He was a smart player who understood the game, but his numbers and perceived ability were mad inflated because he got to set up Karl Malone for 15 years and he ran in a system that looked different than what everyone else was running.
When the playoffs hit, the fact that Stockton couldn't take over the game offensively was exposed. And once other teams figured out the pick-and-roll over the course of a 7-game series, the Jazz were usually toast.
Stockton didn't win a single 7-game series until he turned 29...and that was against the Sonics, whose leading scorer was Ricky Pierce. He only did it one more time before he was 33....and that was the 1994 Nuggets whose leading scorer was LaPhonso Ellis. That's it. He was at an age that most players retire and he still hadn't beat one decent team in the playoffs, and that's with Karl Malone and another 20ppg scorer next to him the whole time?
This wasn't a CP3 situation where he was surrounded by mediocre talent or got hit by injury issues. He always had a healthy HOF sidekick (Karl Malone), the greatest PF of his era, and a great 2nd scorer (Jeff Malone then Jeff Hornacek) and a HOF coach (Jerry Sloan) and he even got nearly a decade of one of the top rim-protectors in the NBA too (Mark Eaton). And a lot of his career was in an era where the talent just wasn't as strong as it was today. So why are the Jazz, with two potential GOATs at their position and solid talent four deep, getting swept by the Warriors in the first round?
In 1996-1998 the Jazz finally won some games, but that was with Malone leading the way and Hornacek playing well. Stockton was the #3 scorer in an era where most teams only had 1 star. And he still never closed the deal even though Malone was balling out on both ends.
In a 19-year career, you know how many times Stockton averaged over 20ppg in a playoff series? Twice. Once in 1989 when the Warriors put Winston Garland on him and still swept the Jazz in three games. And once in 1997 when the Rockets defended him with Matt Maloney, who didn't even belong in the NBA. That's it. Twice in 19 years.
Also, the little guy was the dirtiest guard in the NBA, maybe ever. If he didn't play in Utah and didn't project a certain "image", he wouldn't have gotten away with half the stuff he did.
I can't take a player who couldn't take over scoring, who wouldn't be able to defend today's point guards, who had to play dirty to keep an edge, and who almost never won games despite being surrounded by talent, and call him a GOAT at his position. I see people naming Stockton as a top-3 all-time at his position. Sorry, but there's at least ten guys I'm taking in their prime before I'd take him.
