More assists from No. 12

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 23, 2004 | by Linda Hamilton Deseret Morning News

It was a pretty big replica No. 12 Jazz jersey they raised to the rafters in the Delta Center Monday night -- eight feet wide and 12 feet tall.

But it was nowhere big enough to fit all the people that John Stockton -- whose number will be worn nevermore by a Jazzman -- said belonged in it.

"I think of it as 'our jersey,' " Stockton said in his pregame press conference prior to the halftime retirement.

He said he couldn't think of it any other way because he thinks of basketball as a team concept, so he saw Monday's celebration as more a tribute to those he played with, his coaches, his family and friends, mentors and idols.

"I don't believe you should have one guy's jersey up there, one number. That's not what a team is about.

"Everybody that's had a part of our lives growing up should take part in this," Stockton said, spreading the wealth even to the people of Utah, saying at halftime, "I want to include you with that. You all had something to do with it.

"I couldn't have played anywhere else," Stockton said, more candid now in his second season of retirement than during his 19 seasons with the Jazz. He told of former Jazz coach and president Frank Layden's stories about Madison Square Garden. "Didn't like that much," Stockton said.

"It's home," Stockton said of Salt Lake City. "I know I live in Spokane, and that might sound kind of funny, but I've never been more comfortable anywhere else but here. Out on the court -- that's home. In the locker room with Jerry -- that's home.

"I couldn't have played anywhere else. I don't think I could have played in any other city and been comfortable -- because comfort's part of it. You feel like you're needed and wanted and allowed to flourish a little bit," said Stockton, who came to town 20 years ago shocked that he'd been drafted and expecting to be cut in training camp.

He was so worried, "I had the cheapest apartment I could find. I saved every cent. I didn't turn the heat on," he remembered.

It was one of the traits that made him great. "Doubt has been a huge part of my basketball career. I always doubted that anybody else felt I could play. I always felt I could compete against anybody, but I didn't think anybody else would agree with me," he said.

He wondered when the Jazz "would figure it out" and get rid of him. "Coach (Jerry) Sloan always said he's not that smart, but he never figured it out," Stockton said sitting on the dais Monday with Sloan, Layden, team owner Larry H. Miller, wife Nada and former Gonzaga University coach Dan Fitzgerald.

Instead, Layden had it figured out that Stockton saved the franchise from being sold to Minneapolis or Toronto. The day Stockton was drafted, said Layden, "This became the turning point. I really think we wouldn't have a team here. This building. Be thought of as one of the great pro franchises.

"Thanks for making us all rich," he told Stockton.

Nada loved going to Jazz games, and among her favorites were times when there was a new young gunslinger in town. "I knew that John would get him. There'd be a lot younger guy out there, but by the end of the night, I knew who would be more tired," said the mother of Stockton's six children, adding she enjoys having her husband sit next to her now at their kids' games.

"I was pretty sure I picked the right one," she said of the man she dated through their years at Gonzaga. "He turned out to be just the greatest thing that happened to me."

The all-time NBA steals and assists leader who was a two-time Olympic gold medalist and participated in 10 All-Star games, sat courtside with his family next to Larry and Gail Miller.

Former teammates Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek, Thurl Bailey, Mark Eaton and Adrian Dantley were there to honor him, and he was feted at dinners Sunday and Monday, with old coaches and teammates around to gush about his game.

"You appreciate a guy who shows up for work every day," said Malone, heartily cheered by a sellout Delta Center crowd. "I knew what I was going to get every night."

Though Malone was drafted a year after Stockton, he played right away while Stockton backed up Rickey Green for nearly three years. At first, Malone said he thought of Stockton, "He's an awful little fella to be out there playing. He's going to get hurt."

Instead, Stockton frustrated bigger opponents with stubborn picks and "sharp elbows," remembered current Jazzman Gordan Giricek.

And he stayed true to himself, even though on Monday Stockton showed up in an uncharacteristically formal dark suit and white shirt with tie, leading Fitzgerald to say Nada dressed him well and to note that Stockton's suit reminded of a mortuary.

Stockton reciprocated. "I feel like a dead guy with a eulogy in advance. Everybody's been so nice.

"(Assistant coach) Phil Johnson told me a long time ago, when you're finished playing, everybody remembers the good stuff," said Stockton. "And certainly that's been true because I haven't heard anything bad the last couple days."

E-mail: lham@desnews.com