13.1 PPG, 10.5 APG, 2.7 RPG, 52 FG%, 38 3FG%, 83 FT%
“Some play a position exquisitely, just as it was designed. That would be John Stockton at point guard.
A fast, gritty, durable player who saw the floor as well as anyone who ever played the game, he left the NBA after 19 seasons with the Utah Jazz, holding a mass of assists records, including the career mark (15,806).
As Stockton giveth, he taketh away: He led the league in steals twice and, with a career total of 3,265, he retired as the NBA’s all-time leader. He also played all 82 games in 17 of his 19 seasons and his career shooting percentage was .515, a remarkable statistic for a guard.
“There absolutely, positively, will never ever be another John Stockton – ever,” said Karl Malone, Stockton’s teammate for 18 seasons.
The Jazz never missed the playoffs during Stockton’s career and they reached the Western Conference Finals five times in a seven-year span. The enduring image of Stockton is him sinking a buzzer-beating three-pointer over Houston’s Charles Barkley in Game 6 of the 1997 Western Conference Finals, and then embracing Malone and Jeff Hornacek as they celebrated their first NBA Finals berth.
Utah went to consecutive NBA Finals, losing to the Chicago Bulls in six games in 1997 and 1998. After his final NBA game, a playoff loss in Sacramento on April 30, 2003, Stockton was asked to summarize his feelings about retiring without an NBA title.
“A lot of this about the journey,” he said. “I’m sure there are people that have won championships who haven’t had to work very hard at it. We worked very hard and haven’t done it, and yet I feel a lot of reward out of the effort that it took to compete.”" [Read]
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[Sources: NBA.com, YouTube, Basketball-Reference.com]
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:03 am
Nice! Stockton was fun to watch. A pure point guard in every sense.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Tsunami,
Stockton was a great passer. And he accumulated a lot of his steals doubling down on forwards and centers. He wasn’t a very good man-to-man defender though and I always felt that he didn’t look to shoot enough.
Stockton’s toughness and durability stand out the most to me.
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
STOCKTON!!!
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Stockton is one of those few players many people will either call underrated or overrated. For me, I see him both ways. Yes, he accumulated a ton of steals and played hard defense, but it’s not like Stockton was going to lock anybody down–he certainly wasn’t going to defend anybody bigger. I’d call him a great team defender and a solid one-on-one defender (against guys his size).
Also, people tend to forget that Stockton accumulated the bulk of his assists during a period in which the NBA game was uptempo and scoring was high. Thus, Stockton getting 14.5 assists per game in 1990 IS NOT like someone getting 14.5 assists today. In 1990, the league average for points scored in a game by a team was 107. In 2004, that number fell to 93. So, let us keep this in mind when we talk about his assists totals.
At the same token, I feel Stockton did far more for Karl Malone than visa versa. Stockton always looked to feed his big man, and often got him the ball in the right spot. Really, if Malone had a lesser point guard, I don’t think he would have had as great of a career.
I thought Stockton was one of the best shooters I ever saw. He definitely didn’t shoot enough. If he really wanted to, he could scored 20+ points per game, easily. But he was the textbook point guard.
Great player, but I’d still take Cousy, Magic (obviously), and Kidd over him.