I have always wondered how John Stockton dished out 15,000 assists and did not bother to check stats until today.
I have watched him play in his latter seasons and he always showed his class. It looks like, statistically and not just by presence, he was, even at the age of 40, was amongst the elite point guards of the game.
That said, the outrageous total assists mark he set remained a mystery for me.
So, I tried to draw a comparison to Rondo, who I believe to be the highest volume passer as of today in NBA and see how all those numbers stood out.
Rondo's ridiculous stretch beginning from March has an average of 13.25 assists, now lasting a month and a half. It's really tough to sustain that kind of an average even for a talent like Rondo.
Stockton himself had 5 consecutive SEASONS with better assist averages. Can't believe it. Such unreal consistency cannot be sustained for that kind of long periods. And if it can be, how?
I came to the conclusion that people who devalue him because he had Malone must be wrong. I think, from a different point of view, it was Stockton who made Malone one of the greatest scorers in the history.
Yes, he wouldn't have set that 15,000 mark without Malone, but would Malone score 36,000 points had he not have Stockton as his point guard?
What's your idea on this? And how do you think Rondo's veteran years will turn out to be? Could you see a model of consistency like Stockton, Kidd and Nash showed throughout years or will his game deteriorate much quicker?