Hall of Famer Gary Payton played in the NBA during a time when the point guard position was different.
It was more about facilitating than scoring in the 1980s and `90s.
"A point guard (today) is not a legit point guard what we're talking about," Payton said on the Brownie and Rab Show. "(Steve) Nash is a legit point guard. Jason Kidd is a legit point guard. Myself is a legit point guard. Chris Paul is a legit point guard. John Stockton is a legit point guard. We have put shooting guards as point guards now."
That's why Payton considers Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton a breath of fresh air. Despite his 35 points in Wednesday's comeback win against the New York Knicks, he also had 11 assists. Payton feels Haliburton is among the dying breed of point guards who can hurt teams with scoring and assists. The last ones were Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo, falling out of favor to hybrids like Steph Curry and Damian Lillard.
"It's a little different in this era because we got a lot of people that can go 1-on-1 basketball and score," Payton said. "Now, you look at Haliburton, he is a legit point guard. He facilitates and he does things the right way and he gets to the bucket when he has to ... An assist is not the same when we had assists. Assists nowadays, you can dribble the ball three or four times. With us, if it was more than two dribbles, they wouldn't give us an assist."
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