Mark Price was the FIRST guy to split the double. No one had even thought of it before, that's how elementary it was. Now everyone can split the double. His first step wasn't anything where you'd convincing me that he'd be better at it now than everyone else.
I'd love to know how a 6'0" guy with no hops is finishing in today's NBA. He's not putting up acrobatic circus-layups like Kyrie (and Kyrie is both taller and far more athletic). So how is he getting the ball in the hoop?
This is what Mark Price's lack of athleticism looked like when he was trying to finish without an open path to the hoop:
Come on now.
And you know how I found that clip? I just typed "Mark Price playoffs" into youtube and that's the first video I clicked on. When you look outside of highlights clips you see plays like that right away. He'd still play in the league due to his court awareness and feel for the game but he ain't gonna be no 1st-team All-NBA or any sort of star at all at that height with that little athleticism.
Also notice that Price is playing next to Ehlo AND Kerr, who take turns guarding Petrovic. Danny Ferry and Chris Dudley on the court too. Six unathletic White Americans (wait 5, not Petro obviously) in the same playoff game. I'm supposed to believe that all of those guys could ball just as well in this era, but that White Americans...what, just stopped liking basketball or something?
Y'all WILDING now. This post exposed 90s stans more than anything else in the whole list.
Steph, CP3, Conley, and Lowry are all
extremely athletic. MUCH, MUCH more athletic than John Stockton. The fact that you thought they weren't athletic just shows how accustomed you've become to the incredible all-around level of athleticism in today's NBA.
Conley's dad was an Olympic gold medalist in the triple-jump and a World Championships bronze medalist in the long jump. Conley was the fastest player in the combine, benched 185 pounds 13 times, and had a 40" running vertical. (36" standing). He is
insanely athletic. In the 1990s he would have been a marvel. But in today's game, you fukking called him "unathletic".
Steph, CP3, and Lowry aren't Conley level but all three are very very good athletes too. Stockton is nowhere near their level.
Bullshyt. Stockton almost certainly couldn't jump even 30" at might bench 185lbs five times tops (if that). And he ain't quick. Saying that Stockton is as athletic as Conley is WILD shyt.
Nearly 30 pounds heavier than Stockton because he's so much stronger, something like a 40" vertical, and a very quick first step. If he had anything like Stockton-level athleticism he never would have touched the league even with all his skill.
Remember his form on jump shots? He had to jump about two feet in the air to get that thing off.
Now watch Stockton. I time-stamped if for the layin because it's wack as hell. He NEEDS to get off the ground and he still barely jumps.
Then watch Stockton's jump shot. Again, he barely gets off the ground on it, the only reason it works is because the defender is giving him 4 feet of space and not challenging the shot. But that's how it worked in the 1990s - defenders didn't really challenge threes, especially not in the regular season, unless the game was going down to the wire.
You can watch plenty of clips of Stockton shooting and notice the same thing. He doesn't shoot when guarded closely, only when given space, because he doesn't have the height to shoot over guys and he doesn't have the first step or the hops to create separation.
So what would he do in today's era where three-point shooters are guarded tight and three-point shots are challenged? He'd still be able to run the point, but he wouldn't be a scorer at all, he wouldn't be a star. He'd be a 12 and 10 guy at best and there's a dozen other guards who would be making All-NBA and All-Star teams over him.
Tell me, what happened to IT's game the SECOND he lost just a bit of that athleticism?
He still has all the skill in the world, but taking just a little bit off his quickness, and he fell so hard he's basically unplayable.
So it don't sound stupid at all to say that the 40" vert (and corresponding strength/quickness) was the only thing keeping him anywhere near star level.
Price, Skiles, Stockton, Hornacek, Kerr, Paxson, and del Negro were all short White guards in the 1990s. (Nash and White Chocolate too if you count the end of the 1990s). Bobby Hurley was the #7 draft pick too then he got in the car accident. Then if you count 6'4"/6'5" guys you also had Chapman, Petrovic, Sura, Barry. All 15 of those guys were starters except for Kerr and Kerr was a vital 20-25 minute piece of multiple title teams. So get out of there with that "there were only 2 white point guards" bullshyt. When Stockton came up in the 1990s the league was still like 25% American White guys, that slowly diminished during the 1990s but he was only hanging on like a dinosaur.
Stockton could ball. But he wouldn't be a star in the game today. And 1990s white guys weren't drinking no magic juice back then that they suddenly forgot to bring to the 2010s.
brehs just refuse to let go of the past, you hate to see it 
