Sonics’ Payton Can Play; Now He’s Talk Of The Nba

Gary Payton loves to talk.

“I’m quick,” the Seattle SuperSonics’ All-Star point guard said about the NBA’s new hand-checking rule. “I don’t have to hand check nobody.”

Payton loves to talk trash, too.

“The (new) taunting rule doesn’t make no difference. If I feel like I want to talk, I get a tech. It doesn’t make any difference to me. I’ll say whatever I have to say when I have to,” he said.< Payton, 26, has had his share of technical fouls during his 4 1/2 seasons with the Sonics. Those have been forgotten this season.

Today, Payton will play in his second straight All-Star game for the Western Conference in Phoenix. He richly deserves to be there.

One of the NBA’s premier yackers, he exchanges words with officials, opponents and teammates during games. Sometimes, he gets into trouble.

His biggest say has been in the Sonics’ season when a Seattle team that was derailed in the first round of the playoffs by Denver last spring has re-established itself as a championship contender.

In the first half of his fifth season, Payton has blossomed into one of the top point guards in the NBA.

Payton started the week of the AllStar game leading the Sonics in scoring (20.1 points per game), assists (7.3) and steals (2.53). He ranked second in the NBA in steals, 14th in assists and 20th in scoring. He’s led the Sonics in scoring 16 times this season and has scored 20 points or more in 23 games.

In a game in Cleveland Jan. 4, Payton had a 14-for-14 shooting night. Only Wilt Chamberlain, Bailey Howell and Billy McKinney had perfect shooting games with a minimum of 14 attempts.

Because of his quickness, he scores more layups than jump shots. Payton’s playoff blowup with teammate Ricky Pierce last spring caused the Sonics to ship Pierce to Golden State.

He’s had a love-hate relationship with coach George Karl. This season, Karl loves Payton.

“He doesn’t make mistakes,” Karl said. “The thing about Gary Payton that I don’t think a lot of people realize is the man doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t turn the ball over, he executes our offense, he’s one of our best pickers, he’s one of our best finishers, he’s one of our best guard rebounders. He does so many aspects of the game of basketball. He’s so solid.”

Admitting he’s biased, Karl ranks Payton ahead of Utah’s John Stockton and Orlando’s Anfernee Hardaway as the top point guard in the NBA. He sounds pretty sincere about it, though. “Gary’s a great defender who now is becoming a great offensive player,” Karl said. “In my opinion, he’s the best.”

Payton has improved offensively in scoring and assists and defensively in steals from last season, when he averaged 16 1/2 points, shot a career-best 50.4 percent, ranked 17th in the league in assists at six per game and was seventh in the NBA in steals with 2.29 a game.

He began the week shooting 50.9 percent from the floor and 74 percent from the free-throw line, where he shot only 59 percent last season.

The second player taken in the 1990 NBA draft from Oregon State, Payton has missed only one game in his career with the Sonics.

After the Sonics lost in a major playoff upset last season, Karl was publicly critical of Payton. He sat Payton down during the summer and told him to grow up, be more mature and be a team leader.

Payton listened.

“I thought I had to step up to help the team and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of it,” he said.