John Stockton is not only one of the best point guards the NBA has ever seen. He was really great at his job but it was something about him that made him the legend he is at this moment. His toughness was unmatched and even though it didn’t look like it, this man was one of the fiercest and toughest competitors in the association.
If you don’t believe it, ask Chris Webber, one of the toughest big men of his generation, who went against Stockton plenty of times, watching first hand how tough he was. Back in 2016, he sat down with Dan Patrick, where he revealed a couple of anecdotes about Stockton and his character. He didn’t look like it but Webber liked to call him “the baddest man in the world”.
“We would play him in the playoffs, I’d make rookies wait on the bus and say, watch the baddest man in the world pull-up,” Webber said on the Dan Patrick Show. “They like, ‘what do you mean?’ They think I’m going to talk about his cars and all this and John Stockton would come to the game, literally in a minivan, pop the kids out and come in there and bust us up.”
Webber also remembered one time he tried to bully the Utah Jazz legend and he backfired in the most incredible way. Chris and the Kings tried to let Stockton know who was in charge but that didn’t happen.
“We were playing against Utah against the great Karl Malone and John Stockton and I sensed that our team was in awe of them,” Webber said on the Dan Patrick Show. “We were younger so I told coach Adelman before the game that one the first play of the game I’m gonna lay Stockton’s ass out.
“I laid him out, one of the best screens I ever had. I got my shoulder kinda in that head area, maybe a little dirty. He pops up, pats me on the butt and said nice screen. Do you know how demoralizing that is? Yeah, I mean he was one of the toughest guys.”
There you go. One of the most talented and skilled players in NBA history was also one of the toughest although his looks indicated the complete opposite. Stockton was stopped from winning an NBA champion twice by Michael Jordan but the things he did on the court and his toughness are something that people will never forget.
