Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Gary Payton says he nearly quit basketball as a rookie

It's hard to picture Gary Payton wanting to quit playing basketball early in his career, but it almost happened. Payton says that he was so down during his early years with the Seattle Supersonics that he contemplated giving up the game. 

Payton admitted that he struggled in his first two years under coach K.C. Jones, that if there wasn't a coaching change he might've quit playing. In his third year George Karl replaced K.C. Jones and Payton became one of the top guards in the NBA.

 “I was thinking about it,” Payton said in a phone conversation from his home in Las Vegas. “I was like, ‘What am I out here for? This isn’t even what I want to do. I’m not happy.’ I didn’t want to do anything….

“If we wouldn’t have changed coaches (from K.C. Jones to George Karl),” Payton said, “I would have probably said, ‘Yo, you know what? I want to end this. I don’t want to do this anymore because I’m not happy.’ If they would have stayed with the same coach, I would have probably just shut it down. They would have tried to trade me or I would have told them I don’t want to play there anymore.

“I went to my agent, I went to my father, I just said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m good enough to play in this league. I’ve got a coach who wants to play me in the first and the third quarter. He has no confidence in me.’ They told me the same thing. ‘You’ve got to stick it out. You’ve got to be the guy who you’re supposed to be. You’re tough. You’re this.’ My father was like, ‘Are you crazy? If you quit, I’m gonna get in your (body).’ Stuff like that.”

I remember Gary’s struggles. He was on the brink of being labeled a bust then Karl got hired and his career begin to take off. He clearly wasn't the player he was at Oregon State until he was able to play in a system that fit his talents.


 

"It Girl" of the week: Dana Lee

This week's "It Girl" of the week is Dana Lee.












Deion Sanders is unhappy about Johnny Manziel's suspension

Today Texas A&M quarterback received a half game suspension from the NCAA for the autograph for pay allegations that had been floating around for the past few months.

The NCAA released a statement saying "that there is no evidence that quarterback Johnny Manziel received money in exchange for autographs, based on currently available information and statements by Manziel.”

Nice job with the swift punitive judgement. I don't know how others feel but former NFL All-Pro Deion Sanders isn't happy at all with the NCAA's decision.

If you can recall Sanders had dinner with receiver Dez Bryant when Bryant was at Oklahoma State. Bryant lied about it and was suspended for an entire season. So naturally Sanders voiced his displeasure with the NCAA.

  1. DeionSanders ‏@DeionSanders2h
    Can we investigate the investigators? got suspended a season 4 lying about a dinner that wasnt a violation & Manziel gets a half.


Maybe someone should ask A.J Green how he feels about the non suspension that Manziel received. I bet the Miami Hurricanes wished the NCAA would act as swiftly as they did for Texas A&M and Manziel.

The punishment is toothless and the NCAA rulebook is outdated. Sanders might want to be careful before the NCAA drops the hammer on his son and his SMU teammates.