee with Payton showing him the ropes, but until I see evidence of that, I'll be cautiously optimistic. A 6'11 point forward sounds awesome.

[KidA24]

After listening to the genius that GP spouted on TNT... I want him nowhere near our young super awesome talent.

Million dollar arm, 5 cent head.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbzurp7ChFM[/youtube]

[BobbyLight]

I love everything about this as well.

Two of the takeaways I have that might be my favorite parts are...

We are no longer a mom and pop NBA franchise. Our owners don't really care about who the nicest people they can hire are, while appealing to fans who are incredibly insecure about their city (which I just can't understand). They care about being a well run NBA franchise. This is how we should be doing things (i.e. taking chances on HOF level talent).

Last off, maybe, just maybe, Payton is beyond his strip club days and will be perfectly happy to be here, with his friend Kidd. The idea that Payton is going to start every practice with "Alright, Giannis, before we get to basketball, we need to talk about something. Have you counted the number of strip clubs per capita in this city? The number is appalling. It really is. You need to position yourself to get in a city with better clubs and warmer weather. Alright, tomorrow, we'll go over the pros and cons of playing in LA, either the Clippers or Lakers would be great for you."

I somehow just don't see that as part of the conversation... ever.

[Zeezprah]

lol i can just imagine this "teaching". cliches will abound i'm sure.


oh save us from ourselves (milwaukee) gary! we are not worthy!