John Stockton was a dirty player?

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BlueK
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John Stockton was a dirty player?

Post by BlueK »

I think this idea has been now pretty much universally accepted, right? The thing is, I watched almost all of his career and can't recall a single incident. Malone I get. The question with him sometimes was his intent. Was he really trying to hurt someone or was it because it's just a physical game and sometimes he just couldn't help hurting others sometimes because of how he was built? I think there is a legit argument both ways.

But Stockton? I never understood it really. People talk about hard screens, or leading his defender into a hard screen set by his teammates, but isn't that part of the game? Is this what "dirty" means? I do remember Stockton would take a beating out there every game, including things like elbows to the head from players like Charles Barkley, Rodman, and others. Usually not only were those things never punished as flagrant fouls, they were usually never even called fouls, period. but what Stockton would do is pop right back up like nothing happened and keep playing. And I think that kind of pissed off his opponents while actually gaining their respect at the same time.

The truth as far as I see it is, that what most fans probably don't remember is that there was actually a specific moment when a former player during a TBS broadcast (Scott Hastings was his name) threw it out there that Stockton was one of the dirtiest players of all time, or something like that. The thing is, the first time he said it the other hosts kind of looked at him like he was crazy then laughed at the idea. They thought it was ridiculous at the time. This was probably about ten years into Stockton's career and he didn't have the reputation at the time. But then Hastings went on to constantly beat that drum for a couple of years every chance he got until eventually it became accepted as "absolute truth."

Now granted, this is based on my memory. If anyone has the opposite opinion AND got it not from hearsay but from actually SEEING Stockton play dirty, please be specific, and even better link to video. I've never actually seen video of a dirty play by John Stockton and I'd love to see it.


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Re: John Stockton was a dirty player?

Post by Schmoe »

I've felt much the same way as I also watched almost his whole career. I think the word "dirty" is a little subjective, like Stockton would do little things like grab a jersey of the guy he was standing right next to or run you into a screen you had no idea was coming and get you creamed.


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Re: John Stockton was a dirty player?

Post by Qman »

Schmoe wrote:I've felt much the same way as I also watched almost his whole career. I think the word "dirty" is a little subjective, like Stockton would do little things like grab a jersey of the guy he was standing right next to or run you into a screen you had no idea was coming and get you creamed.
I would have to look for it, but in an interview Chris Webber talked about getting goosed by Stockton and Hornacek.


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Re: John Stockton was a dirty player?

Post by addseo666 »

legit argument both ways.


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