John Stockton

69
John Stockton bigraphy, stories - Basketball player

John Stockton : biography

March 26, 1962 –

John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is an American retired professional basketball player who spent his entire career as a point guard for the Utah Jazz of the NBA from 1984 to 2003. John Stockton is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time, holding the NBA records for most career assists and steals by considerable margins. A ten-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

Player profile

Stockton, a 10-time NBA All-Star, commandingly holds the NBA record for career assists with 15,806 (10.5 per game). Stockton also holds the record for assists-per-game average over one season (14.5 in 1990) and is one of three players who have logged more than 1,000 assists in one season, joining Kevin Porter (1,099 in 1979) and Isiah Thomas (1,123 in 1985) in the exclusive list. Stockton did this seven times, with season totals of 1,164, 1,134, 1,128, 1,126, 1,118, 1,031 and 1,011 assists.http://www.databasebasketball.com/leaders/leadersseason.htm?stat=asts&lg=n

He and Karl Malone are regarded by many as the quintessential pick and roll duo. Apart from his passing skill, Stockton was also a capable scorer (13.1 points per game career average and a 51.5 career shooting percentage) with a reliable three-point shot (38.4% lifetime average). He is 30th on the all-time NBA scoring list with 19,711 career points.http://www.databasebasketball.com/leaders/leaderscareer.htm?stat=pts&lg=n Despite the fact that he had never pulled down more than 9 rebounds (or recorded more than 9 steals) during a regular season game, he finally recorded a career triple double, at age 39, in a playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks on April 28, 2001. He scored 12 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and had 10 assists. (Season: 2000-2001)

On defense, Stockton holds the NBA record for career steals with 3,265. In second place is Jason Kidd.http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/stl_career.html

Stockton was known for his unassuming, no-nonsense approach to the game, hard-nosed defense, and fanatical work-ethic in preparation, which resulted in his extreme durability. He played 1,504 of 1,526 possible games in his 19-season career. In his first 13 seasons, he missed only four games (all in the 1989–90 season) until he missed the first 18 games of the 1997–98 season due to an injured MCL in his left knee sustained in the preseason. That was the only major injury in his career, and he never missed another game after returning from that injury. Stockton’s tenacity also earned him a reputation among some in the league as being a dirty player, as evidenced by a poll Sports Illustrated conducted in 1997 where he was voted as the second dirtiest player in the league behind Dennis Rodman.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1009878/index.htm

Stockton’s career is especially notable for its consistency. He maintained an extremely high level of play to the very end. For instance, as late as the 2000-01 NBA season, when he was 38, he led the league in the "advanced stats" of true shooting percentage (a measure of points per shot attempt that factors in three pointers and foul throws), offensive rating (which estimates total points contributed per 100 possessions), and assist percentage (which measures the percentage of teammates’ field goals a player assists while on the floor). Stockton led the league in assist percentage 15 times, including his last season (2002-03) at age 40. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/stockjo01.html

Stockton avoided most endorsements, and he stayed loyal to Utah despite being offered significantly more money by other teams. In 1996, he agreed to a deal that made salary-cap space available so the team could improve, but in exchange, he insisted on guaranteed Delta Center ice time for his son’s hockey team.

On May 11, 2006, ESPN.com named Stockton the 4th best point guard of all time.

In 1,504 NBA games (the all-time record for a player who played for only one team and games with a single team), of which Stockton started 1,300 (third all-time since starts became an official statistic beginning with the 1981–82 season), Stockton averaged a double-double in points and assists along with 2.2 steals and 31:45 of floor time per game, and he holds other scoring accuracy records as noted above.