"Glove" chooses Stockton as HOF presenter

What Stockton lacked in athleticism against guys like Payton, he made up for with his basketball IQ and instincts.

"We weren’t as smart as him. We were so big-headed thinking we could be more athletic than him and he would get us out of our game," Payton continued. "We would get mad, get techs, and be sitting on the bench while he would never say nothing to no one. We’re good friends to this day. It’s just one of the things that I admire of him."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865577519/Report-Gary-Payton-selects-John-Stockton-as-Hall-of-Fame-presenter.html


Payton was a hard core defender & competitor. Sometimes he boardered on over-the-top with his trash talking, which makes his choice of Stockton very compelling considering John never said a word to opposing players as far as I can remember.

Serious respect shown by Payton. I love it.

What a crazy, awesome, choice. So cool.

Lets remember Stockton for a second... Beyond the fact that he holds not one but TWO of the NBA's likely most unbreakable records, averaged over 13 pts, 10 ast, and 2 steals PER GAME over his entire 19 year career, and was a stone cold warrior, lets remember one of the greatest injustices of all time...


In all of Stockton's years in the NBA, the highest he ever finished in the MVP voting was 7th. 7th!!!!! And he was never higher than Second in the MVP voting on HIS OWN TEAM!!!!

Yet Steve Nash has not one, but two MVP awards...And Alan Iverson won an MVP award!

Here's Stockton's 1989-1990 season compared to Nash's 2005-2006 "MVP" and Iversons 2000-2001 "MVP" seasons....

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&p1=stockjo01&y1=1990&p2=nashst01&y2=2006&p3=iversal01&y3=2001&p4=malonka01&y4=1990

I threw in Malones 19089-1990 season (4th in MVP voting) as well just to show you how bad things had gotten in the NBA in the early 21st century, Stockton finished 7th in the MVP voting that year.

TheMagnus wrote:

Lets remember Stockton for a second... Beyond the fact that he holds not one but TWO of the NBA's likely most unbreakable records, averaged over 13 pts, 10 ast, and 2 steals PER GAME over his entire 19 year career, and was a stone cold warrior, lets remember one of the greatest injustices of all time...


In all of Stockton's years in the NBA, the highest he ever finished in the MVP voting was 7th. 7th!!!!! And he was never higher than Second in the MVP voting on HIS OWN TEAM!!!!

Yet Steve Nash has not one, but two MVP awards...And Alan Iverson won an MVP award!

Here's Stockton's 1989-1990 season compared to Nash's 2005-2006 "MVP" and Iversons 2000-2001 "MVP" seasons....

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&p1=stockjo01&y1=1990&p2=nashst01&y2=2006&p3=iversal01&y3=2001&p4=malonka01&y4=1990

I threw in Malones 19089-1990 season (4th in MVP voting) as well just to show you how bad things had gotten in the NBA in the early 21st century, Stockton finished 7th in the MVP voting that year.

You know who I blame for John's no-MVP career..... FN Sloan! If he would have just let Johnny throw up 300+ 3's, Stock would have easily been the man!

But seriously, Stockton was amazing. Not lightning fast, not NBA athletic & one of the smallest guys in the league, but still destroyed the NBA with ease. He was the greatest hard nosed worker bee the league may ever see. He had a deadly shot & was smart as hell .... could have easily scored many, many more points if he wanted to, but then he wouldn't have been the greatest passing PG ever, right?

And those records will only be broken when science figures out a way to make the human body perform at it's peak for an extra 10 years.

One of a kind Mr. Stockton. One of a kind.

Hey, as much as I love Stockton's game, and respect what he did on the floor, it's his own damned fault he didn't win an MVP award. He could easily have scored 20+ points a game during his prime, and he would have easily continued to get double digit assists. He was just too unselfish. And I know it's in jest that you mentioned Sloan holding Stockton back, because I have to imagine in the back of his mind, Sloan was probably screaming for John to shoot and drive to the hole more often. But that's what Stockton did, play an unselfish, team-oriented game. How can anyone not respect that, especially compared with all the selfishness we see out there on the NBA court.

As for the Glove, I respect his game, too. He deserves to be in the HOF because he, too, tried to get his teammates involved, and his defense was killer. I remember him often sliding compliments in John's direction. Yeah, he may have talked shit, but he did it in a fun-loving way. I'd easily take Glove's attitude over Kobe's douchiness.

Bumped this. Someone post the introduction when it comes out.