He currently ranks 10th with 8,879 assists, but he will soon surpass Gary Payton (8,966), Isiah Thomas (9,061) and perhaps even Chris Paul (9,290) this season. Assuming he maintains his season average of 11 per game, James should top Payton and Thomas at some point in the middle of this season. Paul, who is currently with the Oklahoma City Thunder in his 15th season, has stayed healthy and productive thus far. Considering Paul’s extensive injury history though, James could make up enough ground to climb ahead of his close friend either late this season or early next season. James should also eclipse Oscar Robertson (9,887 assists) next season and Magic Johnson (10,141), Mark Jackson (10,334) and Steve Nash (10,335) in two years. It seems like a stretch James could surpass Jason Kidd (12,091) and John Stockton (15,806). “I’ve been fortunate to be able to play with great teammates and great coaches in three great organizations so far in my career,” James said. “I just hope I make anyone who has followed my career proud.”
John Stockton Rumors
All NBA Players
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John Stockton
Position: -
Born: 03/26/62
Height: 6-1 / 1.85
Weight:175 lbs. / 79.4 kg.
Earnings: $65,975,000 ($104,042,702*)
Born: 03/26/62
Height: 6-1 / 1.85
Weight:175 lbs. / 79.4 kg.
Earnings: $65,975,000 ($104,042,702*)
Stockton said he believed his teammate, Hall of Fame forward Karl Malone, would have added a 3-point shot to his game if there had been more emphasis on it during his career. At any rate, Stockton said, Malone would have still found a way to thrive in the modern game. “I think he’d score 100 points a night. I don’t see anybody who can guard him,” Stockton said. “… The thing that people don’t understand is all the 3-point shooters who were guarding him would all be fouled out of the game.”
4w
Gallery 4w ago
The oldest players to receive MVP votes in NBA history
All ages at the end of the regular season.
If James keeps dishing dimes at this rate, he would obliterate the record of the best assist average for a player in his 17th season or later (John Stockton currently holds the mark with 8.7 assists per game in 2000-01). “He’s going to make the right play every time and he delivers the ball on time, on target everywhere or just about everywhere he throws it — to the 3-point line or lobs at the rim or back cuts or whatever,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s just one of the best passers I’ve been around.”
A veteran NBA scout on Young, the second year guard who is averaged 38.5 points in his first three games this season “It starts with the crazy shots. Last year he was taking a bunch of those crazy shots, he just wasn’t making them. Watch him now, he’s making all of them. He has got a little better feel for where to go to get his shots. He is clever with the ball. He changes speeds, changes directions, has that hesitation dribble. There’s a little John Stockton in him with that. You have to go over those pick and rolls, but if you don’t do it well, he goes by you. If you hesitate or come off of it tight, he will keep you on his back. They reward him when he gets contact. It’s sort of like Stephen Curry or James Harden. They get hit, they fall down, the refs call it. Young is starting to get that respect.”
Derrick Favors was introduced to the Jazz as a nervous 19-year-old, caught up in a trade that separated a superstar — Deron Williams — from an organization that had been for so long looking for the definitive star power to follow up the brilliance of John Stockton and Karl Malone. […] For the first time in his life, someone told Favors he wasn’t wanted on their basketball team. “I remember being overwhelmed,” Favors told The Athletic in an extensive interview. “I didn’t know what to expect because I had never been traded. I had new teammates. I had a new coaching staff. I was only 19. I just wasn’t mentally prepared for that at the time.”
23 Apr
