But he played ball for 20 years. I think average number of assists per game is a better stat here, where he was ranked 136th according to this link [1].
There have been over 3000 people to play in the NBA. Ranking 136th still makes him better than the vast majority of people to have ever played the game. Especially as a two guard on a team that primarily ran the triangle, an offensive system that devalues traditional pick/roll dribble creation and generates most of it points on secondary actions (eg hockey assists) off high post play.
[1] http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ast_per_g_career...