Does Gary Payton II have the best hands in the NBA? | Enhanced podcast

the winner of the 2022 award for best hands also we should have like trophies don't you think this one this and this is fitting because i think this one should just be like a glove don't you think like so if it's gary payton the second though should there be like a glove like with a mitten side of it like we can have like a double thing here are you going mitten gary payton the second is the winner of this award and i always thought it was a missed opportunity i don't like calling him the mitten because his dad was the glove and the mitten makes it sound like to me yeah he's kind of he's like a reduced version of the glove he's soft mittens are fluffy and they don't have they don't have thing you know they don't have finger holes and so i this was before people started calling them the mitten i saw gary payton at the very beginning of the year and i went well if his if his dad is the glove that dude is the gauntlet and that's how i feel about gary payton the second oh i love that oh my god that should be the gauntlet gary payton henceforth is the gauntlet oh and i'm gonna draw i'm gonna drop a really hot take as well right now maybe someone will pluck this out and make a sound bite and pass it around because this is fun i think gary bait gary payton the second is more dangerous on the ball stopping the ball than his dad full stop i want to agree with you i might even agree with you but and i think this is a huge but gary payton across like six seasons in the 90s was averaging like 40 minutes a game that bumped up to like 43 minutes a game in the playoffs and he was like the highest load guy on a sonics team multiple years in a row which actually increased as the 90s went on and i think there are moments there are moments when he locks in like 90 feet away where i'm like this is the gary payton i hear about but i think it's it's one of those where the totality of it like the minute per minute basis that they're in gary payton the second is easily the better defensive player but i wonder i just wonder what would happen if we just plucked gary payton the first out and then had him play like 19 minutes a game be like just play defense that is all i want you to do play defense and dunk okay i buy that that's fair i think that's a good way to look at it i mean you i think you and i both think the reputation and and the defensive player of the year award 96 for payton is a little overstated am i remembering that correctly absolutely yeah on on the flip side his even even with carrying that offensive load and playing those heavy minutes he obviously had great hands and his just to use an indicator or a specific stat that we can kind of compare across generations his steal percentages were always at like three and a half percent which means he gets about 3.5 steals every 100 possessions and this is this is so fun cody um just just for comparison this season gary payton the second is at 3.8 percent so you know i think i think with your point you could make the case the other way but certainly in the way they deploy him in a specialized role especially when dudes are bringing the ball up the court in open space and it's so hard it's so much harder to guard today in space because they don't let defenders have any physical contact away from the basket whereas payton was a fairly handsy physical defender um for like a six three six four guard at the time and again so much of the catches there in isolation would be maybe like around the elbow the pinch post within 18 feet payton i'm just so impressed with if you dribble near him when you're bringing it up near half court crossing half court if you're not careful he's gonna pick your pocket and it is spectacular to watch see what's interesting is is 90s gary payton i almost see him as more like a drew-ish defender where he's physical he's really strong but when we're talking like physical abilities when we're talking athleticism his son blows him out of the water like gary payton the second the gauntlet's athleticism is off the charts if we were to have just like the most athletic players he's got to be right in that conversation like yeah he's unbelievable exploding like any direction just unbelievable to watch he looks like like uh if you did um what are they called cross training events or something you know where you have like speed power vertical leap you're gonna put them in a canoe and have them row for half an hour like get the superstars going from the seven you ever watch that cody ever see the superstars on abc no not happen if you're if you're too young to know what in the world i'm talking about check out i'm sure youtube has some old superstars events where basically they take the best athletes from different sports and then have them compete in other athletic endeavors that aren't that sport and they film it and they put it together and they give them points and it's stuff like team canoeing or tug of war or it it it was spectacular it was it was the 1980s my friend the 1970s what a time thanks for listening you can find the full episode of this thinking basketball podcast on apple podcast stitcher spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts