Gary Payton: 'I could never play basketball in this soft era'

[Panic!]

Gary Payton tweeted: "I could never play basketball in this soft era. All of my contract money would go toward fines. Lol"


It is not surprising to see former players call this era "soft"

Do you think this era really is soft?

 

[tyfreak]

I mean he played in a tough Era. It's pretty tough to predict how he'd turn out if he matured in this era.

But I agree, the NBA can be pretty soft. Especially when it comes to guard contact/stars.

 

[Mentch]

I don't disagree with Payton's sentiment about this era being softer than the previous eras. That being said, Payton is era biased towards his own playing era and is known for making foolish statements in order to get people's attention. Payton also said once that this era is "all run and gun and no defense". Does Payton not remember when he started playing in the late 80s and early 90s that teams were regularly scoring and giving up 110 ppg? If anything, that era of basketball was the run and gun era