John Stockton's Utah Jazz had a reputation for underperforming in the playoffs relative to their regular-season performance.

This thread examines that reputation.

During Stockton's 19 years, the Jazz had many good teams in the RS: 11 seasons w/ over 50 victories. But they were seldom dominant.

They also played in a tough West: Lakers, Blazers, Spurs, Sonics all won over 60 games multiple times.

So Jazz often were underdogs in POs.

Better regular-season SRS in 36 PO series:
16 Jazz
20 Opponent

Jazz's actual W-L record in PO series:
17-19

So you could argue that Jazz *slightly* overperformed.

But in reality, Jazz had some bad losses.

In 182 PO games, Stockton's Jazz teams:

Won -4.1 PO games fewer than expected based on their regular-season SRS.

-.023 Wins below Expected per game.

How does that compare to other great players' teams?

Playoffs:

WAE/G, WAE
.128, 33.2 LeBron
.109, 19.5 Jordan
.102, 22.5 Kobe
.094, 17.9 Magic
.089, 12.9 Hakeem
.069, 14.9 Shaq
.059, 14.0 Kareem
.053, 6.9 Baylor
.045, 6.9 West
.042, 6.7 Wilt
.041, 6.8 Russell
.040, 10.0 Duncan
.016, 1.9 D-Rob
.008, 1.4 Bird
-.023, -4.1 Stockton*

For Stockton's first 7 yrs (1985-91), Jazz were good but great in RS.

In POs, Jazz had higher SRS than opponent only 2 of 10 series. They won 3 of 10.

But overall, they were -2.4 WAE and -.051 WAE/G in this period.

Jazz improved in mid-1990s, especially after adding Hornacek in 1994 to the Stockton-Malone combo.

From 1994-98, Jazz averaged 59 wins and 6.36 SRS.

Jazz improved even more in POs.
From 1992-1998, Jazz were 10-7 in PO series, and were +2.5 WAE and +.025 WAE/G.

But Stockton's Jazz closed badly:
-4.3 WAE in his final 35 PO games
-.123 WAE/G
Yikes!

% of PO series that player's team OVERperformed (over +0.5)

65% Magic
63% LeBron
58% Kobe
55% Hakeem
54% Jordan
53.3% Shaq
53.2% Duncan
53.1% Kareem
45% Russell
41% Wilt
38% Baylor
37% D-Rob
33% West
33% Bird
28% Stockton*

% of PO series that player's team UNDERperformed (under -0.5)

11% Jordan
12% LeBron
13% Baylor
15% West
16% Kobe
18% Magic
21% Wilt
22% Kareem
24.1% Hakeem
24.2% Bird
26% Duncan
27% Shaq
28% Russell
30% D-Rob
39% Stockton*

Stockton played in 2 Finals, both against the Bulls:

WAE: Finals, Opponent:
-0.48: 1997, Bulls
-0.7: 1998, Bulls

-1.2 WAE in 12 games
-.099 WAE/G

Finals:
Wins Above Expected (WAE)/G:

+.224 Hakeem
+.130 D-Rob
+.116 Jordan
+.084 Duncan
+.075 Kobe
+.028 Shaq
+.016 Russell
+.002 Magic
-.004 Kareem
-.016 LeBron
-.025 Baylor
-.040 West*
-.057 Wilt
-.069 Bird
-.099 Stockton*

Playoffs:

WAE/G, WAE
.128, 33.2 LeBron
.109, 19.5 Jordan
.102, 22.5 Kobe
.094, 17.9 Magic
.089, 12.9 Hakeem
.069, 14.9 Shaq
.059, 14.0 Kareem
.053, 6.9 Baylor
.045, 6.9 West
.042, 6.7 Wilt
.041, 6.8 Russell
.040, 10.0 Duncan
.016, 1.9 D-Rob
.008, 1.4 Bird
-.023, -4.1 Stockton*

For more on Stockton, Malone, and the Jazz troubles in the playoffs, see this thread: https://twitter.com/grisingTRS/status/1299155319449214977