Utah Jazz icon John Stockton is one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, but while he looked like your friendly next-door neighbor, he developed a reputation for being incredibly dirty. A host of notable former players have pointed out how dirty Stockton was, and sportscaster Dan Patrick has gotten intrigued by it.
So, when Hall of Famer Ray Allen appeared on the Dan Patrick Show on Monday, Patrick asked him whether Stockton was dirty to him as well.
“Stockton is always my example to the young people,” Allen said. “When I say, if you look at John Stockton, you ask what physical attributes did he possess that you would look at and say this guy is a beast. The thing that I learned from Stockton is he did the simple thing over and over again. Out of 10 passes, one might be behind-the-back pass. He set the hardest screens.
“And I think what people would be alluding to with him is when he set the cross screen for Karl Malone, he would pass the ball, and he cut across lane, he set the screen, and he did two things really well,” Allen continued. “One, obviously, he set the screen really well, but occasionally he would grab your jersey and hold you, or if you tried to run him over, then he’d fall, and then you would get the foul.
“So, he was really adept at playing the game, and because he was small, nobody expected him or thought that he could outpower you or athletically beat you, but he played the game smartly,” Allen added. “And so he’s a great example and a lesson for young people that you don’t have to have this highly skilled physical ability to be an All-Star or be one of the all-time greats. And he’s certainly example of that.”
Stockton wasn’t the tallest, strongest, or fastest. He was listed at just 6’1″ and 170 pounds, and still ended up having a career that many could only dream of.
The Jazz selected Stockton with the 16th pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, and he’d spend his entire 19-year career with the franchise. Along the way, he won a record nine assists titles and is still today the NBA’s all-time leader in assists. To go with this, Stockton also made 10 All-Star, 11 All-NBA, and five All-Defensive Teams. He is a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team and deservingly so.
There is no denying Stockton’s greatness. There’s also no denying in the minds of many that he was dirty as hell.
Vernon Maxwell called Stockton one of the dirtiest players in NBA history. Maxwell thinks he is a demon and basically describes him as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Gilbert Arenas has also called Stockton the dirtiest player he has ever played against.
There are those, though, like Allen, who don’t necessarily share that opinion. Fellow Hall of Famer Gary Payton dismissed the narrative that Stockton was a dirty player. Payton thinks he was just craftier and that opponents just didn’t know how to play against him for the longest time.
