IT ISN'T EASY being John Stockton's backup. No, sir. You try waiting on a legend. Sit, sit, sit, that's all you do. How do you practice for that? Go to church? You could read a novel right there on the bench. Or write letters and complete a home-study course. You've got the time.
Oh, sometimes there are interruptions. Sometimes there are timeouts when you have to stand up and grant high fives to the guys who are playing and act interested when the coach barks instructions in the huddle even though you sometimes peak at the Jazz Dancers. And sometimes you actually get called into the game, cold and stiff. You play a couple of minutes and, just as your heart rate reaches the aerobic range, wham, you're outta there, sitting on your caboose again. If that's not bad enough, the coaches expect you to improve.Right.
Why don't they just ask you to do something easy, like dunk on Hakeem Olajuwon.
Howard Eisley is trying out for the job now, right? Lotsa luck. Yo, Howard, better rent, don't buy, and keep the bags packed and the resume current.
For three years, John Crotty was Stockton's stand-in. Then early this month the Utah Jazz called and laid him off. With one phone call, Crotty went from guarding Kevin Johnson to going one-on-one with some gym rat in a pickup game at Deseret Gym, trying to stay in shape.
Crotty discovered the same thing his predecessors did; playing backup to Stockton is not permanent work.
Since 1988, the Jazz have hired and released six players to serve as Stockton's caddy. Eddie Hughes lasted 21/2 months. Jim Les less than 3 months. Eric Johnson 16 months. Delaney Rudd 21/2 years. Eric Murdock 11 months. Crotty 3 years.
You wonder why the Jazz don't call Kelly Girls. They don't need a full-time player to back up Stockton; they need a temp.
Scott Layden, the Jazz's director of operations, explains the Crotty decision: "You look for a player who can grow." Translation: If a player fails to continue to improve and show promise, he's gone. "You can't stand still or you'll fall behind," says Layden. "You have to make changes. You can't wait and do it all at once, or you'll go to the bottom of the league. The easiest thing for us to do after winning 60 games last season was to come back with the same 13 players, but you can't do that."
But how does a player grow when he spends most of his time parked on his rear. Sure, Stockton's 33 years old, but he's going on 23. He has showed no signs of slowing, and he refuses to get hurt. He's an iron man. During his 11 years in the NBA, Stockton has missed four games - total. He has played in 898 of 902 regular-season games and 89 playoff games. Ten times in 11 years he has played in every game the Jazz played.
"Every year they say they want to play (Stockton) fewer minutes," says Crotty, "and every year he plays about the same amount of time. It's amazing he can do that and take the pounding he gets without getting hurt."
So Stockton plays while the other guy sits and grows rust. Crotty lasted longer than most of the backups ("He did the best job," says Layden). Each season his playing time increased. He played in 40 games his first season, 45 his second season and 80 games last season, when he averaged 12.4 minutes, 3.7 points and 2.6 assists per game - all career highs.
"I felt like I did the job the way it was supposed to be done," says Crotty. "I gave a lot to that organization on and off the court. I tried to do the right things. I tried to put the team and organization before myself. It was very disappointing."
After a couple of weeks of waiting and training, Crotty found a new team this week. The Cleveland Cavaliers signed him to a guaranteed one-year contract. He'll be a backup again, but this time he'll wait behind Terrell Brandon instead of an ironman legend-in-the-making.
"I think it will be a good situation that should allow me to play more minutes," says Crotty.
Meanwhile, who knows, maybe Eisley, or even swingman Jamie Watson, will endure as Stockton's backup, or more. Stranger things have happened. In 1984, the Jazz drafted a relatively unknown, small-college player solely for the purpose of backing up point guard Rickey Green. Now, 11 years later, nobody can get John Stockton off the floor.