"Shaq at that time was not our go to guy" - Gary Payton reveals how he convinced Shaquille O'Neal to let Dwyane Wade be the alpha during Miami Heat's 2006 title run
Former NBA legend Gary Payton has played alongside a number of greats, including Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade at the Miami Heat. Payton recently had a sit-down with Vlad Lyubovny from “VladTV”, reflecting on his elaborate career in the league.
Payton has played for five franchises over 15 seasons in the league, known for his defensive prowess. He’s made the NBA All-Defensive team nine times in his career and was named Defensive Player of the Year in the 1995-96 season.
When Gary Payton was signed by the Miami Heat, he was 37-years-old and expected to contribute with his veteran experience, coming off the bench. In the interview, he recollected a time when he had come through to Shaquille O’Neal – about being a role player, saying:
“When van Gundy got fired. We're like 15 games, 14 games. Under 500 or something like that. Then all of a sudden, we were having problems with who was our go to guy and Shaq at that time was not our go to guy. I think this young kid Flash was our guy.”
Young Kid Flash is none other than Dwyane Wade, who was then in his third season in the league. Dwyane Wade displayed scoring ability right from his rookie season and grew every year. In his third season, he averaged 27.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.7 assists in 75 games, while being effective defensively as well.
On this day one year ago, we saw the real Shaq 😂
Shaquille O'Neal lost a bet to Dwyane Wade and had to let his hairline grow out.
https://t.co/3Oh6Xuy4Bs
Gary Payton recognized that he’s not the same player he used to be and decided to have a talk with Shaquille O’Neal – trying to explain why things should go through Wade, saying:
“I'm not the guy that I used to be. So, I might have to play defensive take the slack and make the shots when I have to. Shaq wasn't really going for that. I had to pull him to the side because that's like my brother.”
“And I told him Look, if we gonna win this championship, or even make a run for it, you got to be like me. We got to say forget it, our times over. We here, we won everything, made all this money. Good. Don't worry about this Let’s win a championship right now.”
The conversation between Gary Payton and Shaquille O’Neal turned out to be very useful, as Dwyane Wade had one of his best seasons. The Miami Heat (52-30) finished second in the East, securing home-court advantage for the playoffs. They beat the Chicago Bulls, New Jersey Nets and the first-seeded Detroit Pistons on their way to the 2006 NBA Finals. Payton went on to mention the outcome of the talk, saying:
“And he agreed with me. And we started running things through D Wade and look what happened he started averaging 35 and all of sudden we made a run and beat Dallas.”
Dwyane Wade was an elite player on both ends of the floor
The Dallas Mavericks in 2006 were a strong unit led by Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry. The Mavericks began the 2006 Finals by winning the first two games before Dwyane Wade unleashed his potential. In the following four games, Dwyane Wade averaged 39.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game – winning all of them.
Finals MVP at 24: 34.7 PPG/7.8 RPG/2.7 SPGDwyane Wade won his first of three rings in Miami on this day in 2006
⚡️ Finals MVP at 24: 34.7 PPG/7.8 RPG/2.7 SPG
⚡️ Heat's first-ever championship in franchise history
⚡️ Averaged 39.3 PPG after going down 0-2 vs. the Mavs https://t.co/yi33YWH4bX
The Miami Heat won their first championship in 2006, beating the Dallas Mavericks in six games. Dwyane Wade was named the Finals MVP, owing to his astounding performance on both ends of the floor. Looking back, Shaquille O’Neal must be really happy that he was able to recognize what was in the team’s best interest and that earned him his fourth NBA Championship.