nuraman00
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Reason why I say assists is easier, is because if you look at assist %, Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Deron Williams, Rondo, and Jose Calderon are within striking distance of Stockton.
Paul, Nash, and Williams aren't as durable in terms of games played per year. They'll likely have long careers, but miss games per year.
But when they do play, they can assist like the best.
Rondo, probably got off to too slow of a start in his career to get total assists. He wasn't a polished player when he came out. It took him about 4 years to get going.
Jose, he is good, but his defense keeps him off the floor. He can't play huge minutes because of that. He's only averages 28.5 minutes in his career, which is not complete. Stockton averaged 31.8 minutes.
My point is that there are players every now and then that can rack up assists. Heck, most of the best guys in assist % are from the modern era. They just don't play as many games per year, or in Rondo's case, took a few years to develop, or in Jose's case, he starts to become a liability in certain situations.
Magic averaged more assists per game in his career than Stockton, but had a shorter career for other reasons.
Steals, on the other hand, is different for a different reason.
Stockton wasn't the best guy at steal % or steals per game, he's 8th-9th in both:
NBA & ABA Career Leaders and Records for Steal Pct | Basketball-Reference.com
NBA & ABA Career Leaders and Records for Steals Per Game | Basketball-Reference.com
But the players that were more prolific at steals in terms of steal % or steals per year, had much shorter careers, 10-13 years typically. That's 68% of a 19 year career.
Meanwhile, someone like Nash is having a long career, has played in a greater percentage of games, with respect to Stockton: 1159/1504 = 77% of games, and counting.
So Nash, is in his 17th year right now. But he's had 9 seasons with 75 games ore less, including one year with 56. So there are passing players that have a large number of seasons, thus playing in at least a large amount of games, with respect to Stockton. Just not 82 per year.
Steals, on the other hand, have players playing 68% of Stockton's career at best, sometimes even 50%. The ones that can really steal the ball, burn out quicker. Or maybe their one skill just wasn't worth keeping, at a certain point in their careers.
So the steals guys don't even seem to be close to playing the number of games Stockton did, careerwise, which is why I think it's harder.
Jordan had a higher rate than Stockton, but only played 15 years. Maybe if he played 4 more years, he could have done it. But he probably wouldn't have been a good enough player to have on the floor for very much, in 4 years. 1078 / 1504 = 71.6%.
Pippen played 17 years but was a notch below in rate. 1178/1504 = 78% of games.
Iverson was good but only played 14 years. And was injured for a few of those years. Even he has only played in 914/1504 games, 60.7%.
So some of the stealers with a higher rate than Stockton had much shorter careers.
The ones with a rate as good as Stockton, hand longer careers than others, but still less years.
And then other players that had longer careers, had a less rate overall.
So I think assist guys can have longer careers than steals guys, and thus come closer.
I didn't say someone would break it for sure, but I said because assist guys have longer careers, and there do seem to be a decent amount of players that get assists, they are more likely to come close. The best stealers aren't as memorable, because they have shorter careers.
Hakeem's 2162 steals, 9th all-time, is unusual on one hand because it's a big man. On the other hand, big men have worse turnover rates than guards. So if Hakeem was primarily stripping big men, it's not as impressive as a guard stripping a guard, because big men are supposed to turn it over more. But if Hakeem was stripping a lot of guards too, then that's more impressive.
Paul, Nash, and Williams aren't as durable in terms of games played per year. They'll likely have long careers, but miss games per year.
But when they do play, they can assist like the best.
Rondo, probably got off to too slow of a start in his career to get total assists. He wasn't a polished player when he came out. It took him about 4 years to get going.
Jose, he is good, but his defense keeps him off the floor. He can't play huge minutes because of that. He's only averages 28.5 minutes in his career, which is not complete. Stockton averaged 31.8 minutes.
My point is that there are players every now and then that can rack up assists. Heck, most of the best guys in assist % are from the modern era. They just don't play as many games per year, or in Rondo's case, took a few years to develop, or in Jose's case, he starts to become a liability in certain situations.
Magic averaged more assists per game in his career than Stockton, but had a shorter career for other reasons.
Steals, on the other hand, is different for a different reason.
Stockton wasn't the best guy at steal % or steals per game, he's 8th-9th in both:
NBA & ABA Career Leaders and Records for Steal Pct | Basketball-Reference.com
NBA & ABA Career Leaders and Records for Steals Per Game | Basketball-Reference.com
But the players that were more prolific at steals in terms of steal % or steals per year, had much shorter careers, 10-13 years typically. That's 68% of a 19 year career.
Meanwhile, someone like Nash is having a long career, has played in a greater percentage of games, with respect to Stockton: 1159/1504 = 77% of games, and counting.
So Nash, is in his 17th year right now. But he's had 9 seasons with 75 games ore less, including one year with 56. So there are passing players that have a large number of seasons, thus playing in at least a large amount of games, with respect to Stockton. Just not 82 per year.
Steals, on the other hand, have players playing 68% of Stockton's career at best, sometimes even 50%. The ones that can really steal the ball, burn out quicker. Or maybe their one skill just wasn't worth keeping, at a certain point in their careers.
So the steals guys don't even seem to be close to playing the number of games Stockton did, careerwise, which is why I think it's harder.
Jordan had a higher rate than Stockton, but only played 15 years. Maybe if he played 4 more years, he could have done it. But he probably wouldn't have been a good enough player to have on the floor for very much, in 4 years. 1078 / 1504 = 71.6%.
Pippen played 17 years but was a notch below in rate. 1178/1504 = 78% of games.
Iverson was good but only played 14 years. And was injured for a few of those years. Even he has only played in 914/1504 games, 60.7%.
So some of the stealers with a higher rate than Stockton had much shorter careers.
The ones with a rate as good as Stockton, hand longer careers than others, but still less years.
And then other players that had longer careers, had a less rate overall.
So I think assist guys can have longer careers than steals guys, and thus come closer.
I didn't say someone would break it for sure, but I said because assist guys have longer careers, and there do seem to be a decent amount of players that get assists, they are more likely to come close. The best stealers aren't as memorable, because they have shorter careers.
Hakeem's 2162 steals, 9th all-time, is unusual on one hand because it's a big man. On the other hand, big men have worse turnover rates than guards. So if Hakeem was primarily stripping big men, it's not as impressive as a guard stripping a guard, because big men are supposed to turn it over more. But if Hakeem was stripping a lot of guards too, then that's more impressive.
