The J-Notes
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Utah Jazz: the 5 greatest individual seasons in franchise history

By Nathan Smith

Jeff Hornacek (L), John Stockton (C) and Karl Malone (R) of the Utah Jazz watch the final seconds of game three of their Western Conference semi-final against the Portland Trail Blazers 22 May 1999 at the Rose Garden in Portland OR. The Trail Blazers beat the Jazz 97-87 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/Robert SULLIVAN (Photo by ROBERT SULLIVAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Jeff Hornacek (L), John Stockton (C) and Karl Malone (R) of the Utah Jazz watch the final seconds of game three of their Western Conference semi-final against the Portland Trail Blazers 22 May 1999 at the Rose Garden in Portland OR. The Trail Blazers beat the Jazz 97-87 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/Robert SULLIVAN (Photo by ROBERT SULLIVAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP via Getty Images) /
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John Stockton of the Utah Jazz (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

2. John Stockton – 1990

A lot of the entries on this list feature insane scoring races, and even though John Stockton is revered as one of, if not the greatest pure point guards of all time, he was still capable of putting the ball in the bucket, and that was no more evident than his fantastic 1990 campaign. Despite finishing all the way down in ninth place in the MVP voting, behind teammate Karl Malone who ended in fourth, Stockton put up one of the best pure seasons from a point guard in history, finishing the season with 17.2 points and 14.5 assists per game over 78 appearances.

He was never a lethal scorer, but with a respectable three point shot and an All-Star teammate, the chemistry in 1990 was at an all-time high, and shooting over 51% from the field and adding 3 steals per game, it was easily the best season of Stockton’s decorated career in Salt Lake City. The individual success of both Stockton and All-Star teammate Karl Malone in 1990 makes you realize just how tough it was to succeed in the NBA in that era, as the Jazz weren’t able to even sniff the NBA finals, despite one of the greatest seasons in NBA history from not one, but two stars.

Stockton would never taste NBA Championship glory, but it’s seasons like his 1990 campaign that have seen fans and analysts rightfully regard him as one of the best players of all-time, with some records that will stand for quite some time, like the all-time assist record.