But in those years Stockton still lead the league in Assists per game. IIRC Stockton went a decade of averaging over 10 per, which nobody else has done. Factoring in Isiah's court leadership and what not, it brings it closer, but Stockton had the cliche "made everyone around him better" going down.
Malone wouldn't be #2 Points overall without Stock (it works both ways, I know). Players that have pretty good years in Utah during the Stockton years usually saw their productivity fall after signing somewhere else or being traded. You have to point to Stockton's ability to see the court and get the right person the ball at the right time into that.
Also, outside of Malone and an outside shot of Hornecek like waaaay outside, Stockton never played with any Hall of Fame level players, where as The Bad Boys will get probably three, maybe four guys in (Rodman has a legit shot I believe).
What gets me is Stockton was only like 3 points behind Isiah, and the two doofuses who had Jason Kidd two spots above Stockton threw it off.