- published: 02 Sep 2013
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Gary Dwayne Payton (born July 23, 1968) is a former American professional basketball point guard. He is best known for his 13-year tenure with the Seattle SuperSonics, and holds Seattle franchise records in points, assists, and steals. He has also played with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, the last with whom he won an NBA Championship.
The only point guard ever to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, Payton is widely considered one of the greatest of all time at that position. He was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team nine times, an NBA record he shares with Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant. Payton got his nickname "The Glove" when Payton's cousin called him during the 1993 Western Conference Finals series against Phoenix and told him, "you're holding Kevin Johnson like a baseball in a glove," and the nickname was born.
Considered the "NBA's reigning high scorer among point guards" in his prime, Payton is referred to as "probably as complete a guard as there ever was" by NBA Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich.
Kenneth (Kenny) "The Jet" Smith (born March 8, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association. He currently works as a TV basketball analyst, primarily for Inside the NBA on TNT.
Smith was born in Queens, New York, and attended Archbishop Molloy High School. He then played basketball at the University of North Carolina.
Smith was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the sixth pick of the 1987 NBA Draft. He played in the NBA from 1987 to 1997 as a member of the Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, and Denver Nuggets. In his professional career, Smith scored 9,397 points and recorded 4,073 assists. He won two NBA championships with the Rockets in 1994 and 1995. In the first game of the 1995 Finals against the Orlando Magic, Smith made seven three-pointers, including a game-tying shot which sent the game into overtime. The Rockets won the game 120–118.
Smith joined Turner Sports in 1998. He has teamed with Ernie Johnson, Jr. and Charles Barkley on Inside the NBA, a winner of the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show. Smith has been described as a "straight man" to Barkley, known for his offbeat antics. He occasionally appears on NBA TV as an analyst. He also served as an analyst during the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournaments.
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.