Why is STOCKTON so underrated?

[LeGoat4Life]

Cause most people on the forums are too young to have watched him play

Perfect examples are the Lebron fanboys who are mainly 18-30 years old working at a burger joint

[Lebron23]

He was underrated obviously because of his longevity. The version of him we all remember he was past his prime, not the guy going for 17pts 15 assists and 3 steals on insane percentages at his peak.

He was also unselfish to a fault, not shooting the ball enough despite having the skillset to score in volume. Barkley in interviews have said that Stockton could have scored 25ppg if he wanted to which was nomal opinion among his peers its just that he decided to play a different way

i don’t think so. He never had the Alpha male mentality to average over 20 ppg even in his younger years unlike Isiah Thomas who was a deadly scorer in the playoffs. And still averaged double digits in Assists.

[Lebron23]

Cause most people on the forums are too young to have watched him play

Perfect examples are the Lebron fanboys who are mainly 18-30 years old working at a burger joint

Because he is an inferior player compared to LeBron.

[Reggie43]

i don’t think so. He never had the Alpha male mentality to average over 20 ppg even in his younger years unlike Isiah Thomas who was a deadly scorer in the playoffs. And still averaged double digits in Assists.

On his best years he was at 17ppg on 12 shots on insane efficiency with 14 assists and 3 spg, would two more field goals make him an Alpha lol

[John8204]

He's not underrated at all. Our resident rankings expert John*random numbers* has him ranked #16 all-time.

That's right I do....I consider the man to be the best pure point guard in NBA history. A man who is behind Jordan and Lebron in VOR. But what makes Stockton special is the man was a consistent machine...he played 82 games a season 11 times during his career averaged a double double for 10 seasons, only man to break the 14 APG line and when it counted 8-1 record against Shaq in the playoffs.

numbers aren't random BTW

[SATAN]

The Glove feared Stockton more than he feared MJ (didn't even fear MJ at all actually lol!)

[GimmeThat]

I wouldn't say that a guy that gives you 20% gratuity is underrated

[ILLsmak]

I'm not so sure Stockton could defend & shoot like CP3, but they are on similar levels in those departments.

His prime/peak was a step below other all-time great PGs like Magic, Nash, CP3, & the Big O, but his longevity more than made up for it.

I always see him listed as a top 25-30 player ever.

I don't think he gets underrated.

Stockton would devour CP3, eat a ball punch, and still win with that same expressionless face.

I disagree with his prime being worse than, honestly, any of those dudes. He was that good. Magic and the Big O are universal top 15 players and legends, so maybe they did shine more, but the other dudes ehhh. Still, people don't understand the role of a PG. The further you delve into the actual job of a PG, the more you realize that Stock was as good as it gets. I'd have him push PG on my all time team.

The reason he had longevity is because he didn't really get injured and he was a good PG. Haha. All great PGs have longevity, if you think about it. They are small, generally healthy... even CP3, getting injured ever year, is still a factor and he ain't young. Even if they inflated his assist totals, they are so far beyond the competition, he still had more. Also, he was way more money at shooting and driving than people think. He would be the one who came up with a big basket a lot of the time.

He's underrated in that few will name him as GOAT PG, but he is. He might not be the GOAT player you can slot at PG and have impact, but in terms of pushing a team in the modern era, I don't think anyone else comes close.

Edit: vid of Stock pushing it HARD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnGmWQG_EIc

-Smak

[ImKobe]

he is overrated

Never won an NBA Championship

Not a top 25 player of all time

Only averaged 9 ppg in the 1998 NBA Finals.

John Stockton averaged 12.3 points, 8.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 12 games in the NBA Finals in his career.

he got the all time record in assists and steals because of longevity and durability.

Stockton is so far ahead of #2 in assists & steals that he could have retired in '99 (4 seasons or 328 games before he actually did) and still been #1 in both.

[ILLsmak]

As a peak playoff performer, I feel like Stockton is overrated. He was a poor shooter compared to the guys of today and made his living off feeding Karl Malone who was a true stud MVP talent. His longevity and long term intangibles are great, but if it comes down to a winning a playoff series I'd take a guy like kyrie or dame over him because they actually have the potential to go off in a way Stockton cant.

Karl was one of the only actual talents John played with. Since he wasn't a scorer, he didn't have the same lanes as other people. He got bums buckets, not just passing it to people who are wide open, but giving them the ball to execute their bummy go to moves and it worked mostly.

Karl is overrated because he came up empty a lot. It's possible w/ just a little more from Karl, Jazz could have won a ring.

Kyrie and Dame can get you 50, but they aren't better players or PGs. Stock's career high is like 30, true, but again, he's a PG!!


-Smak

[Phoenix]

That's right I do....I consider the man to be the best pure point guard in NBA history. A man who is behind Jordan and Lebron in VOR. But what makes Stockton special is the man was a consistent machine...he played 82 games a season 11 times during his career averaged a double double for 10 seasons, only man to break the 14 APG line and when it counted 8-1 record against Shaq in the playoffs.

numbers aren't random BTW

Good for you.

[r0drig0lac]

Stockton is so far ahead of #2 in assists & steals that he could have retired in '99 (4 seasons or 328 games before he actually did) and still been #1 in both.

unreal

[90sgoat]

To put it so zoomers can understand:

Stockton is the Jokic of point guards.

[Lebron23]

unreal

zero rings

zero nba titles