John Stockton
Moderators: Jordo, mantypas/CavsCzar, SoNicks, heimer
John Stockton
Hellooo SLN – your SLN Maesters are back with another *honorary* Hall of Fame induction to go alongside Robert Parish, Dominique Wilkins, and Patrick Ewing from previous offseasons. We are still a few seasons away (at least) from having actual voting based on SLN-only careers, so for now we’ll continue to honor those legends of the game whose time in SLN was all-too-brief. Without further ado…
Our first inductee this year is the stalwart Charlotte Hornets PG, John “Stocks” Stockton, which is a pretty meh nickname for real life but very apt for SLN where STOCKS are king. Stockton gave the Hornets 3 season of strong PG play, peaking in the 96 season where he averaged a 20/4/11 on a filthy 58% TS%, to go along with 2.6 steals. He was named First Team All League and together with Reggie Miller propelled the Hornets to a 50 win season and a Central Division title. They were somewhat lost in the shuffle behind the Suns/Kings/Knicks three-headed monster that year, but that was a quality team that unfortunately ran into an equally strong Run TMC backcourt for the Magic in the second round of the playoffs.
Over the next two seasons, Stockton started to show some signs of decline from the All League standard he set in 96, no doubt correlated with the Hornets drop from their lofty perch in the East), as his volume dropped and turnovers were remained bit of an issue. Nonetheless, he remained a quality, durable starter throughout his tenure in SLN as a shooting efficiency gawd and ballhawk, and we know there is a benevolent sim league god watching over us with the poetic simultaneous retirement of his longtime running mate Karl Malone.
In real life, Stockton was the pride of Spokane, WA and the man who was one of the first to put the Gonzaga hoops program on the map. He spent his entire career with the Utah Jazz and became synonymous with the pick-and-roll, and his list of accolades are too many to include here; he was a 10x All-Star & 2x All NBA First Team / 6x Second Team / 3x Third Team. While a lot of us probably associate him with the Jazz in the late 90s against Jordan, prime Stockton was a certified problem, as between 1987 and 1992 he averaged no fewer than 13.7 APG. This struck me when Lebron passed Magic on the all time assists leaderboard, because Stockton is so far ahead of the rest of the pack as the NBA’s all-time record holder that it’s laughable; I don’t know if we’ll ever see that one passed.
Many fans will hold the lack of an NBA title against Stockton, but you could say the same of a lot of stars in the 90s – thank god we caught MJ on the tail end of his prime in SLN where he could only rack up one ring (for now)! There is no better testament to the standing Stockton had in the game than his inclusion in the 1992 Dream Team, a pretty huge compliment for a guy that was never the flashiest player out there. Congrats Stocks!
Our first inductee this year is the stalwart Charlotte Hornets PG, John “Stocks” Stockton, which is a pretty meh nickname for real life but very apt for SLN where STOCKS are king. Stockton gave the Hornets 3 season of strong PG play, peaking in the 96 season where he averaged a 20/4/11 on a filthy 58% TS%, to go along with 2.6 steals. He was named First Team All League and together with Reggie Miller propelled the Hornets to a 50 win season and a Central Division title. They were somewhat lost in the shuffle behind the Suns/Kings/Knicks three-headed monster that year, but that was a quality team that unfortunately ran into an equally strong Run TMC backcourt for the Magic in the second round of the playoffs.
Over the next two seasons, Stockton started to show some signs of decline from the All League standard he set in 96, no doubt correlated with the Hornets drop from their lofty perch in the East), as his volume dropped and turnovers were remained bit of an issue. Nonetheless, he remained a quality, durable starter throughout his tenure in SLN as a shooting efficiency gawd and ballhawk, and we know there is a benevolent sim league god watching over us with the poetic simultaneous retirement of his longtime running mate Karl Malone.
In real life, Stockton was the pride of Spokane, WA and the man who was one of the first to put the Gonzaga hoops program on the map. He spent his entire career with the Utah Jazz and became synonymous with the pick-and-roll, and his list of accolades are too many to include here; he was a 10x All-Star & 2x All NBA First Team / 6x Second Team / 3x Third Team. While a lot of us probably associate him with the Jazz in the late 90s against Jordan, prime Stockton was a certified problem, as between 1987 and 1992 he averaged no fewer than 13.7 APG. This struck me when Lebron passed Magic on the all time assists leaderboard, because Stockton is so far ahead of the rest of the pack as the NBA’s all-time record holder that it’s laughable; I don’t know if we’ll ever see that one passed.
Many fans will hold the lack of an NBA title against Stockton, but you could say the same of a lot of stars in the 90s – thank god we caught MJ on the tail end of his prime in SLN where he could only rack up one ring (for now)! There is no better testament to the standing Stockton had in the game than his inclusion in the 1992 Dream Team, a pretty huge compliment for a guy that was never the flashiest player out there. Congrats Stocks!
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