If Michael Jordan was Pegasus, the winged stallion galloping across the sky, then John Stockton was the sturdy plow horse who relished putting on the yoke each morning for another trip through the fields.
If Jordan’s brilliance was impulsive and rule-breaking, then Stockton’s was as relentless and single-minded as the stone masons who constructed the great pyramids.
For nearly two decades they were the yin and the yang of the NBA, each one the counterweight to the other. While Jordan soared over the game, Stockton bored right through it like a diamond-tipped drill bit.
It is then quite fitting that the pair should be inducted into the Hall of Fame together, Class of 2009. But with so much attention focused on the highlight-reel career of Jordan, it is easy to overlook the down-to-earth exploits of Stockton.
The sheer numbers are mind-bending. Stockton is on top of the NBA career list for assists with 15,806, and that’s more than 5,000 ahead of the No. 2 man, Mark Jackson. He’s also the league’s all-time leader in steals with 3,265, and that is ahead of the runner-up – Jordan – by more than 700.
Stockton owns five of the top six assist seasons in NBA history, holds the record for most seasons and most consecutive games played for one team and he’s third behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish in total games played.
In 19 grueling NBA regular-season marathons, he missed only 22 of 1,526 games, 18 of those in a single year when doctors told him he needed knee surgery, but Stockton chose merely to sit out a few weeks and returned to finish out the schedule.
“He worked harder than you,” said Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. “That was his secret.
“He’s one of the most unique players you’ll ever run across. You can talk about all the things he tried to do. But first of all, you’ve got to look at his stature. He’s not a very big guy. And yet he played as strong and tough as anybody could.”
While Jordan changed even the style of the game, ushering in the era of the long and baggy shorts, Stockton’s sartorial simplicity showed off his legs at mid-thigh from his rookie year to his final season. As Jordan progressed from curly-haired youngster to shining bald marketing icon, the guy-next-door Stockton wore the same hairstyle from junior high.
In the hip-hop world of the 21st-century NBA, he was a throwback.
All the while and all the games and all the seasons, he and Karl Malone lived and thrived on the most basic play in the game, the pick-and-roll, and they did it again and again and again because it worked. Nothing fancy. No need to change.
While Jordan seemed to always challenge the rules of physics each time he stepped onto – and floated above – the court, Stockton was all about the geometry. He saw every angle for every pass and every play that constantly unfolded in his mind’s eye ahead of everyone else.
“I try to take what the defense gives me and never think ahead that I’m going to try to get this or that,” he said. “I just do what I have to do. I try to keep it simple.”
When somebody once asked him why he never dunked the basketball, even in an open-court, breakaway situation, Stockton merely looked back with those piercing eyes, shook his head and grinned. If you had to ask, you couldn’t understand.
“There absolutely, positively will never be another John Stockton,” said Malone.
Black and white. Short and tall. Poetry and prose. For all of their differences, what Stockton brought to the game was as singular as Jordan’s bag of tricks. The raw talent was never as important as the raw determination.
Sloan’s favorite memory of Stockton is in practice.
“He was beaten one time in 19 years running laterals, suicide drills, across the floor,” Sloan recalled. “That’s after he was 40-some years old. It wasn’t about him proving that he was still the best. He just wanted to do everything the best he could to try to help the team, try to win.”
If Michael Jordan was as spectacular and jaw-dropping as a Maui sunset, John Stockton was as relentless as the tides, no less a force of nature.
Showing posts with label JOHN STOCKTON. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JOHN STOCKTON. Show all posts
6.03.2009
JOHN STOCKTON
Step 1: Know what you can and cannot do.
Too many players try to make plays that are beyond their ability. John Stockton always knew what he could and could not do. He made the safe passes. He threw crisp chest passes, bounce passes and wrap around passes. He was not concerned about making high light reels; all he wanted to do was get his teammates in position to make an easy open shot. If you want to play like John Stockton, be unselfish and be a great passer.
Step2: Play for your teammates.
John Stockton could have averaged well over twenty points a game whenever he wanted. He was one of only a handful of point guards who consistently shot over fifty percent from the floor. He never averaged more than 17 points per game. He was dedicated to getting his teammates good shots. Everyone wanted to play with him as their point guard and if you can be a leader and run the show everyone will want to play with you.
Step3: Be tenacious.
One of the toughest players to get around when he set a pick was John Stockton. He was always setting screens on bigger players and drawing fouls because they would become agitated and finally just push him down. He was also tenacious on defense and worked very hard to get the ball back. He took pride in getting stops defensively.
Step4: Master the pick and roll.
The play that John Stockton was known for was running the pick and roll with Karl Malone. Every pick and roll that is run correctly puts the defense at a disadvantage. Once you know how to capitalize on that disadvantage you can play like John Stockton. You can dominate a defense and get your teammates easy shots.
Step5: Shoot accurately.
Stockton was a tremendous shooter. It was a great weapon that prevented defenses from sagging off of him. If you gave him even a little room, he could hit any shot from the three point line and in. In order to play like Stockton you need to be a big time shooter.
Too many players try to make plays that are beyond their ability. John Stockton always knew what he could and could not do. He made the safe passes. He threw crisp chest passes, bounce passes and wrap around passes. He was not concerned about making high light reels; all he wanted to do was get his teammates in position to make an easy open shot. If you want to play like John Stockton, be unselfish and be a great passer.
Step2: Play for your teammates.
John Stockton could have averaged well over twenty points a game whenever he wanted. He was one of only a handful of point guards who consistently shot over fifty percent from the floor. He never averaged more than 17 points per game. He was dedicated to getting his teammates good shots. Everyone wanted to play with him as their point guard and if you can be a leader and run the show everyone will want to play with you.
Step3: Be tenacious.
One of the toughest players to get around when he set a pick was John Stockton. He was always setting screens on bigger players and drawing fouls because they would become agitated and finally just push him down. He was also tenacious on defense and worked very hard to get the ball back. He took pride in getting stops defensively.
Step4: Master the pick and roll.
The play that John Stockton was known for was running the pick and roll with Karl Malone. Every pick and roll that is run correctly puts the defense at a disadvantage. Once you know how to capitalize on that disadvantage you can play like John Stockton. You can dominate a defense and get your teammates easy shots.
Step5: Shoot accurately.
Stockton was a tremendous shooter. It was a great weapon that prevented defenses from sagging off of him. If you gave him even a little room, he could hit any shot from the three point line and in. In order to play like Stockton you need to be a big time shooter.
8.18.2008
THE PICKERS
There is a myth that setting a great screen is only a post players job. Setting a great screen doesn’t take any freak athletic ability. So why aren’t more players better at it? The logical answer is because setting a great screen will never show up on SportsCenter or be talked about in the newspaper.
However, setting a great screen takes, basketball IQ, toughness, and unselfishness. To be a great picker you need to care about your teammates because if you set a great pick they are usually the one that will get an open shot while you will get nothing but a forearm or elbow to the chest from the defender. If your lucky your teammate who scored might point at you as they run down the court.
A fact that has long been known in the NBA: Pound for pound, the best picker in the league is a scrawny 6’1 175lb guard named John Stockton. He has three NBA records; assists, steals, and the best picks.
Ask NBA players and coaches which players set the most effective picks, and you will wind up with a laundry list of tough, physical, big men. Power forwards such as the Jazz's Karl Malone, the Knicks' Charles Oakley, the Pistons Dennis Rodman and the Grizzlies' Otis Thorpe were mentioned often. Those players are 6'8" or taller and 225 pounds or heavier. But somehow John Stockton (6'1", 175) was mentioned more often than any other player. "I wish my fours and fives would set picks as effectively as Stockton," says a Western Conference coach. “He won't flatten you like Malone or Oakley, but he won't ever set a lazy screen.”
OTHER UTAH JAZZ TIDBITS
On the court Stockton 's style is as simple as his wardrobe. "He's as steady as the ticktock of a clock," says Malone . "Other point guards come into the league, and they've got the flashy moves and the endorsements. Then they come play against John, and he teaches them that you can play this game without putting the ball between your legs 20 times before you do something with it. He just keeps making the plays, game after game, and year after year."
One of Stockton 's off-the-court interests is flying, which he indulged in last summer when he briefly took the controls of an F-16 jet under the supervision of a pilot with the elite Air Force Thunderbirds. In his description of the pilots, he came close to describing himself. "They're normal guys outside the plane, but inside they're pretty special," he said. "When you watch them, you realize it takes only the slightest touch to do some amazing things. It's like everything else, I guess. When you get guys who are the best in the world at what they do, they make it look easy."
Go to a Jazz practice, and you will find that every player has his shirt tucked in his shorts at all times. "That's the rule in games, so why not do it in practice?" Layden says.
Businesslike and unpretentious, Sloan demands an honest day's work from his players. Longtime followers of the Jazz knew better than to ask him if he would reduce Malone 's and Stockton 's playing time after Utah clinched the best record in the West. "Players get paid to play, not to rest," he says. "If someone's driven 200 miles to watch us play and paid a bunch of money for tickets, we're not giving him his money's worth if Karl and John are sitting on the bench."
Malone acknowledges that Utah 's run of success will be in danger within a few years. "I think after John ,Hornacek, and myself leave, they're going to have a hard time getting players to come here," he says. "I like to tease our owner by pointing to some of these young guys with shorts down to their ankles and 12 tattoos and telling him, 'You're going to be paying someone like that $100 million someday.' Larry just shakes his head and says, 'I'll sell the team first.' When we go, it's going to be the end of an era."
However, setting a great screen takes, basketball IQ, toughness, and unselfishness. To be a great picker you need to care about your teammates because if you set a great pick they are usually the one that will get an open shot while you will get nothing but a forearm or elbow to the chest from the defender. If your lucky your teammate who scored might point at you as they run down the court.
A fact that has long been known in the NBA: Pound for pound, the best picker in the league is a scrawny 6’1 175lb guard named John Stockton. He has three NBA records; assists, steals, and the best picks.
Ask NBA players and coaches which players set the most effective picks, and you will wind up with a laundry list of tough, physical, big men. Power forwards such as the Jazz's Karl Malone, the Knicks' Charles Oakley, the Pistons Dennis Rodman and the Grizzlies' Otis Thorpe were mentioned often. Those players are 6'8" or taller and 225 pounds or heavier. But somehow John Stockton (6'1", 175) was mentioned more often than any other player. "I wish my fours and fives would set picks as effectively as Stockton," says a Western Conference coach. “He won't flatten you like Malone or Oakley, but he won't ever set a lazy screen.”
OTHER UTAH JAZZ TIDBITS
On the court Stockton 's style is as simple as his wardrobe. "He's as steady as the ticktock of a clock," says Malone . "Other point guards come into the league, and they've got the flashy moves and the endorsements. Then they come play against John, and he teaches them that you can play this game without putting the ball between your legs 20 times before you do something with it. He just keeps making the plays, game after game, and year after year."
One of Stockton 's off-the-court interests is flying, which he indulged in last summer when he briefly took the controls of an F-16 jet under the supervision of a pilot with the elite Air Force Thunderbirds. In his description of the pilots, he came close to describing himself. "They're normal guys outside the plane, but inside they're pretty special," he said. "When you watch them, you realize it takes only the slightest touch to do some amazing things. It's like everything else, I guess. When you get guys who are the best in the world at what they do, they make it look easy."
Go to a Jazz practice, and you will find that every player has his shirt tucked in his shorts at all times. "That's the rule in games, so why not do it in practice?" Layden says.
Businesslike and unpretentious, Sloan demands an honest day's work from his players. Longtime followers of the Jazz knew better than to ask him if he would reduce Malone 's and Stockton 's playing time after Utah clinched the best record in the West. "Players get paid to play, not to rest," he says. "If someone's driven 200 miles to watch us play and paid a bunch of money for tickets, we're not giving him his money's worth if Karl and John are sitting on the bench."
Malone acknowledges that Utah 's run of success will be in danger within a few years. "I think after John ,Hornacek, and myself leave, they're going to have a hard time getting players to come here," he says. "I like to tease our owner by pointing to some of these young guys with shorts down to their ankles and 12 tattoos and telling him, 'You're going to be paying someone like that $100 million someday.' Larry just shakes his head and says, 'I'll sell the team first.' When we go, it's going to be the end of an era."
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