MANILA, Philippines - Gary Payton, who played with Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade on the Miami team that won the 2006 NBA title, said the other day the pressure is on the Heat’s Big Three – not Fil-Am coach Erik Spoelstra – to prove they can deliver a championship to the franchise. “The pressure is on Dwyane, LeBron (James) and Chris (Bosh) to show it was worth all the trouble of getting them together,” he said. “I’ve played with Dwyane and it’s no knock on him but if you compare him with Kobe (Bryant), there’s a big difference in their work ethic. I played with Kobe, too, and he’d be more from my era. Kobe knows how to be humble. If Kobe loses a game, you’ll see him the next day in the gym, working extra hard to make sure he’ll be better. I don’t know if it’s the same with Dwyane. They’re both great players but Dwyane is more the show type. There are high expectations for the Heat. It’s up to the Big Three to show they deserve to be up there with the best.” if i was a reporter, i'll ask gary payton this follow-up question: "who did you win a ring with, kobe or wade?" the hate on the heat is too strong. for a guy to come back from an injury and regain his dominant self is "all show." i can sense a ton of jealous by people whenever the discussion is about the heat. they are easily going to be the most hated team in sports and they haven't even done jack.
I actually agree with GP. You can not even compare Kobe's work ethic to Dwade's. And I don't even like Kobe..
how do you know wade's work ethic? you can't be as dominant as wade and not have an elite work ethic? this was a guy who no one thought could be a superstar and now he's a top 3-4 player in the L.
Kobe's work ethic is well documented around the league. Everyone knows that there is no one as hard working and passionate about winning than Kobe. This is probably the first time I have ever even defended Kobe, but even I know that Kobe is the hardest working player in the league.
even i have to say kobe works hard like a mofo, and it's well documented like you said. but not everybody has their work ethic documented. seeing how wade plays and how he bounced back from his injury should tell us he has a ridiculous work ethic also. sometimes not everybody documents whatever they do. hell, we don't know much about tim duncan. are you going to say he doesn't work hard.
You don't want to take Payton's word for it that Wade didn't exhibit the same work ethic that Kobe did?
why bring TD into the discussion? GP's comment was about Dwade. Also Wade's overrated IMHO. He's good, but most people assume he's the same age as LBJ or DH but he's closer to Kobe. He'll never reach Kobe's level.
I think gp might have a skewed perspective of each player's work ethic. GP was around during wade's early years when he relied primarily on talent and around kobe right when he was about to peak. tmac1 has a point that wade had to come back from a serious injury and clearly put in tons of work to be the best player on the olympic squad and a top 3 player in the league. I think its unfair to use GP as a reference to compare their work ethic now because more than likely wade has matured and puts in tons of time to keep himself injury free and elite. I think it's fair to say kobe has one of the best work ethics in the league since it is documented but it is not fair to discredit other players due to the fact they did not get each of their workout publicized.
so gary payton couldnt win a ring with Shaq-kobe-malone, but he did win a ring with Shaq-wade. So why is payton blasting wade saying, he is only for the show?
Well to CHeat bandwagon fans, any little criticism whether it be constructive or not to their little Big Three, and they will overreact to it.
well even in terms of age when Kobe was young and just relying on athleticism, jerry west, bryan shaw still talked about this kid who was just obsessed with getting better, every practice he took like a game, they had to tell him to take it easy and how he'd just work out, play ball, go back to the hotel when everyone when out and play video games and go back at it
Malone got injured so that can't be a reason. Also Shaq was the one causing all the chemistry issues behind the scenes. For all we know he mentally checked out halfway through the season. He couldn't wait to get out of LA.
payton says a lot of what wade does is "for show." so no, i don't take his word for it. the guy who is all "show" helped payton win a ring. guys who are all "show" usually don't succeed.
Hell yeah they do! For all we know, this little get together with the Three Stooges was well in place 2 years ago. Hell I wouldn't be suprised if Mike Miller was involved with all of this.
I like Payton because he tells the truth and doesn't sugercoat anything. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p4x69WvuVzY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p4x69WvuVzY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
he won a ring with a shaq a little bit past his prime. his performance in the finals was THE MOST dominant performance by a guard since michael jordan. he's not overrated. he's rated where he should be: the 2nd or 3rd best player in the L. you gotta understand. all this HATE coming out NOW (why not past years?) has to stem from lebron and wade coming together. yes, this is hate. a lot of people are mad that arguably the top 2 players in the game are coming to play together.
