Karl Malone is one of the biggest enigmas in NBA/ABA
history.
His name is all over the record books. He finished his
career with the second most points scored in NBA history and eighth most
rebounds. Shoot, he’s 55th in career assists. His advanced stats are
nearly as impressive. He ranks 16th in career PER at 23.9 and third
in career win shares with 234.6. He is 15th in career Box +/- and
third in VORP.
Where you don’t see his name is on the list of NBA
champions. Malone’s teams made the playoffs each one of his 19 seasons. They made
six deep playoff runs and three NBA Finals, but Malone always came up short.
“The Mailman” is not the only NBA great to end with no
titles on his resume. Patrick Ewing, Elgin Baylor, Chris Paul and Charles Barkley
are among the players in the top 100 who can’t say they are NBA champions. None
of those players, at least to me, faced the criticism that Malone faced.
A lot of it is warranted. Year in, year out, Malone was less
dominant in the playoffs.
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Karl Malone regular season vs. playoffs
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PER
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Box +/-
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Year
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Season
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Playoffs
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Season
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Playoffs
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1985-1986
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13.7
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17.3
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-0.5
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-1.8
|
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1986-1987
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18.0
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13.4
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1.6
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-2.4
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1987-1988
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20.7
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18.4
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2.5
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-0.9
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1988-1989
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24.4
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22.1
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6.1
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0.8
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1989-1990
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27.2
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19.7
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6.6
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3.3
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1990-1991
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24.8
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21.4
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5.8
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4.2
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1991-1992
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25.4
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25.0
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5.3
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6.5
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1992-1993
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26.2
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16.6
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7.6
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1.3
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1993-1994
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22.9
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24.6
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6.3
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6.2
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1994-1995
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25.1
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24.6
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5.8
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1.9
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1995-1996
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26.0
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23.6
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7.3
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7.1
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1996-1997
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28.9
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22.2
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8.5
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2.3
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1997-1998
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27.9
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24.2
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7.0
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6.9
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1998-1999
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25.6
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21.2
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6.9
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5.3
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1999-2000
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27.1
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25.8
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6.9
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5.3
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2000-2001
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2.7
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19.7
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5.9
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0.5
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2001-2002
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21.1
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15.6
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4.5
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2.2
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2002-2003
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21.7
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15.0
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4.5
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-1.7
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2003-2004
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17.8
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13.5
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2.4
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1.4
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What’s perhaps a bit unfair is that while Playoff Karl Malone wasn’t as good as Regular Season Karl Malone, Playoff Karl Malone was still great. He topped 20.0 in PER in 10 of his 19 seasons and twice topped 25.0 in PER. His career playoff PER was 37th, still ahead of Kevin Garnett, Oscar Robertson and Walt Frazier. His career playoff Box +/- was higher than Ray Allen, Gus Williams and Kevin McHale, all NBA champions lauded for their clutch play.
For most of Malone’s tenure in Utah, it was the Stockton-to-Malone
show with inconsistent No. 3 options. The Jazz needed Malone to play at the
same level to advance. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen and Horace
Grant/Dennis Rodman. The Detroit Pistons had Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Mark
Aguirre. Larry Bird had a slew of Hall of Famers on his team. When the Jazz finally
landed Jeff Hornacek as their No. 3, Malone and Utah made back-to-back NBA
Finals. Unfortunately, they ran into Jordan’s Bulls and lost both times in six
games.
I’ll admit. I’m personally torn on Malone. Kobe Bryant was
part of five NBA title celebrations and has a slew of highlights all over
Youtube. Charles Barkley has zero NBA titles, but he seemed more unstoppable.
Malone was more like Tim Duncan. He worked over time on an array of post moves
and pick-and-pop plays that weren’t spectacular but deadly effective. And he
got better with age. He won his MVPs at age 32 and 34. He was so good for so
long that even in a system tilted towards winning over personal statistics,
Malone’s personal statistics were so overwhelming that he ended up No. 12 on my
list.
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Karl
Malone bio info
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Career
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1985-2004
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Games
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1,476
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Points
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25.0
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Rebounds
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10.1
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Assists
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3.6
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FG Pct.
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51.6%
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All-Star games
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14
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NBA MVPs
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2
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NBA titles
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0
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Playoff seasons
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19
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Playoff games
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193
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Points
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24.7
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Rebounds
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10.7
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Assists
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3.2
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FG Pct.
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46.3%
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Hall of Fame
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2010
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Top 100
rankings
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Points
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Top 100 ranking
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1-year
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397.38
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19th
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5-year
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1,772.77
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14th
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10-year
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3,237.87
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12th
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Career
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5,133.87
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6th
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Karl
Malone at his peak
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1997-1998
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Malone
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Top 5
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Points
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PER
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27.9
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26.49
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Win Shares
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16.4
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14.24
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Box +/-
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7.0
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6.26
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VORP
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6.9
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6.04
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Total Advanced Stats
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58.2
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53.02
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109.76
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Playoff PER
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24.2
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26.68
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Win Shares
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3.0
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3.08
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Box +/-
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6.9
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7.35
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VORP
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1.8
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1.55
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Total Advanced Stats
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35.9
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38.66
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92.87
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Reg. Season Win %
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75.31
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75.31
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Playoff Win %
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65.00
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65.00
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MVP Voting (75 points)
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842/1,160
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54.44
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Playoff MVP (25 points)
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0
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0
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Total Score
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397.38
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Malone’s 10 greatest seasons
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1997-1998
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397.38
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1996-1997
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384.56
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1998-1999
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344.53
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1991-1992
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331.41
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1994-1995
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314.90
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1999-2000
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310.51
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1995-1996
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310.22
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1993-1994
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295.31
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1989-1990
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275.00
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1990-1991
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274.06
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Career
winning percentage
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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952
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524
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64.50%
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Playoffs
|
98
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95
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50.78%
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I don't remember the Mailman with an "array of post moves." I saw 8 of his NBA Finals games in person at the United Center and he shot almost entirely 18 footers and fastbreak layups from John Stockton. Everyone on our list from No. 13 to No. 21 is better than Karl Malone.
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