Another Hall of Fame point guard has expressed interest in coaching an NBA team: Gary Payton told Yahoo Sports that he's passionate about and available to join a coaching staff.

"I have had conversations in the past about coaching, but the timing wasn't right. I believe I now am ready to coach," said Payton in a phone interview on Thursday. "A lot of young NBA players are a voice away from reaching their true potential. I would like to join an NBA staff where I can help coach, mentor and guide players toward the hard work, focus and determination needed to become a reliable contributor to a team's success."

As a guy who played 17 years in the league and has worked as a commentator in TNT and NBATV for years, Payton has his own views of the game. "My rookie year was a rude awakening to the type of talent and competition on the NBA level. That summer and every year after I worked extremely hard to get better at all facets of my game. (Coaches) Tim Grgurich, George Karl, Eric Hughes were the extra voices that helped me become an All-Star, NBA champion and a member of the Hall of Fame."

The Seattle SuperSonics (today's Oklahoma City Thunder) selected 20-year-old Payton from Oregon State University with the second overall pick in the 1990 NBA Draft. It took him four years refining himself from a young hot head into an All-Star. In the 10 seasons between 1993 and 2003, Payton was nine-time All-Star (the All-Star Weekend was can celled in the compressed 1998-99 campaign), nine-time All-NBA Team, nine-time All-Defensive First Team and Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) in 1996. He is the only DPOY point guard in NBA history.

Payton's nickname "The Glove" became increasingly popular after he took Kevin Johnson apart in the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns. Johnson later praised him in the following way: "You think of guys with great hands, like Maurice Cheeks and Derek Harper. Gary is like that. But he's also a great individual defender and a great team defender. He has all three components covered. That's very rare."

Unlike many great defenders, Payton also had first-class offensive skills and was a top five orchestrator in the 1990s. He was a sharp slasher and a post-up master. Moreover, Payton and Shawn "Reign Man" Kemp made the most explosive alley-oop in league history before Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

The other signature of Payton's game was his trash talk. He had countless ways of "discussing" with every member of the opponent's family tree once he stepped onto the court and, more importantly, Payton never shut up. Here are some of the words we could write in a proper report:

"Get someone out here who can guard me!" Payton to the bench of Stanford Cardinal.

"Man, you won't even be in the league next year." Payton to Jamie Feick of the Charlotte Hornets.

"Paper." Payton to John Stockton of the Utah Jazz every time he made a shot in front of the NBA All-Time assist and steal leader in one game in 1996. By the way, Payton once said it's harder to defend Stockton than Michael Jordan.

"At least nobody will see me take the ball from you." Payton to Kenny Anderson of the New Jersey Nets.

"You gonna go home and cry." Payton to Jason Kidd in their old days in Oakland.

Let's hope his players have strong character when Payton becomes a coach.