It was 2000, and I was having problems getting over screens when?guarding the ball. When the All-Star Game came around, and Gary?Payton and I were warming up together, I pulled him aside.

“Gary,” I said, “I’m having trouble getting through screens. What do?I do?”?

He was a great competitor, but he took the time to walk me through?his approach. He told me I had to make myself thin and, I’ll never?forget this, move my puppies. He explained I had to slide, not run,?through the screen and to do so I had to make myself as small as I?could and move my feet as quickly as possible. Almost, he?explained, like a sheet of paper going through a door.

After the All-Star break, I worked on it constantly in practice. I just?kept plugging away. Not coincidentally, that was the first year I?made First Team All-Defensive.