John Stockton is the Best Point Guard Ever.

The opinion stated above is one of the main reasons why I wanted to start a blog in the first place. In my 16 years of defending my point of view, I’ve lost friends, jobs, sanity, and most of all, respect. Despite the aggression from my peers, I’ve never backed down. This is somewhat of a last-ditch effort to gain some support behind this admittedly radical ideology.

The central force behind my love for John Stockton is his overwhelming statistical advantage over his peers. Of the 5 primary stat categories, (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks) Stockton is #1 all time in 2 of them, assists and steals. The fact that a player has achieved this is insane and the lack of media attention around it is baffling. Not only is he first, the gap between him and second place is just ridiculous.

All Time Assist Leaders

1. John Stockton - 15,806

2. Jason Kidd - 12,091

3. Steve Nash - 10,335

Stockton’s staggering lead over his competition will likely never change. The closest active player to his near 16k assist is Chris Paul, who sits in 7th place with 9,607. Paul is 35 years old with a 6,199 assist deficit between him and Stock. It just won’t happen. As far as steals go, Stock is once again dominant.

All Time Steal Leaders

1. John Stockton - 3,265

2. Jason Kidd - 2,684

3. Michael Jordan - 2,514

This list is strikingly similar to the assist leaders, with Stockton and Kidd claiming the #1 and #2 spots and Chris Paul being the closest active player at 7th. I could legitimately make a case for Jason Kidd being the 2nd greatest point guard ever after looking at the way his career mirrored Stockton’s. I won’t, but I still could. Just based on principle, I can’t overlook the fact that one player sits atop the all time list of 2 out of the 5 primary basketball stats. Assists and steals in particular are numbers that translate to any era. It's just as hard to steal the ball now as it was in the 1950s. There is no player who has an inherent advantage when it comes to stealing the ball or dishing out assists. The same can’t be said for points, rebounds, or blocks, all of which favor a specific player archetype over another. Any player has the ability to beat Stockton’s records, but they haven’t, and they won’t.

Stockton’s numbers are definitely inflated, that’s a given. The man played for 19 seasons. While most would view this as a counter to Stockton’s greatness, I see it as a reinforcement. Stockton played all 82 games in 16 of his 19 seasons, only missing 4 games in one of them. At 40 years old he played and started every game for a 47 win Jazz team. That type of longevity is unheard of and will likely never be seen again like his other accomplishments. That durability played a huge role in Utah’s success throughout his tenure. The team finished with a winning record in every year with Stock in the lineup. These stats seem repetitive at this point in the article, but the fact of the matter is that Stock was always a step ahead of every other point guard. He was during his playing career, and still is now with records that seem unbreakable.

If this statistical vomit doesn’t convince you of John Stockton’s brilliance, I truly don’t know what will. He is a legend and should be treated as such. Writing this all out was somewhat cathartic for me. When this topic inevitably comes up in the future, I look forward to referring people to this piece and awkwardly staring at them while they read the words I’m currently writing. To those people in the coming years, my name is Simon Pruitt and my opinion is always right. Adios.