NBA: The People Vs. Karl Malone

I want to talk about Karl Malone, but I don’t want to talk about him as a Jazz fan, though I will freely admit to being a ‘Jazz fan’. I would hope to attract those who are not Jazz fans or fans of Karl Malone into this week's ramblings.

I’d like to talk about him as objectively as one possibly can. In doing so, I’m prepared to make the statement: There isn’t a better power forward, let alone player, than Karl Malone in the league today.

Now, I’m sure there are those of you out there who are more than willing to disagree with that statement. I’ll ask you to put down those pens frantically scribbling on the letters of complaint and bear with me for a moment. I’m well aware of the general consensus that Karl Malone is a dirty player and not a very nice fellow. What I’d like to know is: Why? What has given him this reputation among the fans? Those flailing elbows? Is he what’s known in the player’s world as a ‘trash talker’? Does he own a Brazilian sweat shop? What is it?

The most popular reasons are the first two I just mentioned, so let's address those. (Any readers employed by Amnesty International, pay no attention to the last question above.) I think everyone would agree that you have to be a very special and talented person to make it in the NBA. Once you’re drafted onto a team, it’s your obvious task to prove your worth to the coaches and the front office. Hard work I would imagine. No player wants to be waived and go unsigned after they’ve come so far.

You have to be aggressive, you can’t show any weakness and you can’t let yourself get beat out. Those who are fortunate enough to impress the staff and get signed, congratulations, you’re now a member of a professional basketball team.

I suppose the story stops there for those players with little aspiration for becoming great. Some are happy with their 8-10 minutes, and their 4.9 PPG average. At least they can say they’re a NBA player.

However, for those who truly want to be great, who want to leave their mark in the basketball world, the story doesn’t stop by getting signed, it’s continuously being written from that moment on. You have to go out and play to the best of your ability night after night, season after season. Just the same as when you were a young rookie.

You still have to prove yourself to the coaches and the front office, convincing them that though you’ve been around a few years now, you’re still as good as you’ve always been and there’s no need to look for that new or younger player. When you’re on the court, you have to show all those young kids trying to usurp your throne as the best at your position, that you still have what it takes and there’s no way that you’re going to let them beat you. If that means tossing a few elbows around to ensure you hold onto a rebound you’ve just fought for, then toss away. If they don’t have the strength to be under the net with you, fighting for those loose balls, then they shouldn’t be there.

You say throwing elbows is a tactic of a dirty player. I say they’re the resource of a passionate player. (In fact, I’m going to call them Karl Malone’s passionate elbows from now on.) It’s your passion and dedication that makes you great. It’s your passion and dedication that brings you off the bench and keeps you in a starter's position.

As far as Karl Malone being a ‘trash talker’ is concerned, the man has scored over 31,000 points. He as been consistently great over the course of his career. If there is anyone on the court who has the right to be talking trash it’s Karl Malone.

Let’s go back in time. Let’s go back to the decade when Devo were making what ever music that classed them as a band and when shoulder pads were rife, the 80’s. We’ll focus on the 1987-88 season. There were a lot of good players back then, (more than now days I believe) many high scorers. These were the top 5 scoring leaders at the time:

1. Michael Jordan (CHI) 35.0 PPG

2. Dominique Wilkins (ATL) 30.7

3. Larry Bird (BOS) 29.9

4. Charles Barkley (PHI) 28.3

5. Karl Malone (UTH) 27.7

These were the top 4 rebounding leaders at the time:

1. Charles Oakley (CHI) 13.0 RPG

2. Michael Cage (LAC) 13.0

3. Hakeem Olajuwon (HST) 12.1

4. Karl Malone (UTH) 12.0

(Incidentally, John Stockton was the assists leader at 13.8 apg. Yes, Magic Johnson was still playing.) Obviously, the Karl Malone of younger days kept up easily with his peers gaining his well deserved spot ranked among the best in the league at that time.

Let’s go forward through time now, a whole ten years further, past Jordan’s retirement, past his return to the league after failing as a baseball player, ending up at Jordan’s official last season as a Chicago Bull, the 1997-98 season.

These were the top 3 scoring leaders at the time:

1. Michael Jordan: 28.7

2. Shaquille O’Neall: 28.3

3. Karl Malone: 27.0

While it’s all very splendid for Michael Jordan to be able to lead the league in scoring for his second final season, did you notice something about Karl’s scoring average? After 10 years, his scoring average remained virtually the same. Michael may have been leading, but with a significant drop in his average from 10 years ago. Now that Jordan has retired, Charles Barkley is gone and Hakeem Olajuwon is now a reference in a book titled: ‘The Great Centers of the Nineteen-Eighties’, Karl Malone is the only player from that decade still putting up big numbers.

To top it off, the following season Karl was the league’s MVP. I’ll echo a couple of words I said earlier: passion, dedication. What about Charles Oakley and his 13 RPG leading average from ‘87-88 you query? Well, 12 years and a couple teams later he was ranked 36th for the ‘99-00 season at 6.8 RPG. How about Michael Cage, who shared the lead spot in rebounding with Charles Oakley back in ‘87-88? The only thing I have to say about that is: Who? Passion. Dedication. I know Karl has never been the best rebounder, but he will have a consistently high number of them (9.5, ranked 11th this season). I won’t go into all of Karl’s All-Star appearances, because I shouldn’t have to. So, going back to the issue of Karl Malone being a trash talker. He shouldn’t just be talking trash, he should be writing books of trash, great big encyclopaedias of trash.

The way I see it, there isn’t anyone in the league as qualified to do so. Finally, this issue of Karl Malone viewed as an unsavoury character. I don’t know him personally, but if you’ve ever read any of those boring player interviews that you can find on any team home page, you’ll see that his team-mates will be the first to tell you that he’s a completely different person off the court, rather funny and quite the prankster.

That’s what has to be considered here. On the court you have to be, (it’s essential even), a vicious basketball beast. While off the court, it’s your time to be who you really are. He’s a family man, Karl, he likes his motor cycles and driving his big rigs. You can even picture it; it’s a nice sunny day, there’s a cool breeze in the air, Kathy Mattea is singing ‘Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses’ on the radio and Karl Malone is just driving peacefully along in his rig, tapping out the rhythm on his steering wheel.

I’ll bet Karl’s quite a pleasant chap then. So, don’t judge the man by his on court demeanour, he’s just doing what he has to do, what everyone should do if they want to be as great as him.