I think Payton will provide stability and probably fits well with these guys having played with Walker, and been on alot of deep and great Seattle teams.

Payton is a board certified *******. Shaq is the general of that ship so things will work out.

The rich just keep getting richer. I would love the young Knicks to run up on Miami and beat them down there in South Beach!!! So many questions with our team I just can't wait anymore.

Posted by djsunyc:

if shaq is healthy - they win the title.

I cant believe Miami is going to win a title before the Knicks after 1996! I hate the Heat.

I agree. IMO PAyton was the best PG for the about 10 years in this league. 20/8 and some of the best defense around. He was really awesome and the glue/motor to a lot of good Sonics teams (despite the loss to the 8th seed Nuggets)

All that being said he's toast. Now Phil didnt use him right at all in LA. If he wanted a Ron Harber/BJ ARmstrong PG then he should have went out and got on. But Payton showed he was running on empty in Bos

he's 37. also he's played a ton of minutes. he wasnt going to get much more than the vets minimum. his job is to get shaq the ball.

Posted by Silverfuel:

Posted by Caseloads:

he's 37. also he's played a ton of minutes. he wasnt going to get much more than the vets minimum. his job is to get shaq the ball.

He will be a good influence on Wade and JWill

sarcasm?

Wade is wayyy better than anything Payton brings to the game at this point in his career.
He is a hard worker and overall great player...
Basically what I am trying to say is he has NOTHING to learn from Payton.
Jwill is another story...
The man is erradic and hot tempered.
Perhaps he might have something he could pick up from Payton.
I dunno... I guess I just don't respect his game anymore.
His attitude was also piss poor these last few seasons.

Posted by Caseloads:

he's 37. also he's played a ton of minutes. he wasnt going to get much more than the vets minimum. his job is to get shaq the ball.

It's a financial and literal steal. he's in excellent shape and if you look at per minute ratios and his effeciency in FG%/ TO ratio all of his stats-- its not far off from his prime-----hes been a huge winner every where he has played--to get that for 1 mm you have to be kidding me--there are circumstances in knick history we would have easily given him 15 over 3 just to get him. It costs Miami 375,000 and the nBA picks up 675 of the rst--what can Miami get for their now team for that money? Frank Williams?

Posted by tkf:

payton may be done, but one thing about getting older in the NBA, on most nights you won't be able to score like you used to, but you can still defend for decent stretches. Payton can defend, and if you play him 17 mpg he can defend that spot well for 17mpg, and that for miami will be huge, if he can do that, and I think payton can still defend at least...

you lose the ability to defend first actually. defense takes more energy and speed than offense.

the guy averaged 11 pts 6 a 3 reb 1 steal shooting 47% in 33 minutes per game--look at his lifetime numbers and compute---while he may be slowing down a bit, he still plays at a high level. 47% shooting is among the highest in terms of PGs and he averaged MORE rebounds and the same numbers of assists per minute than Stephon Marbury. remember John Stockton played very well into his early 40s and Gary, who has never had a big injury and has a great basketball build, is only 37. Hes got 3-4 years left imho.