“Struggles are what made everything worth while.”
― John Stockton
“I think I laid it all out there for 19 years, and you don’t always achieve all the goals that you shoot for.”
― John Stockton
“I think there are a lot of ways to play the PG position. Scoring first is a way that works for them and their teams. I personally like to watch PGs that like to work for others.”
― John Stockton
“I don’t like to give in to injuries. I don’t like to use them as excuses. Everybody has them.”
― John Stockton
“I’m a bartender’s son. Some things you never forget.”
― John Stockton
“Sometimes you’re your own worst critic.”
― John Stockton
“Once I came to Salt Lake City, I didn’t want to go anywhere else. It was home sweet home for me.”
― John Stockton
“When you’re younger, you might make some shots you’re not normally capable of, because you’re more fluid, maybe stronger, maybe faster. As you get older, you learn not to take those crazy shots.”
― John Stockton
“Just because everybody else does something isn’t a good enough reason to do anything.”
― John Stockton
“Why was I able to be able to pass? What did I do right that allowed me to make a pass – any given pass? There’s balance; there’s vision.”
― John Stockton
“I was just lucky to have a uniform.”
― John Stockton
“My brother thundered me in everything most of my life. He was a great carrot out in front of me. All I wanted to do, ever, was beat him at anything.”
― John Stockton
“I guess I’d rather be comfortable and play well because I’m comfortable than to get recognition and play someplace where I wouldn’t be comfortable and wouldn’t enjoy myself.”
― John Stockton
“I’ve been lucky to have great coaching, great teammates, and a desire to keep getting better. That, slowly over time, helped me grow from an average high school player to the NBA.”
― John Stockton
“I think I’ve preserved most of my private life, and I think that’s still important for me, and that’s still important for my family.”
― John Stockton
“I have a great respect for people that write. I don’t know how they do it every day… or do novels that they have to use their minds instead of just their memories. It’s tough duty.”
― John Stockton
“I know my first years sitting on the bench, largely behind Rickey Green, was a great learning tool for me.”
― John Stockton
“I think everybody should have the attitude that you can’t allow yourself to be hurt. You avoid a lot just with that attitude.”
― John Stockton
“Essentially, when you join a team, you’re making a commitment to your team. You can’t take that lightly.”
― John Stockton
“I have an ego like everyone else. I want to be recognized as a good ballplayer.”
― John Stockton
“I don’t crush the kids. But I do want them to know that they have to earn what they get. I’m not like Jimmy Piersall’s dad or anything. I mean, I tell them I’m happy if they just do the best they can. My parents were that way with me.”
― John Stockton
“Usually for the last play, everyone goes helter-skelter. They go to the wrong spots. They don’t do the right thing.”
― John Stockton
“The West is tough. Great teams. Great records, top to bottom.”
― John Stockton
“To be a great player and a great scorer, you have to find ways to get yourself open and get shots off. It’s a dog fight.”
― John Stockton
“Mostly, I go in the weight room and visit.”
― John Stockton
“The game’s a beautiful game when five guys go out there and give something of themselves so that you can win.”
― John Stockton
“I don’t go home to parades.”
― John Stockton
“I want my kids to have a life like I did growing up. The greatest gift I was given in life was from my parents. Though I can’t match them, I’d like to be that kind of parent.”
― John Stockton
“I think records are irrelevant, but I’m being approached about it all the time. If I could avoid it, that would be great.”
― John Stockton
“I don’t care if people even discuss what I did. But if anyone is ever sitting around the kitchen table talking about my career, I hope they say they enjoyed watching me play. That’s good enough.”
― John Stockton
“It’s always in a cycle. One set of plays will work really well for a time, and then defenses figure it out, and you go to something else.”
― John Stockton
“You can’t afford to hop around and act like a kid when you have to get back on defense and worry about the other parts of the game. But at the end, when the buzzer sounds, you have the luxury of hopping around and looking foolish for a while.”
― John Stockton
“If you start chasing around trying to get steals for your own benefit, then you really put your defense at a disadvantage. It’s not a big thing for me; if it happens, great.”
― John Stockton
“With kids and all the other activities around the house, I’m finding it harder to give my full attention to basketball.”
― John Stockton
“I don’t think about the record, because winning games has to be our focus, and if we lost focus thinking about that record, I would really regret it. How will I feel later on? People tell me it will mean a lot after I retire, for the kids and me. But to me, it’s just a stat. It’s something people enjoy talking about. Me? I just enjoy playing.”
― John Stockton
“I never thought I’d make it in the NBA, so everything else is gravy.”
― John Stockton
“I was always the kid dribbling the ball on the sidelines, hoping someone would pick me. I’d go with my older brother to the gym or park, and when I went out there, I’d pass the ball so I could get picked again.”
― John Stockton
“It’s not win or die at my house. We’re all competitive, but it’s not the type to get stressed out by it.”
― John Stockton
“I never consciously thought about going all the way through the ‘Gonzaga farm system,’ but that’s the way it happened.”
― John Stockton
“I didn’t want to get caught up in the mind-set that, ‘Wait a minute, I’m ahead of Magic. I better slow down.’”
― John Stockton
“The key word is ‘control.’ I have to get to the point where I can do it like Magic does. That means penetrating, scoring more, taking over on offense once in a while, increasing my range on the outside shot to open things up for the drive.”
― John Stockton
“I just play. I’m not one to think about it. If I get one assist and we win, that’s great. Otherwise, I could care less.”
― John Stockton
“You have a different personality in front of the world than you do in front of your pals at home. I like to keep them separate.”
― John Stockton
“I haven’t played quarterback since eighth or ninth grade. I didn’t see it get much attention when I completed a pass then.”
― John Stockton
“Depending on the point in the game and what’s necessary, if you can deliver the play, whatever that is – heck, if it’s a screen – and you get a guy open, and he scores a big basket for you, that gives me as much of a charge as anything.”
― John Stockton
“You never think about being wide open. I don’t know if I can describe the feeling. Tremendous.”
― John Stockton
“I try to exploit things against everybody; that’s part of the game: beat the guy that guards me while you’re beating their team.”
― John Stockton
“I really don’t look at my accomplishments. I really don’t think about myself much.”
― John Stockton
“I was thinking back when Karl Malone and I, when one of us would be in the weight room early in the morning, and the other one wasn’t there, the first comment to the other person would be, ‘It’s mighty lonely up here.’”
― John Stockton
“I don’t think you ever hear anybody shoot the last shot and say they didn’t think it was in.”
― John Stockton
“I heal quickly, and I stay in good shape, and I will stay in good shape.”
― John Stockton
“You can find advantages to being small.”
― John Stockton
“I’m not a cerebral player. When I’m out on the floor, I try to play.”
― John Stockton
“I really don’t think of myself as the best player on the team.”
― John Stockton
“If I pass the ball to Karl Malone, he still has to make the shot, or nothing has happened.”
― John Stockton
“Magic is the man. No one is in his class.”
― John Stockton
“I had been told I might be drafted in the fourth round. ‘Great,’ I said at the time.”
― John Stockton
“I don’t judge my performance on how many assists I have or how many points I have.”
― John Stockton
“I’ve played games where I thought I played one of my better games, and statistically, there’s nothing there, and vice versa. I’ve never based how I feel about my performance on stats.”
― John Stockton
“My impression is that the NBA always precluded anything else.”
― John Stockton
“It’s great to win, regardless of how you did it.”
― John Stockton
“Basketball is a game of streaks. Sometimes a guy will be cold for a month and then get hot for a month.”
― John Stockton
“You don’t get this opportunity many times in life to compete against the best in the world every night. I certainly didn’t expect to have 10 or 11 years of chances at it, so I don’t want to take that for granted.”
― John Stockton
“I don’t like to miss games.”
― John Stockton
“I had little or no expectations coming in. I was thrilled when I was drafted in the first round because that meant I was going to be given a full year’s chance to make the team.”
― John Stockton
“All I know is the same lessons you need to learn at Little League basketball, you need to learn at the upper levels. It’s the little things you learn when you’re little that apply in college.”
― John Stockton
“I’m not much of a numbers guy, and yet that’s the way I’m defined a lot.”
― John Stockton
“I just always believed that all comments are better face-to-face, whether they’re derogatory or whether they’re not.”
― John Stockton
“If you think you’re doing everything right, then you have a tendency to stand pat.”
― John Stockton
“It’s quite an honor to be selected to represent my country in the Olympics.”
― John Stockton
“My playing time in 1992 was limited because of an injury I suffered in a practice.”
― John Stockton
“Obviously, being in the league for so long, you do have something to offer as a coach.”
― John Stockton
“You thrive off everybody on your team. If one guy’s playing well, that makes your job easier. If a guy’s shooting well, it makes your job easier. If a guy’s rebounding well, it makes your job easier.”
― John Stockton
“The main thing I worry about with the shoes I wear is comfort. What you’re comfortable wearing is what you’re going to play your best in.”
― John Stockton
“I never felt I was better than anybody, but I always felt I could compete with anybody.”
― John Stockton
“The games can go any way. As we know in this league, you can win by 30 or lose by 30 the next night. That is just the way the league is.”
― John Stockton
“I enjoy coaching.”
― John Stockton
“I’ve benefited from great coaches my whole life, starting in sixth grade. To be able to pass that on is a neat experience for me.”
― John Stockton
“If I could turn into my old coaches, or my parents, then I’d consider that a definite plus.”
― John Stockton
“For me, the timing has been good, but I also feel very lucky to be playing in Utah. We have a good team with tremendous players who like to win.”
― John Stockton
“I love to play, and I appreciate the opportunity to be part of a good organization.”
― John Stockton
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