As for the Stockton argument, a couple of points. There is no way Stockton would be on the all-80s team. Stockton didn't become a star (or even a starter) until 87-88. However, it's absurd to not put him on the all 90s team. Maybe assists are subjective, but their clearly not given enough emphasis in the HOF monitor, as exemplified by there being only 1 point guard of the 8 all 80s all 90s team, and the one was a 20 point, 7 rebound pg who won 5 championships. As for the Stockton/Nash comparison, it doesn't work. Yes Nash is a better scorer, whose similarly ridiculous fg% for a pg reflects more shots taken. Nash doesn't have the assists that Stockton did, but no one does, and one could argue his superior scoring makes up for that. However, the defense is what separates them. Stockton is a 5 time all NBA defender whose Defensive rating was in the low 100s over his career, and who averaged 3+ steals on multiple occasions. Nash's defense is actually probably sub par. Yes, his amazing offensive abilities more than makes up for it, and still allows him to be one of the top 10 point guards of all time, no doubt. However, it separates him from Stockton. If Nash's offense is a 10, which it certainly is, Stockton is a 9, probably inferior, but still close. If Stockton's defense is a 9 (you could argue 8, but no lower), Nash's is a 5 at best. Stockton, therefore belongs in that top 5 that can only consist of Magic, Thomas, Robertson, Cousy, and himself, in no particular order. Nash can be up there with Frazier, Tiny, and the like, but cannot break the top 5, unless perhaps (though still unlikely) he wins a championship.

barkley leads malone in every stat except scoring (if you look at it from a per game basis), and his shooting % was also significantly higher. take stockton out of the picture and barkley would have likely had a higher ppg average also.

so barkley, who was 5" shorter, leads malone in rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and shooting %, but scored 3 pts less per game because he was never blessed to play with the greatest point guard in recent history. barkley was better in the paint and from the perimeter, he was more dynamic, more versatile and a much more spectacular and exciting player to watch.

any one want to tell me how malone was better?

for the record, i also think barkley was a better player than duncan, although u can't really argue with 4 rings. i guess that was chucks one flaw - he couldn't bring his team together to win the ultimate prize.

A great example is Wilt in '68; he set a personal goal of leading the league in assists, to prove he wasn't selfish; he achieved his goal, but the sixers failed to repeat as champs, in part because he wouldn't assert himself offensively when the team needed it.

The Bird / McHale pick and roll was ridiculous. Teams were so afraid to give Larry and day light and Kevin would dive to the paint so quick and finished the overthetop passes without taking the ball down.