john stockton retrospective 1/6

[Music] the Utah Jazz Select John Stockton of Gonzaga University he did it John ston a new NBA assist King the crowd go crazy John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA finals John Stockton stealing time passing history on May 2nd 20 three John Stockton uttered the words I think I'm finished it's time for me to move on and just like that the 41-year-old passed on playing another season promptly ending an improbable 19-year career in the NBA all of them with the Utah Jazz John is the ultimate gyat and he's not doing it for the paycheck he's doing it for the love the game he is tenacious he he has a problem with losing I have heard him defined as the kind of guy who has to beet his 5-year-old kid in pingpong 15 zip every game anything he does he does well he one of those guys every team wants a guy like John Stockton you never know the guy was a superstar the way he carries himself and I like that he's very unimposing when you meet John Stockton he's like somebody's little brother he's never looked like a basketball player but the shorty shorts I know he used to hate this I used to call him John boy cuz he remind me of in that uh TV series uh uh of the Watton I remember my uh rookie year and uh actually seeing him at the NBA Allstar game and I had played against him already however when you see him he doesn't look like a basketball player so he was walking through the hotel and he had a suit on he looks like an insurance salesman and then the second time I see him later on he says hey Kenny how you doing and I look I thought it was a fan because of his size and his stature but on the court you know who he is you know what he does and he does it better than anyone who ever done it at the point guard position he's something special I I I think of him as as the point guard Perfection when you talk about point guard uh the classic point guard that's John Stockton John Stockton is a professional basketball player and when I say that I mean that he is the guy who you would want your son to play basketball like well he's the best point guard of all time I mean not only what he's been able to do at the peak of his career but how he's been able to play with such consistency and Longevity it's amazing I used to have a coach that always say make your teammate an Allstar all proo and that's what he tried to do every night Stockton retired as the NBA's all-time leader in steals and assists he led the league in assists an astounding nine straight Seasons seven of those years he totaled more than a thousand his 15th 8006 career Mark is nearly 6,000 more than Mark Jackson who's number two on that list the main thing about a point guard is he looks to Dish before he looks to swish well that's the hot and soul of his game because I associate that with the way to point guard position is played you know John comes over half court thinking how am I going to set something up for one of the other four guys rather than thinking what am I going to do for myself you can't teach what John Stockton can see on the court Under Pressure he not only can see everybody but he remembers where they are taking a visual picture of where the guys are on the floor not having to look at a guy to make a play he can anticipate when guys are going to be open and that's a that's a sign of a great passer that can know when a guy is going to be open know where he likes it and deliver it there he picks you apart those are right by through traffic three guys there the defense never sees the ball coming it's right to the guy for a layup I'm absolutely unbelievable marvelous when you watch players cut when Stockton has the ball they've always got their hands up and their eyes on the ball because you never know when he's going to let it go Stockton put he sees an opening and he's going to fire it at you and of course that's where the the old saying know your customer comes from uh because uh you know some guys needed uh room service passes as we called them uh you know like come over and hand the ball to you because uh you're not ready to catch it he's the all-time assist leader in steals and uh you know people don't really talk about the steals as much as the assists but you know he plays both sides of the court and that's what makes him a complete player for him to hold both records is an incredible achievement and uh those two records will probably be uh there for a long time his instincts as an offensive player he converted those to defense and he saw the passes before they were thrown he anticipated what he would do and so when the opponent did it Bingo he had the ball and off he went he's a good Defender because he gets over those screens and picks with a lot of a Gusto he doesn't allow guys to pick him off and then if he has a mismatch he doesn't allow a taller player to try to post him inside so he's working diligently and relentlessly to get inside to stop the play he doesn't go out there and and and play around with the game he's very serious about it he's a smart basketball player you know everybody say he's dirty but I I think that's wrong I think that's that's not a statement for him I think that they should doesn't understand he goes out and play basketball the way he knows how to play hard I tell people all the time this to me has been like the greatest era of basketball I got a chance to play against Magic Johnson Larry Bird Michael Jord and you put John Stockton right in that [Music] group John Houston Stockton was born March 26th 1962 in Spokane Washington where he grew up the third youngest of four children to Jack and Clementine Stockton Irish Suburban Catholic three words that's it right in this neighborhood my dad was born and raised in a house three blocks from the house he currently lives in and and uh we've all been around that little neighborhood our entire lives and it was not a wealthy wealthy neighborhood and so families worked hard and they worked together and I think John has that in him from his family and from his neighborhood John's father ran Jack and dance a popular Tavern that's a Stones throw away from the Stockton household when Jack wasn't pouring pints he was helping raise a tight-knit family things were handled at the appropriate time uh we we didn't he didn't sweat the small stuff mom's always been solid as a rock and and uh again when you have good parameters and uh Fair parents it it sure seemed easy growing up during John's adolescent years he was close to his sisters Stacy and Leanne but it was older brother Steve that John had the strongest bond as for my brother and I we competed con I competed constantly I I think that I'm four years younger than him and it was never very difficult for him to beat me at anything I spent most of my life just hoping to beat him once at something I didn't care what it was even if it if I could grow an inch taller than him or uh throw one strike past him anything and I would have been pleased if he and Steve mowed the lawn together they'd figure out a way to compete while they're moing along it would become a game to them they were that way shoveling the walks p in off and see who could clear how much snow the quickest the competition between the two grew more Fierce on the family driveway playing the game they loved the backboard was attached to aluminum patio roof so it was noisy I mean it bang bang bang constantly every night that was we have dinner and they go out and shoot hoops there were a lot of moments of bloody lips um uh pretty Reg battles that my parents seem to ignore the games in the driveway were u a lot of fun uh they were a lot of fun for me early if I tried too hard to to stop him then i' just get pushed into the fence or knocked down and he'd hold the ball above his head and I'd jump for it and he'd just kind of tease me when John Steve played there were no rules they they they were their own referees and everything was subject of debate let's put it that way the Only Rule was there were no rules and uh if you made a bucket going to the hoop you earned it and deserved it they were pretty nasty can't go left without getting air mailed into the uh the wood fence and we had the convent next door uh you know and there's been a couple times that the sisters over there had to shut the windows due to due to some profanity and I remember coming in crying a couple times and and uh my mom wouldn't even stop stop washing a dish she'd just say well if uh if he's too big don't play with him and uh then i' run out in the living room and see if Dad would do the same thing and uh he said don't go play with those big kids if they're too tough and few minutes later I was out there pestering him again trying to play John's ambitious nature didn't go unnoticed at St alowishus Elementary School where he excelled on the court and in the classroom we'd have these mental drills you know where you'd say add this number and subtract and multiply and divide and what's your answer you know just in their heads and he his hand would shoot up every time and he was always

Channel: jazzgyrl

Views: 275,393

Keywords: JOHN, STOCKTON

Id: 6pf80CvfVpc

Length: 9min 27sec (567 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 13 2009