colts18 wrote:We now have 10 years (1994-2003) of Plus/Minus data for Stockton and MaloneCode: Select all
Malone Stockton
MP 29246 24585
+/- +4496 +4483
On 8.2 9.7
Off -2.1 -1.3
Net 10.3 11.0
Malone outscored Stockton by a mere 13 points over that span but outplayed Stockton by 4661 MP so Stockton gets the slight overall lead in Net Plus/Minus. We have 10 years of data and we still don't have enough to make a conclusion on the Stockton vs Malone debate
Well, I'm all for saying we don't have enough, but when I see that comparison it seems to imply that it was basically even the whole time. It wasn't though. Part of what left us so intrigued with Stockton is that he was getting more impressive numbers than Malone, and the big question was how that would look if we went deeper into the past. And the answer is that with just 3 additional years of data, Malone's already taken the lead in raw +/-.
While I agree that I still want more data, my big question was whether Stockton would maintain this edge when playing big minutes and being compared to Malone in his prime. The answer to this point at least is no. That Stockton's edge was the product of the two players aging, Stockton handling it better, and Malone being asked to do more while Stockton was able to pick his fight a bit more.