Jazz fans give John Stockton the ultimate sign of disrespect

There's a sound argument that John Stockton is the best player to ever don a Utah Jazz uniform. The only other player who one could argue was better happens to be the teammate he spent most of his career with, Karl Malone. Yet, somehow, Jazz fans don't see him as a top-2 Jazzman of all time.

The X account Jazz Lead held a poll where they asked fans to vote on who the second best Jazzman of all time is. While Malone understandably got the vote at No. 1, fans voted Lauri Markkanen as No. 2.

The biggest headline isn't that Markkanen got the No. 2 spot, and you can read more about why that's wrong here, but rather that it didn't go to Stockton. The same point guard who played at an All-Star level from start to finish for two decades and who reached multiple milestones that may never be reached again should absolutely be in the top two players in Jazz history.

It's not too surprising that we live in an era that forgets about the past. Even the NBA itself is guilty of this. Remember when Dwight Howard didn't make the NBA's 75 even though it was pretty clear he was more than deserving of a spot? So it's not completely out of left field that fans forgot how good Stockton was, but that doesn't excuse it.

We have also reached the point in the offseason where nothing really happens in the NBA, so perhaps fans are taking some vacation time and were unaware of the poll. Still, this was an easy given to give Stockton that No. 2 spot among Jazz all-timers. No matter who was picked ahead of him, it's a travesty that his playing days aren't as remembered as they used to be.

Stockton is the all-timer players should model themselves after

People talk about how impressive it is that LeBron James has remained as good as he has as he's reached 40. Not only have very few NBA players still played in the league, but hardly any of them still play at an All-Star level. However, Stockton was the one who basically helped set that standard first before James did.

Granted, James is a better player now than Stockton was at 40, but the point is, Stockton provided the template for how a player can maintain their consistency for a long time. He wasn't the same player in 2003 that he was in 1993, but Stockton was never a liability, and his basketball IQ kept him playing at a star level and the Jazz in the playoff hunt until he retired.

That's quite a rare specimen that the NBA has only seen a handful of players do, but Stockton was among the first to do it (Note: the first player to do it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). More importantly, unlike Abdul-Jabbar or James, Stockton wasn't some physical freak. He was as good as he was becuase of how well he knew the game.

Not that those two weren't smart basketball players (because they certainly were) but physical advantages played a part in why they were so good for so long. Stockton didn't have that luxury. While the Jazz legend has certainly gotten himself into controversy since his NBA career ended, that shouldn't negate the legacy he left behind and certainly shouldn't prevent fans from putting him among the best of the best Jazzmen.