Deron Breaks Ankles, Malone’s the Best

Posted by Brian McCann on February 07, 2009

Thursday night was a great night for basketball (except for the fact that the Lakers beat Boston). For one, Karl Malone was a guest host on Inside the NBA with Ernie and Kenny (more on that in a minute). For two, the Jazz looked great, and the Mavs looked bad. Maybe it was the Mavs looking so bad that made the Jazz look great? Whatever it was, the Jazz looked great. When Deron crossed over Terry so hard that he forgot who he was, I was half expecting Kobe Bryant to ride up behind them on a horse, wearing a three-piece suit. That was the sickest crossover I have ever seen, and in all my days as a basketball junkie, I have never seen anybody break somebody’s ankles that bad. Deron just played out of his head again, and continued his “I’ll prove to all of you that I am an All-Star” tour. KK got his first start and threw down 20 on 8-for-13 shooting, while going deep 4 times, and Brewer, Okur, and Man-sap all put in double-doubles. All that was missing from this one was the regular temper-tantrum from Nowitzki. Why did you have to let me down Dirk? It could have been the perfect night…

Everyone knows that these two teams are battling it out for a playoff spot (along with Phoenix). The advantage the Jazz have of course is that, provided no one else gets injured, we will have a full, healthy team in a couple of weeks. Dallas and Phoenix just are what they are. Realistically, there is still enough time in the season for the Jazz to really make up some ground. In other words, I am not ready to concede to one of the last playoff spots just yet; there is a whole lot of ball left to be played, and I still think at only 5.5 games out we can make a run at the division.

Did anyone else think the Mailman looked like he was fairly close to being in game shape last night? He definitely doesn’t look like he has been trying to break the world record for most pastries eaten in a lifetime like the guy he was sitting in for. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Charles Barkley guy-I really like Chuck. I just think he might have let himself go just a little too much after he retired. Malone on the other hand looked like he could have suited up.

At halftime of the Lakers/Celtics game, they actually had a text vote to determine who the better power forward was between the two. I immediately pulled out my phone and sent in like 3,000 votes for Malone. Needless to say, the Mailman won by a fairly large margin. The old argument of Malone vs. Barkley has gone on for a couple of decades now, and I really don’t think it’s much of an argument at all. Last year in the finals, I remember one of the commentators ranking the top five PF’s of all-time. The announcer had Duncan #1 (because of championships), Barkley 2, and Malone 3. I can’t buy that. First of all, when you factor in stats, records, and accomplishments, Karl is clearly #1 all-time, period. I can see the argument with Duncan because Karl never won a championship, but neither did Barkley. Between Karl and Charles, Malone definitely has the edge. Compare their career accomplishments:

Barkley:

Honors: 1 MVP; 5-time All-NBA First Team; 5-time All-NBA Second Team; 1-time All-NBA Third Team; 11-time all-star; 1-time all-star MVP;
one of 50 greatest players in NBA history; 2-time Olympic gold medalist; 1 NBA Finals appearance.

Malone:

Honors: 2 MVP’s; 11-time All-NBA First Team; 2-time All-NBA Second Team; 3-time All-Defensive First Team; 1-time All-Defensive Second Team; 14-time All-Star; 2-time All-Star MVP; NBA All-Rookie Team; one of 50 greatest players in NBA history; Two-time Olympic gold medalist; 3 NBA Finals appearances.

Karl has more MVP’s (all-star and regular season), more finals appearances (3-1), and more All-NBA first team’s (11-5). Karl clearly accomplished more in his career than Charles. Charles may have better stats in certain areas, but all-around, Malone is the man. As far as Theodore, the two are very close. Timmy may have the accomplishments (in the form of championships and MVP’s), but when you factor in his stats and records (this isn’t entirely fair since he is still playing, but up to this point), I give the edge to The Mailman. You might say “well wait until his career is over”, but that is part of what made Malone so great. At the age of 40, he was still considered one of the top five power forwards in the league. If Duncan can do that, he might have more of a case.

I guess you could really argue this point all day long. It’s hard to compare Malone and Duncan, because they have had different roles, and Barkley was a great player. A lot of it has to do with your own personal bias. To me though, the records and accomplishments speak for themselves.

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5 Comments

J R Stewart on February 08, 2009 said:

Remember Deron doing the same thing to Fish in that Jazz blowout over the Hated Lakers?

Jazzaholic

jessielou on February 08, 2009 said:

that crossover was freakin’ sweet! I just keep watching it!

Mal on February 08, 2009 said:

Alright, the crossover was really cool but we should stop talking about it because he completely bricked the shot.

Brian McCann on February 09, 2009 said:

Yeah, you are righ Mal. I think I will still always remember it though. He juked him out of his socks.

Armin on February 25, 2009 said:

Mal i think he missed the shot because he was laughing at Terry

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