John Stockton was back at practice Wednesday, the day after the day after. He drove to the Westminster College parking lot without incident this time. In a loaner Lexus. The same drive Monday had turned into the most well-publicized car wreck of the year, even if no one was seriously injured. "John Stockton in Accident, Calls in on Car Phone, Says He's OK" was the page one headline in Salt Lake, Seattle, and New York City.
It seems the more Stockton shuns the spotlight the more he lands smack in it.He is a recluse by nature, closer to Howard Hughes than Charles Barkley. Anyone who knows him or has seen him behind closed doors knows his wit is as quick as his passes. But Stockton never has wanted to run for office, or open a restaurant, or talk with crowds for that matter, and his inclination in public is to be a blend-in-the-crowd kind of person. The kind of person he was in Barcelona last summer. Now that was Stockton's idea of heaven. He was a member of the most famous basketball team in the history of the world and yet he could walk the streets unnoticed. He was not the prototypical Dream Teamer. He was not black, he was not tall, and, when wearing a golf shirt while walking Las Ramblas, he looked like any other tourist from the States.
Once, so the story goes, he was asked by another tourist from the States if he would mind taking a picture of the tourist while he stood by Barkley. Stockton said sure, and snapped the photo. Heaven.
Almost a year later, the scene is not the same, however. John Stockton IS the prototypical Utah Jazz player, and wherever he goes, he makes more headlines than headway. Especially when the playoffs begin, and all eyes are on Utah's favorite team and its favorite point guard.
Monday's accident was more proof of that, just as it was the continuation of the wildest and strangest year Stockton has had since he broke into the NBA nine years ago; a year that began, more or less, when Portland's Clyde Drexler knocked Stockton, and the Jazz, out of the NBA playoffs last May when Drexler's finger inadvertently poked halfway through Stockton's eye.
The year's most well-publicized poke in the eye gave way six weeks later to the year's most well-publicized broken leg. The break came when Stockton collided with Dream Team teammate Michael Jordan during the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Portland.
(Aside: One thing you have to hand to Stockton alongside the fact that he delivers assists better than anyone in the history of the NBA: When he has a collision, he has a colision with high-profile vehicles - from Clyde Drexler to Michael Jordan to a sedan owned by a Utah Jazz season ticket-holder in last Monday's wreck).
"One thing about everything that's happened," said Stockton yesterday after practice, "it all could have been a lot worse. When I think about it that's what I realize more than anything - that I'm fortunate."
Not that he WANTED to think about it. Or talk about it for that matter. Once they find him, Stockton tolerates any and all questions from members of the media with courtesy but not with amplification. The best quote is a short quote, that's his policy. He is a master of the three-minute interview. If you want his life story he'll stretch it to five.
He sees absolutely no connection between his car accident and either his profession or the playoffs. He sees no reason why he shouldn't be as ready to play as he's ever been. He was ready to play Tuesday night in Game 3 of the current first-round series with the Seattle SuperSonics - as punctuated by his 11 points, 10 assists, four steals and fiesty shove of Sam Perkins (even if he was giving away 82 pounds) in the Jazz's 90-80 win. And he'll be ready to play tonight when Game 4 tips off in the Delta Center.
"I love these games," he said of the playoffs. "All the pressure. It's like (fielding) a line drive. You don't have time to think about it. Just react."
You could say as much about the last 12 months.