Then there is Paul, who was selected one spot behind No. 3 overall pick Williams in the 2005 NBA Draft — but has cast something of a shadow over him since, winning Rookie of the Year honors almost unanimously and making himself this year a lead character in an MVP discussion that doesn't even include Williams.

Paul and Williams are, and will continue to be, constantly compared — and certainly will draw further scrutiny should they meet in a surprise Jazz-Hornets Western Conference Finals series.

But demanding Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, for one, is thrilled to have Williams sitting in the seat left warm by Stockton — a chair that was tested by, but didn't quite fit, the likes of Carlos Arroyo, Raul Lopez, Mo Williams, Keith McLeod and Milt Palacio.

"He's been terrific," Sloan said. "That's the only thing I can say about him."

Actually, Sloan could — and did — say a lot more.

"We don't have a lot of teaching to do with him," said Sloan, whose only star pupil at the point for more than a decade and a half was Stockton. "He picks stuff up very well and very quick, and he goes out on the floor and he does it."

Williams is so adept at running the Jazz offense that Sloan has allowed him to call plays for much of the past two seasons, something not even Stockton — by his own volition — ventured to do.

"We're giving him more and more responsibility, because he probably does a better job than I do, and that makes it a little easier for me," Sloan said. "I think that's the bottom line."

It's a type of trust not easily won from Sloan, a man often falsely portrayed as unwilling to budge from his time-tested ways.

But the 20th-season Jazz coach has given Williams unprecedented rein, and it's in large part because of the way in which Williams so swiftly proved his worth.

That's the case even though the two did not initially see eye-to-eye, mostly because Williams thought he was NBA-ready early in his rookie season — and Sloan instead opted to make the prized pick pay some dues, playing NBA journeyman McLeod ahead of him.

It's also the case even though Williams is a bit unbridled, especially when contrasted to the steadier Stockton.

They employ decidedly different styles — Williams is something of a risk-taker, Stockton was much more by the book — yet Sloan has come to accept the former's just as much as he did the latter's.

"He's got to be who he's got to be. I'm not gonna change that about him. Same thing with John Stockton," Sloan said. "You're not gonna change a lot of things about them, because they'll let you know what they can do, and they'll show you what they can do day-in and day-out.

"That takes time," Sloan added, "for us to get confidence in each other."