Gary Payton Jordan stopper!

[Jcool0]

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[bledredwine]

I just read in an article that I can’t unfortunately find right now that once Gary was placed to defend Michael in games 4-6 while down 3-0, he dramaticallly held down Michael statistically where he shot below 40% fg, around 20% from 3, etc.
Although Jordan laughed at Gary’s comments the stats proved that Gary had a point.

January 10, 1996 Jordan destroyed Payton, putting up 35 14 and 5, guarding Payton who only scored 8.

Gary got the best of Mike for 2 games, and he did a brilliant job... no denying it. The other game of the three, Jordan hit 50% of his shots. The Sonics defense was one of the greatest, period and it was a defensive, lower scoring series.

So 2 games is hardly a big enough sample size to call Payton a Jordan stopper. As a matter of fact, if Jordan knew this would be said, Payton would likely not be a "Jordan stopper" again like he was for 2 games. Jordan's shot also wasn't falling after having blasted for 3 games in a row. As far as I know, Payton was never considered a Jordan stopper in any other game. If he was, it would have been all over the media.

He's guarded Jordan many times (especially earlier on) and was never considered a stopper.

That said, respect to Payton. He was an amazing defender and the only one quick enough to annoy Jordan. He defended the ball low, with wide quick legs, which definitely made Jordan work harder.

[logical_art]

In 12 appearances in the regular season as a Bull, Jordan averaged 32 ppg on 49% shooting vs GP.

Hardly a stopper.

If you asked Jordan, he'd say that the playoffs are a completely different competition. It is where Jordan shined the brightest and took the most pride. Since I believe that Jordan's playoff performances are what makes him the GOAT, I can't use Payton's regular season performances against Jordan as a way to diminish the great performances Payton had against Jordan in the finals.

But it does diminish the claim that he's the Jordan stopper, no?

[dice]

I'm actually surprised he's in the HOF. I would have guessed NO if you asked me.

it did take him @ 6 years after he hung it up to make it, but he's in.
He has on DPOY award. That's all the hardware in his case.

He's got a hanger on ring in MIA.

Last PG to win the DPOY is his claim to fame.....

his claim to fame (beyond his appropriate and clever nickname) is being the best all-around player and leader of a 64 win team that lost to the greatest team of all time in the finals. borderline top 5 player at his peak

gary payton led seattle to 46 wins at age 33. despite losing a lot of close games. supporting cast:

brent barry
rashard lewis
desmond mason
vin baker
vlad radmanovic
predrag drobnjak

[ATRAIN53]

I guess I've never thought list of top NBA PG in history and ever thought Payton belonged on the list.

I am surprised he is in the HOF, I would have said great player, fringe HOF guy.
I've never heard anyone argue for the guy as an all time great-

But funny to google 'Top PG NBA History' now to see how wrong I am on it-
I see him ranked on some ahead of Iverson on some of these

Payton or Jason Kidd?
Payton or DRose?

Paytron or Rondo?

I'm taking Rondo there.
Peak Playoff Rondo was spectacular.

[troza]

I guess I've never thought list of top NBA PG in history and ever thought Payton belonged on the list.

I am surprised he is in the HOF, I would have said great player, fringe HOF guy.
I've never heard anyone argue for the guy as an all time great-

But funny to google 'Top PG NBA History' now to see how wrong I am on it-
I see him ranked on some ahead of Iverson on some of these

Payton or Jason Kidd?
Payton or DRose?

Paytron or Rondo?

I'm taking Rondo there.
Peak Playoff Rondo was spectacular.

Even if peak playoff Rondo was spectacular and Rose was MVP, on the long run Payton had 9 or 10 great seasons while those two together don't have those seasons at a very good level. If we think about the career he had a better career than those two (if Rose gets a ring we can argue as he was actualy the MVP one year)

And we could argue that Iverson was a great shooting guard... point guard? Meh... although today he would be the point guard.

That's just my opinion.

[Leslie Forman]

I guess I've never thought list of top NBA PG in history and ever thought Payton belonged on the list.

I am surprised he is in the HOF, I would have said great player, fringe HOF guy.
I've never heard anyone argue for the guy as an all time great-

But funny to google 'Top PG NBA History' now to see how wrong I am on it-
I see him ranked on some ahead of Iverson on some of these

Payton or Jason Kidd?
Payton or DRose?

Paytron or Rondo?

I'm taking Rondo there.
Peak Playoff Rondo was spectacular.

He is easily an ATG point guard. He made two All-NBA first teams, five second teams, two third teams, and was top-10 in MVP voting eight times. He was an incredible player.

He is by far better than Rondo and I'd take him ahead of Kidd or Iverson too.

[dice]

I guess I've never thought list of top NBA PG in history and ever thought Payton belonged on the list.

I am surprised he is in the HOF, I would have said great player, fringe HOF guy.
I've never heard anyone argue for the guy as an all time great-

But funny to google 'Top PG NBA History' now to see how wrong I am on it-
I see him ranked on some ahead of Iverson on some of these

Payton or Jason Kidd?
Payton or DRose?

Paytron or Rondo?

I'm taking Rondo there.
Peak Playoff Rondo was spectacular.

He is easily an ATG point guard. He made two All-NBA first teams, five second teams, two third teams, and was top-10 in MVP voting eight times. He was an incredible player.

He is by far better than Rondo and I'd take him ahead of Kidd or Iverson too.

iverson's last good season was at age 32, so if longevity is factored in he's easily behind guys like kidd and payton. and may have been anyway. what was AI as a player, really? an undersized, low efficiency ball dominant combo guard. gambled for a lot of steals but otherwise couldn't really hold his own on that end. entertaining, for sure, but not an upper echelon player

i'll take kidd over payton by a hair, though

and "playoff rondo" is simply not a thing, folks. as far as i can tell, it started when he had a rare huge scoring night against the heat in the 2012 ECF, going for 44/8/10 in a loss. and led the team in scoring for the series in a 7 game loss. his line in that series (per 36):

17/5/9 53% ts

but here are his career reg. season and playoff lines per 36:

12/5/9 50.0% regular
13/6/9 48.5% playoffs