Isiah is more diverse, Isiah is quicker, he is a better defender, a better score, has a bigger personality, has beaten Jordan, Magic and Bird; the list goes on and on... and I haven't even mentioned his All Star MVP, NBA MVP and Finals MVP awards. In Isiah's Prime you could debate that he was better than everyone. You can't say the same for Stocton.

I know stats are important, but they often lie too, or can be misleading. Zeke's importance as a PG can never be measured with stats only. Many "winners" are victims of the stat game after they retire. Stockton's longevity and efficiency are very important and can't be dismissed. But on the floor, running my team, early in the season or late in the playoffs, I want the proven winner - and that hands down is Isiah Thomas. No disrespect to Stockton, at all. Winners role model and teach others how to win - sometimes at all costs. A great player with great stats may not be able to do this as effectively, despite the numbers.

I like that some of you guys mention race. This matters. Becasue stats can be used to inflate or diminish a player's worth, we see white players getting props on stats when not winning rings (Stockton for example) and black players losing props for not winning a ring despite hellish stats (Dominique). I also like that some of you guys mention "character" issues. This matters less but I do think there is a right way to play. Stockton and Zeke both played PG the right way, I think. But, none of this -character, stats...etc. - matters as much as winning rings. Maybe I'm a throwback.

One last note - Zeke torched or beat several guys on that top ten list to win a ring. This has to matter.

Give me the rings over the numbers any day. Last I checked, we play to win!

Stats is somewhat influenced by teammates depending on which stats you choose. Today we have more refined stats that are better at off-setting pace, matchups and teamplay as well as measuring more subtle things like defense. Head-to-head is out of the equation also because teams play against teams even though certain individuals matchup and players have different roles on different team despite being each others matchup. Opinion is what makes sport tick but this is highly biased through media and this is where Stock is at a great disadvantage thanks to being very, very low key, playing in low media market. In those two aspects Zeke enjoys the upper hand and this explains why Zeke is a bit overrated (while still being an all-time great)and Stock is the most underrated player in NBA history.
Let's focus on the most objective way to determine this case: stats, but first a little sidenote on championships.

The guy that says that MJ was better late 80's is so lost. Never has a team in history enjoyed a more dominant 3 year span like Bulls 96-98. (Check up the numbers yourself, point diff, wins - ridicuolus). And besides some of us still remember Ron Harper making a 2 pointer after and Eisleys long 3 being waved of by Bavetta, both calls went against Jazz for a total of 5 points in the 6th gm '98 which was decided by one...
These two possessions is nothing but cold facts that are easily evident if you have slowmo on your old vcr. If you look at all-time teams the '97 jazz rank among the very best offenses ever, yet the were stopped in their tracks by the powerhouse bulls.
When we go back to late 80's we see in '88 the c's came apart, cavs & bulls too young and pretty much noone else in east. Only one 60 win team which indicates parity, which means that to be the best in this year you don't have to be that great.
'89 lakers were 11-0 only to go 0-4 we scott & magic went down, old kareem less depth the before whcih means that 11-0 i west only says bad comp. East had cavs and not much else and they were taken care of by bulls, only one 60 win team in the league this year.
´90 were without doubt the toghest year of the three with por, lal, chi challenging det and jazz & spurs also sporting good teams.
I don't like these argument though since they are based on speculations and not what actually happend.

Therefore we move to the most accurate way to solve this dispute, namely stats.
The thing is when it comes to stats you can choose any possible stat except scoring per game & scoring per minute as well as drawing fouls and it´s a nocontest in favor of Stock. PER, ORTG, TS%, DRTG, WS, DWS, total career, per game or peak season it does not matter. If you don't trust me look for yourself http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/thomais01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/stockjo01.html

True as some have noted above that it is easier to produce efficiently in lesser minutes, but this makes it sound like Stock played significantly fewer minutes. Stock played 4,5 mpg fewer than Zeke and this comes from being a backup to Ricky Green for his first 3 years and Sloan monitoring his minutes a little bit closer his last 6 years. This 4,5 mpg does in now way come close to offsetting the enormous advantage Stock has in the statistical categories.
If this is an argument then you must also count for how much easier it is to put up big per game numbers the fewer years/games you play and Stocks advantage in keeping his production over 1,54 times as many reg sea games as Isiah is huuuge.

If I'm allowed to throw in my two cents of opionion as a closer I would like to inform you that I personally know two persons who played a few years with Zeke in Detroit and they have told all kinds of stories about ridicuolus (in the good way) stuff he did (also quite a few not so nice stories off-court), and to me it is still a no-brainer in this case. Aside of the objective measures mentioned above, Stock is a superior as a leader (you don't have to be in the newspaper to be a leader), screener, defender, hardnosed player(despite his style of play injured in only two seasons of 19!) and not the least playing the right way like larry would say.

As for shooting %, if Stockton had been forced to be his team's primary scorer, as Zeke was, his FG% and 3Point% would probably be much lower; it's easy to hit a higher % when all your attempts are spot up jumpers against single coverage.

Switch Isaiah from 89 with Stock from 97 and the Pistons don't win the title. On the other hand, Malone and Zeke together might have beaten the Bulls

Stock > Zeke

@TC (Per 36mins) Stock was 15pts - 12asts - 2.5stls at 60.8 TS%, while Isiah was 19pts - 9asts - 1.9stls at 51.6 TS%

PER
Stock: Ave 21.8 Max 23.9
Isiah: Ave 18.1 Max 22.2

"Consistency and longevity determines greatness"