Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 10:40 am  |  83 responses

For Old Time’s Sake: John Stockton

John Stockton is a legend. He holds the records for most career assists (15,806) AND steals (3,265) and he averaged a double double over his career (13.1 points, 10.5 assists). Drafted by the Utah Jazz with the 16th pick in the ’84 draft, Stockton spent his entire career in Utah before retiring in 2003. He and Karl Malone are one of the most dominant tandems in NBA history and they ran the pick and roll better than anyone ever has. Stockton was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, was a 10x All Star, and part of the original Dream Team that smoked the competition in the 1992 Olympics. Stockton only missed 22 games in his entire career and 18 of them were in one season. Like many greats of his generation (Ewing, Malone, Barkley, Miller, Wilkins etc…), Stockton never won a championship. The Jazz fell victim to the Bulls in both the ’97 and ’98 Finals. Stock may have not looked the part but damn was he good.

-Schneezy

For more old school videos, check out SLAMtv in the Media section.

Got and old school video you wants to see in FOTS? Send the link to slamteam@harris-pub.com.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , ,

Newer Comments →
  • Overtime

    YES! Stock was absolutely the ultimate point guard. What a guy, 22 games…over 19 seasons. Beyond incredible

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Top 5 point guard in NBA history. I don’t really think it’s questionable either. Oscar, Magic, Stockton annnd.. Thomas? Kidd? Cousy? Frazier? Nash? Paul/Williams? Munroe? I’m 100% certain I’ve forgotten great old school players.

  • letsmotor

    Cosign overtime. Another crazy stat: In the 89-90 and 90-91 seasons, he averaged over 14 APG.

  • The Philosopher

    Another great video.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    Jordan’s D ain’t look so good on these highlights

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    … Payton. There’s 1 I’d forgotten who deserves to be in the discussion.
    Ps I heart John Stockton lots and lots and lots.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Payton too. My comments arent showing up properly.

  • http://www.twitter.com/gerardhimself Gerard Himself

    yeah the 22 games is unbelievable. It was the same thing with Karl Malone. He only missed a lot of games in his season with the Lakers. Before that, he only missed a handfull with the Jazz because of injuries, and a couple because of suspensions. What I like about Stockton is that he was supposed to be one of the dirtiest players in the NBA too. You wouldn’t expect it, but he was feisty alright.

  • Overtime

    Malone+Stockton+Sloan = TOUGHNESS.
    @Hursty Its not questionable atal, I think there is a very very solid argument for top 3.
    Glad you remembered Payton too though :D

  • tavoris

    the epitome of a PURE point guard.

  • Exile

    The epitome of “old man strength” even when the dude wasn’t that old….

  • http://slamonline.com JL

    steve nash.. the poor man’s john stockton! really seems like he modeled his game after stockton.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Johnnn.. STOCKton…!!

  • Ali

    ONE OF THE BEST TO EVER PLAY PG IN THE ASSOCIATION! Looking back we gotta say MJ kept alot of HOFers from getting rings in his hay day with the Bulls!

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    You know, he has a pretty BIG gap in the all-time assists and steals category. I wonder if anyone will ever surpass it…

  • young_

    Great point guard but overrated too. No way he’s better than Isiah, Kidd and I think even Nash and Payton are arguable… People mistake high assist numbers with being a phenomenal passer. A lot of his numbers were from pretty standards passes to Karl Malone, who was dam near unstoppable facing the hoop.

  • http://Slamonline.com Negativekreep

    Point god.

  • unrel

    he was an awesome pg.. when i was younger, i didn’t really understand his game because it lacked flair and ‘street’.. but as i got older.. he is, hands down, top 3 pg for me..

  • BeEqual

    If anything, Stock is still severely UNDERRATED. Def better than Isaiah, Kidd, and without a doubt better than Nash & Payton. Payton?? Thats crazy talk. The only thing Payton did better was score. Which falls pretty low on the priority list when you’re talking point guard skills.

  • kh

    1:57 hesitation was iLL!!!
    In 4:26 of highlight footage he didn’t go between his legs or around his back once!

  • young_

    BeEqual– The only thing Payton did better was score? Have you seen either of them play defense?? Rebounding too.

  • http://www.phonetobuy.com LeoneL

    If Tim Duncan is the Big Fundamental, what does that make Stockton?

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    The missed games stat is impressive for him, just like it is for Gary Payton.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Whoa. Definitely better than Isiah? Nah, y’all on that idiot juice.
    I respect folks who believe he’s better than Isiah, it’s a legit opinion. But “definitely” is ridiculous.
    Isiah carried a team as a scorer early in his career, then converted to more of a point guard and managed to win two rings in the uber tough East despite never playing with anyone as good as Karl Malone. Now, overall talent on the Pistons might have been better than the Jazz, but Isiah also had to go through the Celtics and hold off the Bulls and Knicks to stay on top.
    Isiah was better in my opinion, but even if you believe he wasn’t, it was pretty freaking close.
    Oscar, Magic, Kareem, Isiah, Stockton, Frazier, Payton, Kidd, Tiny, are my top nine in that order.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    How about Afro Kobe for a future: FOTS

  • http://www.phonetobuy.com LeoneL

    Or how about something like this for a change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CWGn6Airlk

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    AllenP, kareem?

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    I think the reason why it’s tough to be a transcendant point guard in this league is that the position suffers the most from the “system” logic. Like how nash is the product of his system, and how stockton is benefited a lot from playing under malone and sloan. It’s sad that passing and playmaking and controlling the tempo falls a far second to scoring buckets and monstrous dunks. The two players who’ve definitely risen atop this flaw are magic and big O, but they’re just physical anomalies, and people would look past their playmaking skills and go directly to magics uncanny-passes-despite-his-size, and oscar’s unbelievable strength. That’s why jason kidd and chris paul got snubbed for an mvp, and a lot of people cried afoul when nash led a mediocre team to fifty wins, and won one. It’s a highlight/scorer’s league.

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    And yes, I agree that nash deserves an MVP. Two of them don’t really matter, at least in my argument, so that’s why I didn’t put that in.

  • Martey

    Stockon was nowhere near better than Isiah. While you’re putting Stockton in the best point guard debate, Isiah is mentionned in the greatest player debate. People may be a little nostalgic about Stockton, either that or some people who never saw him play are looking at stats. Would Malone get as many points without Stockton? Would Stockton get so many assists without Malone barreling to the hoop? I would like to know the ratio of Stockton’s assists to Malone/overall career assists. Isiah trumps Stockton, and so does Jason Kidd, a freakin triple double threat almost his entire career. you crazy?

  • Martey

    And he got to the dream team on politics. That was Isiah’s spot but he Bird and Jordan “allegedly” refused to play with him because his bad boys had alienated their rivals with “dirty play” during the previous seasons (ah the good ol days when players were actual rivals). When Thomas took a dig at John’s inclusion on the team, basically sayin he couldn’t hold his jock strap, Karl Malone got him with a vicious elbow to the face the next time Detroit was in Utah, leaving his face bloody.

  • Overtime

    lol. People are funny in these old times sakes post.
    Stockton. Overated.
    These two words do not belong in the same sentence, not at all.

  • Jonathan Faulkner

    It hasn’t been said by anyone yet so I will, John Stockton is the best point guard in the history of the NBA. It’s not just the assist and steal numbers, which are superlative, but his shooting percentages would shame nearly every point guard in the current game ( Nash the obvious exception ), he wasn’t just great he was consistently great, year after year. If you have a child who wants to be a point, there would be absolutely NO better example to learn from.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    I was just thinking about this yesterday: You can make a legitimate case that John Stockton is the best point guard in history. “He holds the records for most career assists (15,806) AND steals (3,265) and he averaged a double double over his career (13.1 points, 10.5 assists).” Not to mention, he also holds the record for total assists in a single season, AS WELL AS the highest apg average in NBA history. He shattered almost every individual assist record that exists…

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Sorry, highest apg average for a season* in NBA history.

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    People who keep bringing up stockton’s playing with malone as a negative to his career should just jump off a f*cking bridge. Seriously. Hey martey, you want to know the ratio between stockton’s assisto to malone/overall assists? It doesn’t exist. Do you know why? Because it’s so f*cking stupid, basketball statisticians would die of brain explosions when it was mentioned within earshot. How would you make that logic? That malone was such a godly player that stockton would just throw an errant pass up the second row and karl would swoop down upon it, slap it, and score? You accuse people of not watching him play and judge his merits from his stats. Looks like YOU didn’t see him play, but looked past this just because of your mancrush for isiah.

  • http://www.yamahyouth.com Germs

    Co-sign Overtime.
    Just watch this video of how ‘famous’ John was. It is shot in Barcelona, during the ’92 Olympics. One classic piece of video.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmacNvCj4A

  • tavoris

    Malone benefitted from Stockton as much as Stockton benefitted from Malone. Stockton isn’t better than Isiah, but he was a better PURE pg than Isiah.
    Isiah wasn’t left off the Dream Team because he was part of the Bad Boys. He was left off because he was a two-faced prick (perceived), and Magic & Mike didn’t want him around.

  • http://SLAMonline.com GotHandles?

    ANTOINE CARRRRRRRR

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    And the only time that isiah gets mentioned in the greatest player debate is when everybody agrees that he doesn’t belong in it.

  • young_

    Anyone who thinks Stockton is/might be the greatest PG of all-time is either: a) a die-hard Jazz fan; b) a kid who never watched guys like Stockton, Magic, or Isiah actually play; or c) someone who places way too much weight on statistics.

  • young_

    Nobody denies that Stockton was great and had a great career. But people who are unwilling to admit the huge role that Karl Malone played in allowing him to put up Hall of Fame numbers are either dishonest or uninformed. Without one of the strongest, best-running, best-finishing big men in NBA history at his side, Stockton wouldn’t be in this discussion.

  • Dillantradamus

    John Stockton, the last man to rock the short shorts in modern basketball. Way to keep the dream alive John.

  • The Philosopher

    Earvin Johnson is the greatest point guard in NBA History.
    Period.
    Arguably the greatest player, too. In my opinion, he is.
    @Krishan:
    Kareem is arguably The G.O.A.T.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    @young…So if Karl Malone buffed up Stockton’s stats then Kareem & Worthy didn’t do the same to Magic? Guys always contradict themselves when giving their argument for who is better.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Excuse me on Kareem. I was thinking about something else. I was wondering why my numbers weren’t coming up right. LOL.

  • young_

    @Kap– Very good point but it doesn’t prove any contradiction. Magic absolutely benefited from Kareem and Worthy but Magic was dominant by himself too. Like in the famous playoff game his rookie year when he started at center in place of an injured Kareem and went 42/15/7/3!!! Think about how amazing that is for a second– really think about it. Magic had better vision/passing skills than Stockton, was harder to guard, much more of a scoring threat, could rebound better and more versatile. None of this should be debatable to anyone who has watched them play.

  • young_

    Also, Magic played with Kareem on the downside of his career and Worthy (also overrated in my opinion) was not nearly as great as Karl Malone. So analogizing his playing with them to Stockton’s reliance on Malone is just misguided.

  • Martey

    YO Krishna, When you get off your knees and pull Stockton’s short shorts back up maybe we can have a conversation. This is what statisticians do, compile stats. Listen to any broadcast of any sporting events and odd statistics are tossed around all games long. The fact that they played nearly their entire careers together and one is top three all time in scoring and the other top in assists and they both became synonymous with pick and roll make that statistic intriguing. Notice I made the same comment about Malone? As far as Isiah not being mentionned in the best players ever, maybe he is a prick, or disliked, or a horrible gm, or whatever but skill is skill, and he LED a team to two chips and was one of the best players of the decade. Go watch some old games instead of getting your panties in a bunch. your John Stockton trading cards probably stick together..lmfao

  • tavoris

    Stockton’s durability cannot be overlooked. So what is some-lots of players put up superior numbers? He lasted longer than they did. That is as much a part of his greatness than anything. the man’s playing prime was pretty much all but his first and last season.

Newer Comments →
Advertisement