Utah Jazz 40 at 40: John Stockton is still the point god

Now I know what you're thinking -- "Oh, it's a Utah Jazz blog, so obviously they're going to say John Stockton is good." Sure. Believe that what I'm saying is just because I know my audience. But when I say that John Stockton has no peer in his era, or after his era I mean it's a scientific fact. It's a mathematical proof. If you understand that the essence of basketball's success, wins and losses, are a fixed interval ratio game that is purely quantitative -- the easier it becomes for you to accept the greater truths of the game. If the game is about winning, the winner is the guy who has more points at the end of time. And the guy with the biggest number . . . is John Stockton.

Sure, Kidd has a ring. Nash has MVPs. Payton has the nickname. Paul has the media attention. And Rose has the marketing department. But Stockton is still the best. And he will remain the best unless something crazy happens in the next 12 years.

Here is a table that shows 25 of the most searched point guards of the last 20+ seasons, and what their PER scores are at each of their ages in the NBA.

Yes, CP3 looks good, strong, lots of deep greens there. But hey, people thought D-Rose was nice for a minute too. If you want to be King under the mountain you have to be able to withstand time itself and come out on top. If you take the average of different age groupings it becomes painfully obvious that Stockton was a dominant force way past his physical peak as an athlete. A lot of these younger guards rely so much on their athleticism. It's obvious too that they'll never be the best.

And again, Paul looks good. He's going on strong right now. Bu we'll talk in another 12 years. All of the guys who were supposed to be better than Stockton, Nash, Kidd, and Payton, all fell pretty hard when age caught up to them. John at a PER score of 21.0 at the age of 40. That's better than all but one of Steph's seasons, and better than all of Wall's career.

Of course, I hear you protesting -- "PER isn't the only metric to use!" Okay, you wanna talk All-Time Leader in Assists and Steals then? If you agree that winning is what matters, and winning is determined by the bigger number, then there is no other possibility than to accept that John Stockton has no peer among point guards.

General Managers and coaches make Championships. Point guards make teams. And the best point guard from his era onwards is John Stockton.

He remains King under the Mountain.

(Also, Press "Play" on both videos, but 'mute' the one on the left. Then watch the one on the left.)