When did that ever matter?

It's an immoderate, relentless, maybe unconscionable burden that has been put upon Deron Williams from the beginning and that currently burns all around him, not just because of the particular team that drafted him three seasons ago, but on account of the ridiculous way he's balling for that team now.

In other words, the whole thing is his own darn fault.

Half the thing, anyway.

The other half can be blamed on a legend.

So here that issue is: Given a choice, would you take Williams as your Jazz point guard or . . . hold onto your short shorts . . . John Stockton in his prime?

I know, I know, shush your mouth.

It's almost blasphemous to think the question, let alone actually pose it.

But the posing is warranted.

Williams has been that good of late, better even than You-Know-Who. No disrespect intended for the acclaimed and exalted figure behind the most inescapable shadow ever cast by a Jazz icon, Karl Malone included.

That's the way most Jazz fans see it.

Malone may have been more valuable to the franchise's success, carrying a heavier load on his shoulders. But Stockton will always be more revered. In fact, people here are the only basketball fans on the planet who honestly believe Stockton was not just the purest of all point guards, but better than the great Magic Johnson.

Still, Williams is doing as much for the Jazz now as Stockton did in his best years.

A glance at the numbers is a decent enough launch point.

Stockton's best statistical season was his sixth in the NBA (1989-90), when he averaged 17.2 points and 14.5 assists. The year before, he had 17.1 points and 13.6 assists, and the season after, 17.2 points and 14.2 assists. He shot better than 50 percent from the field in each of those seasons, as he did for his career - a remarkable achievement for a perimeter player. His career numbers included a scoring average of 13.1 points and 10.5 assists.

By comparison, last year, in Williams' second pro season, he averaged 16.2 points and 9.3 assists, hitting 46 percent of his shots. In '07-'08, Williams is averaging 19.2 points and 10.3 assists, dusting the nets at a field-goal percentage of .512.

More notably, since the beginning of 2008, Williams has led the Jazz on a 27-8 tear, and bolstered them by averaging 20 points and 15 assists.

His prowess was on display against the Celtics in Boston on Friday night, when the Jazz beat the league's best team, at least record-wise, and Williams guided his teammates to victory with 32 points, 13 of them coming in the fourth quarter.

"I tried to take over a little bit," Williams said, afterward. "It was time for me to assert myself a little more."

That quote, as much as any other, captures his overall effect on the Jazz through their rise in the West since the turn of the new year.

Plain and simple, Williams has been brilliant.

He's done what every great point guard should do - get his teammates involved to the extent that it's healthy without jeopardizing the outcome. And he's done more than just that. He's repeatedly slammed a triumphant hammer down with his own vast abilities at junctures in games that Magic himself called "winnin' time."

Stockton used to do that, too. He could control the tempo of games probably better than anyone of his generation. But his physical limitations - he was, after all, under 6 feet, not a single biscuit over 175 pounds, and hardly the fastest guard in the league - sometimes put a ceiling on the dimensions of his influence.

Williams has no such limitation.

At 6-foot-3, 239 pounds, he can finesse and overpower opponents, alternately hitting sweet-arcing jumpers and taking the ball hard to the rack, beating his own man, as well as bigger opponents coming with help defense. He can grab a game by its throat and hold on through to the end.

Stockton was a consummate competitor.

But Williams, who is still evolving, has more than a bit of that in him, too, regularly put on display alongside a bad-ass, in-your-grille attitude that may not make him the most popular dude around, but that wins his team a boatload of important games.

As remarkable as Stockton was, causing observers in nearly every game to shake their heads at some wizard-like pass, the truth is, Williams can do more. He may not do it for as long as the ever-ready, ever-durable Stockton did, but his upside for the short term is, indeed, more expansive.

The only thing to do now is sit back and watch Williams bend his curve upward. And see if he can veer his team's fate with it, all while carrying the pure one's legacy squarely on his back.

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* GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com.