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ONE love, blood, life
It has been reported today that Karl "The Mailman" Malone, the #2 total points scorer in NBA history, has decided, FINALLY, to retire. He will hold a press conference at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, where he played all but one of his 19 seasons, on Sunday to announce this decision.
Malone played 18 seasons for the Utah Jazz, forming with point guard and future hall-of-famer John Stockten, one of the greatest duo tandems in NBA history, although for my money, MJ&Pippen and Kareem&Magic were better. Malone won the league MVP in 1997 and 1999, and the Jazz were perrenial playoff&title contenders for a long time, even making it to the finals in 1997 and 1998. Both times, however, they lost in six games to His Royal Airness and the six time world champion Chicago Bulls - the team of the 90s and one of the greatest dyansties in league history. I argue that only the Russell-led Celtics of the 60s were better.
Stockten retired after the 2002-03 season, and Malone, in the twilight of his career, ditched the Jazz in a dishonorable move, to join the Lakers. The intent was to ride on Shaq&Kobe's backs to the one thing that had eluded him his entire career: An NBA title. That didn't work, as the Lakers were schooled by the 2004 NBA Champion Detroit Pistons in the finals. The Lakers fell apart that offseason, and Malone opted out of his contract. For the past 6-8 months, Malone has been recovering from a knee injury and deciding whether to keep playing or not. Recently, he said he would either sign with the San Antonio Spurs - arguably the best team in basketball at the moment - to try to get a ring one last time, or retire. Reports early today said he would in fact sign with the Spurs in the next week. But shortly thereafter, the reports changed to saying he would announce his retirement on Sunday.
I, for one, am glad. Malone was one of the dirtiest players in NBA history. He threw countless elbows and did countless other things of the like. And I lost a ton of respect for him when he tried to ride the Lakers to a title. Malone was a great player. He had countless opportunities to win titles throughout the 90s. Were it not for the Chicago Bulls, he probably would have won one, if not two. But Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, and a host of players of that era could say the same, and you didn't see them trying to ride other young stars to a title later on. Miller has even stuck with the same team the whole time. I hated Miller at one time, but for that fact I have respect for him.
Goodbye, Malone. I'm glad you didn't take Kareem's #1 scoring spot. He is much more deserving than you.
And yes, I lost respect for Payton too when he signed with the Lakers.
Malone played 18 seasons for the Utah Jazz, forming with point guard and future hall-of-famer John Stockten, one of the greatest duo tandems in NBA history, although for my money, MJ&Pippen and Kareem&Magic were better. Malone won the league MVP in 1997 and 1999, and the Jazz were perrenial playoff&title contenders for a long time, even making it to the finals in 1997 and 1998. Both times, however, they lost in six games to His Royal Airness and the six time world champion Chicago Bulls - the team of the 90s and one of the greatest dyansties in league history. I argue that only the Russell-led Celtics of the 60s were better.
Stockten retired after the 2002-03 season, and Malone, in the twilight of his career, ditched the Jazz in a dishonorable move, to join the Lakers. The intent was to ride on Shaq&Kobe's backs to the one thing that had eluded him his entire career: An NBA title. That didn't work, as the Lakers were schooled by the 2004 NBA Champion Detroit Pistons in the finals. The Lakers fell apart that offseason, and Malone opted out of his contract. For the past 6-8 months, Malone has been recovering from a knee injury and deciding whether to keep playing or not. Recently, he said he would either sign with the San Antonio Spurs - arguably the best team in basketball at the moment - to try to get a ring one last time, or retire. Reports early today said he would in fact sign with the Spurs in the next week. But shortly thereafter, the reports changed to saying he would announce his retirement on Sunday.
I, for one, am glad. Malone was one of the dirtiest players in NBA history. He threw countless elbows and did countless other things of the like. And I lost a ton of respect for him when he tried to ride the Lakers to a title. Malone was a great player. He had countless opportunities to win titles throughout the 90s. Were it not for the Chicago Bulls, he probably would have won one, if not two. But Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, and a host of players of that era could say the same, and you didn't see them trying to ride other young stars to a title later on. Miller has even stuck with the same team the whole time. I hated Miller at one time, but for that fact I have respect for him.
Goodbye, Malone. I'm glad you didn't take Kareem's #1 scoring spot. He is much more deserving than you.
And yes, I lost respect for Payton too when he signed with the Lakers.
Not the first, not the last. Dikembe Mutumbo is notorious for hitting people in the face with elbows. He did it to LeBron James just recently. Mutumbo is also one of the most charitable people in all of professional sports. So just because he tosses a few elbows here and there doesn't make him a bad person. And yea... I think big chuck had a few shady incidents in his own right... so even though I love him, let's not saint him while ostracizing Malone.
that pic is the greatest
