Karl Malone

[NewYorkNoPicks]

Karl Malone > Tim Duncan

stop believing what a lot of "experts" say and watch for yourself. Prime Mailman would destroy Timmayyy. Theres not one thing Duncan did better than Malone aside from passing.

[Jasper]

2x MVP
13x AllStar
11x All NBA First Team
3x All NBA Defensive First Team
1986 Rookie Of The Year

36,928 points 2nd in NBA
14,968 rebounds 6th in the NBA
5,238 assist

Career Average: 25.0PPG 10.1RPG 3.6APG .516fg%


When discussing and arguing who is in the top 10 why isn't The Mailman in the discussion? Base on his numbers, stats, team success, longevity and accolades Karl Malone should be in the discussion.

And can the ISH please educate me on the Great Karl Malone.

He is one of my all time favorite players , and its based on his work ethic as well as defining the PF position.
When he came into the league it was brawl city , when it came to low post players. Malone immediate realized if he were to survive in the league he would need to work out annually and 'build' his body for the punishment.
He is a top 10 player on my list for a few reasons ... but I want to go back to a few weeks ago what I stated about the league today and it "IS the ERA of the best PF's in the history of the league"
PF spot is really defined as a roster spot to support the center spot in low post play , strong side , and that means low post offense , defense , and board work , besides out let passes and screens for wing players and blocking shots.
IMO he became the prototypical' POWER FORWARD.
His reliabilty shows by his stats , and his smarts were top of the league.
he was under rated as a defender , but you don't get boards like he did , unless you know how to use your foot work and position out.
* Problem is Euro players came into the league when American Big men were at the lowest for Centers as well as PF's .. So you immediately saw lengthy players with weak inside games playing like SF's.
Take 80-95% of the power forwards from the 80's and 90's and ask them to defend a SF out on the wing and they would look at you cross eyed.
Well that is what happened to the proto type PF in Malone and other PF's needing to guard weak a$$ PF's that couldn't play on the low blocks.
Malone could pick with the best of them , and obviously John Stockton was his fav player to play with in that left side high and low post.
All those vids of him doing it with John , now multiply them by thousands.. they were that good and no one could stop them.
Silky smooth jumper , high percentage free throw shooter , and a PF that could run the floor like a SF and dunk .
He was a great one.

[rodman91]

Karl Malone > Tim Duncan

stop believing what a lot of "experts" say and watch for yourself. Prime Mailman would destroy Timmayyy. Theres not one thing Duncan did better than Malone aside from passing.

There are many things Duncan did better and many things Malone did better.Duncan in prime was much better on blocking shots and great stopper in the lane.Better rebounder.And better post player.Malone had better range and shooting skills. (even though Duncan had bank shot back then) Better at stealing,much more agressive and better scorer. Duncan is PF/C (mostly C).Malona was truely POWER Forward.

[Fatal9]

Yeah, his passing and post defense aren't talked about much here and the choker thing is exaggerated with Karl. I'm not saying he's an all time clutch player, but he's had great series before and in 2000 at what? 35/36 years old he was still arguably a top 5 player, he led that aging cast to 55 wins and he dropped 50 in a playoff game. His longevity is second to only Kareem. He was an elite player in 3 different decades and losing athleticism didn't affect his game at all until he was in his late 30's. And even in his last season, he was extremely valuable to the Lakers when he was on the court.

I dislike Karl Malone the person, but as a player, I have a great deal of admiration for him. He always played hard and his work ethic was phenomenal.

Gets way too much held against him, and Stockton doesn't get enough of the blame in some of these games.

A lot of times, the Jazz really lacked a secondary scorer beside him who they could count on for 20 points a night and the ability to create his own shot (Stockton definitely wasn't providing that especially as the 90s progressed). You almost always need a secondary scorer like that to win in the playoffs. Jeff Malone was that guy for a couple of years but really afterwards, the Jazz never had someone like that around him. Lot of his great moments have kind of either been forgotten or turned against him. The game 7 in Seattle in '96 for example is held against him as a "choking moment", but the Jazz had NO business of ever being in a 7 game series with those Sonics especially with Stockton playing like shit (Malone averaged like 29/13/5 on great shooting to even get the Jazz to that point). Sometimes he did nothing wrong but gets blamed (see loss to Rockets in '95). In that elimination game, got no help from teammates in the second half, even made a three pointer to keep the season alive but gets blamed because Dream was hitting impossible fallaways and Drexler (unlike Stockton) actually stepped up and had a massive game too. '92 is another year I thought they should have made the finals but Porter torched Stockton, Blazers were too talented even though Malone stepped up and took over in several games (most memorable was in the second half of the Delaney Rudd game).

You'd like to see him perform better in those finals against the Bulls. Terrible in '97 but decent in '98. He faced great D (Rodman being a pest, Pippen drawing charges, Jordan swarming), but after that first game where he couldn't make a shot, I didn't think he was too bad. Only guy who played well when his team scored 54 points for example, came out on fire but like all throughout the finals, he got no scoring help, no second guy who could create his own shot. That's what happens when you have old Hornacek and old Stockton (who Pippen made look useless because he shut down the pick&roll) as your next best "scoring threats" while you're going against Jordan...Pippen...Kukoc (and then much better defensive personnel too), you're not beating the Bulls.

Was he the most reliable guy in those moments? No, you could just tell he got rattled sometimes by his body language, but his great moments/playoff series don't get nearly the credit they deserve. And he wasn't as bad in the playoffs as people make him out to be either. Everyone has their stinkers but Malone has played well in too many playoff games to use those to dismiss his legacy.

[Jasper]

Karl Malone > Tim Duncan

stop believing what a lot of "experts" say and watch for yourself. Prime Mailman would destroy Timmayyy. Theres not one thing Duncan did better than Malone aside from passing.

This is a fine line in regards to discussion , because we all knew that Duncan would not be able to run the floor long enough with his length to guard and play PF for his whole career. (Yea - I admit he has played more less the center spot for a few years)
Where Duncan excell'ed in the low post , Malone was as efficient and better than Duncan at the high post. Malone's jumper was much more versatile on the floor , while Timmy has go to spots typical of strictly a low block player.
In a SENSE Duncan kind of redefined the PF spot along with Garnett.
Back in the 70's 80's and even early 90's they would of been defined as CENTERS.
I appreciate the fact you looked at both players games and can reflect back on a player so many posters never even see play the game in his prime.

-----------
FAtal 9 great post about some of the specifics

[ShaqAttack3234]

Gets way too much held against him, and Stockton doesn't get enough of the blame in some of these games.

A lot of times, the Jazz really lacked a secondary scorer beside him who they could count on for 20 points a night and the ability to create his own shot (Stockton definitely wasn't providing that especially as the 90s progressed). You almost always need a secondary scorer like that to win in the playoffs. Jeff Malone was that guy for a couple of years but really afterwards, the Jazz never had someone like that around him. Lot of his great moments have kind of either been forgotten or turned against him. The game 7 in Seattle in '96 for example is held against him as a "choking moment", but the Jazz had NO business of ever being in a 7 game series with those Sonics especially with Stockton playing like shit (Malone averaged like 29/13/5 on great shooting to even get the Jazz to that point). Sometimes he did nothing wrong but gets blamed (see loss to Rockets in '95). In that elimination game, got no help from teammates in the second half, even made a three pointer to keep the season alive but gets blamed because Dream was hitting impossible fallaways and Drexler (unlike Stockton) actually stepped up and had a massive game too. '92 is another year I thought they should have made the finals but Porter torched Stockton, Blazers were too talented even though Malone stepped up and took over in several games (most memorable was in the second half of the Delaney Rudd game).

You'd like to see him perform better in those finals against the Bulls. Terrible in '97 but decent in '98. He faced great D (Rodman being a pest, Pippen drawing charges, Jordan swarming), but after that first game where he couldn't make a shot, I didn't think he was too bad. Only guy who played well when his team scored 54 points for example, came out on fire but like all throughout the finals, he got no scoring help, no second guy who could create his own shot. That's what happens when you have old Hornacek and old Stockton (who Pippen made look useless because he shut down the pick&roll) as your next best "scoring threats" while you're going against Jordan...Pippen...Kukoc (and then much better defensive personnel too), you're not beating the Bulls.

Was he the most reliable guy in those moments? No, you could just tell he got rattled sometimes by his body language, but his great moments/playoff series don't get nearly the credit they deserve. And he wasn't as bad in the playoffs as people make him out to be either. Everyone has their stinkers but Malone has played well in too many playoff games to use those to dismiss his legacy.

Exactly, and in general, I think Stockton gets overrated. Great point guard, but people act like Malone having Stockton was equivalent to Kareem having Magic, Shaq having Kobe, Jordan having Pippen ect. Stockton was never a true franchise player or MVP candidate himself, IMO while Malone was. While most here seem to think Stockton was better than Nash, I saw a lot more of the qualities of a franchise player in Nash than Stockton.

[kentatm]

maybe he shouldn't have impregnated a 13 year old, denied it for years, refused child support, and then told the kid the first time he met him at age 18 it was too late to try to have a relationship.

scumbag all the way.

[ProfessorMurder]

maybe he shouldn't have impregnated a 13 year old, denied it for years, refused child support, and then told the kid the first time he met him at age 18 it was too late to try to have a relationship.

scumbag all the way.

She told him the kid wasn't his and wouldn't let him near it, until he made money.

[kentatm]

She told him the kid wasn't his and wouldn't let him near it, until he made money.

he screwed a 13 year old dude.

still = scumbag

[Holy Random]

Someone dig up a Kblaze post on Malone.

[FF1]

He impregnated a 13 year old.

[Kblaze8855]

I'll just say this...

Karl Malone and Reggie Miller made me look righter than anyone else in sports.

I predicted their ultimate failure every season from like 1992 on and I never once tasted my words.

Those guys combined for damn near 40 years of failure with me being right about it every single time and people I know acting like I didnt know what I was talking about almost every time(96...everyone I knew was on the sonics side).

Mailman was great. No argument otherwise. Hes a totally deserving hall of famer...even if the HOF were not watered down with guys who didnt actually accomplish anything. Hes a legit HOF guy. Had an amazing career.

But he wasnt ever someone I took serious. Same with Reggie.

Great and all that. But I dont need my team to avoid them in the playoffs. If my team plays a guy in the playoffs and im looking past them....eh.

[ProfessorMurder]

he screwed a 13 year old dude.

still = scumbag

She looked 39. He still did a bad thing, but god damn she was ugly and old looking. Look around on youtube there's a little documentary thing somewhere about the incidents.

[Artillery]

maybe he shouldn't have impregnated a 13 year old, denied it for years, refused child support, and then told the kid the first time he met him at age 18 it was too late to try to have a relationship.

scumbag all the way.

On top of all that, he's one of the dirtiest players of all-time. I have VERY little respect for him as a player or human being. Great stat-padder but an all-time loser. LOVED seeing him go down with an injury in '04 when he tried ring-chasing with LA. All the players he put in the hospital were probably cheering that night.

[Lebron23]

She looked 39. He still did a bad thing, but god damn she was ugly and old looking. Look around on youtube there's a little documentary thing somewhere about the incidents.

This

His Current Filipina-American wife is much hotter.