Efficient, yes. But tough? Malone and Stockton were the premier floppers in the league. They were doing it long before Vlade stepped into the league. Stockton on defense while Malone would flop constantly on offense. It was incredible how many free throws he got for someone with a limited post game. Majority of his shot attempts came from jumpers (either on the post or pick and pop play with Stockton). Stockton was one of the dirtiest players to ever play this game. Several players had complained about this. If i remember correctly, He was voted as one of the dirtiest players in the league by fellow NBA players. He was well known to elbow people in their sides and abdomen while the ref was looking the other way. That's not tough. That's thuggery. I can guarantee you you would not have liked how they played if you were on the court playing against them. Unless repeatedly getting elbowed turns you on.
Their offense required him to set a lot of picks. When you have a 6'0 guy trying to set effective picks on players much bigger than him, sometimes he has to put a little extra into it. I don't blame him or accuse him of being dirty. He had a job to do, and he did it effectively. Players don't like to deal with little guys setting hard picks against them. I'm sure it stung sometimes. But I don't think he was intentionally trying to hurt or aggravate opponents.
And how do you explain him elbowing players on the defensive end? His elbows were very much intentional and well placed. As for offense, Deron runs the same Sloan offense. I dont think i have seen or heard players complain of his elbows yet. Stockton might have needed "elbows" to run the offense smoothly, but it doesnt make him any less dirty.
That's because Deron doesn't run the offense as well as Stockton. Show me an example of Stockton intentionally elbowing someone in an unsportsmanlike manner, and I'll comment on it. I don't remember it being a big issue when I was watching him play in the 90s.
I dont have Stockton videos saved on my HDD, or I would have glady made some clips. Readers pick for dirtiest players... some of the comments in the link below. Plenty of others have seen what I have seen. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/readers/dirtiest/players.html In addition, I have already mentioned the SI poll which i read in the early 90s. Players voted the dirtiest players and Sotckton was right there in it.
If there was a poll of dirtiest players in the league today, Scola would probably make the list. Does that mean he's a bad guy and I shouldn't respect the effort he puts into the game? Nope. Like I said, the way the Jazz played he was asked to set a lot of screens. Players don't like to deal with hard screens from little guys. Its not something they're used to, and its probably not very comfortable. But that's what Stockton was asked to do in their system, and he did it effectively for many years. I can't dislike him for that.
Because it didn't/doesn't exist anywhere else. The Rockets were barely talked about on talk radio in Houston then, much less the Jazz.
damn straight plutoblue11! has anyone mentioned duncan/parker/manu yet? those three actually won rings. how about dumars/thomas/laimbeer - 2 rings more than the jazz ever got.
the link zboy posted really speaks volumes. this isnt just basketball - its sports in general - and malone and stockton are both top 5. all you JOFs out there can put this in your pipe and smoke it!
i am comparing the 90's utah jazz to the mass murder of innocent people. and if you are going to quote other posters make sure you do it properly or i shall report you to the moderators. 5/29/97 was our 9/11. our destiny was stolen from us on that fateful day - the world was robbed of what would have been the epic showdown of the 90's - bulls vs. rockets - dream, barkley and drexler vs. jordan, quitten and rodman. the rockets were going to show the world that their back-to-backs were no fluke - no more excuses about how we only won b/c jordan was out. and it was f***ing stolen from us!!! add to that the fact that they were dirty-ass players and cheap shot artists who went around intentionally trying to hurt other players. and even worse, when karl malone was in his 20's he impregnated a 13 year old girl...but he is supposed to be this great guy who is worthy of 'respect'? i say HELL NO! is this something you JOFs can understand?
He isn't, but he gets under the skin of opposing players because he puts his body in their way and he has a penchant for flopping.
Whatever happened to the poster with the best moniker ever: Kill Dirty Stockton? I wonder what he/she would have to say about the Jazz troika.
I really doubt that's enough for players to vote him as dirty. Especially when Reggie Evans is still in the league.
Scola is dirty. He pushes, pulls, and flops. Basically commits sneaky fouls and tries to lead the refs into thinking there was a foul against him that there really wasn't. Skill-wise, Scola is my favorite rocket but I find it hard to believe our fans don't notice his dirty play while fans of all the other teams do. Sloan teaches those types of dirty tactics to his players. Sure, if you don't get called for it technically is just "efficient" play but it really cheapens the game. It isn't skill or talent. It's just a team, a player, or a coach that has lowered them self to doing anything to win, even when it's against the intent of the rules.
I respect the effort he puts in the game but I dont like his antics (shoves, elbows, constant flopping). To me, Scola is dirty. He was one of my fav. Rockets when he joined the team but his extra-cirricular activities have soured me. Putting in effort does not negate cheating in my book. Bruce Bowen put a lot of effort in the games too. I agree with pmac's post below.
Getting under opposing players' skin isn't dirty in most people's mind. Flopping maybe. But Scola is far from being one of the worst floppers in the league. I mean, if you were to name the top 5 floppers, would Scola be on that list? To me, and I think to most people as well, "dirty" means intentionally injuring people. It also means cheating with illegal tactics such as bear-hug picks. There is also the off court personality. Karl Malone is well-known of his douche-ness. Scola has no such problems.
