November 12, 2008 – Dr. Dime
In the NBA TV broadcast analysis of the Lakers/Dallas game tonight, Gary Payton made some pretty bold statements about Rajon Rondo and his place on the Championship Celtics last season. Payton essentially implied that Rondo didn’t deserve his championship ring, that he just was lucky to be on a great team. In the video below, Payton basically equates Rondo to a ‘towel waver’ in the mold of a Jon Salley or Will Purdue.
I have the utmost respect for Gary Payton’s career and his game, however I gotta side with Rondo on this one. Rondo was a very key piece to the Celtics success last year, and personally I believe without an athletic, selfless, and hard working young point guard to distribute the rock to the ‘Big Three’ last year it may not have been such a dream season for the C’s.
If anything I think Payton was just showing a bit of his jealousy towards how early Rondo was able to win a title in his career, after Payton played many many years in the league as a premier point guard before he was able to get his. And to top it off, Payton in the twilight years of his career had to follow around the championship contending teams like the Lakers and Heat by signing for peanuts to finally get his ring. I guess Gary Payton has some guilt lingering about being a bit of a ‘towel waver’ at times himself on the Heat in their championship run?
I’d say Payton’s statements backfired. He just got Rondo’d!
