NBA Draft: Redrafting the 1984 Draft Class

With the 4th pick, the Dallas Mavericks select John Stockton

Utah Jazz: John Stockton

For the length of his playing career, John Stockton was regarded as the epitome of how a point guard should play. He played 19 seasons with the Utah Jazz and is universally regarded as one of the two greatest players in their franchise history.

Stockton was named to 11 All-NBA teams (2 in the first team, 6 in the second team and 3 in the third team), and was a member of the original Dream Team that competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Stockton was never obsessed with scoring. He always saw himself as a player making the best basketball play at a given moment, and that is the reason why he is, by some distance, the greatest assist-giver in the history of the game. For 9 consecutive seasons, he led the league in assists per game. He also holds the record for assists per game average for a season with an unreal 14.5 apg.

He's the only player with 6 or more seasons averaging more than 12 assists per game (8). He made 2 NBA Finals, losing them to Michael Jordan's Bulls teams. Stockton was also never affected by a major injury, setting a record for most games played with a single franchise (1504). He holds the record for highest percentage of games available for, at 98.6% (among players with over 1000 appearances).

Stockton was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.