Karl Malone

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Basketball player
Karl Malone
Karl Malone in Afghanistan.jpg
Player information
Full name Karl Anthony Malone
Nickname The Mailman
birthday 24th July 1963 (age 57)
place of birth Summerfield , Louisiana , United States
size 206 cm
Weight 117 kg
position Power forward
college Louisiana Tech
NBA draft 1985 , 13th Pick , Utah Jazz
Clubs as active
1985-2003 Utah Jazz 2003-2004 Los Angeles LakersUnited StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
National team
1992, 1996 United StatesUnited States United States

Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963 in Summerfield , Claiborne Parish , Louisiana ) is a retired American basketball player . During his active time, Malone was also known as The Mailman ("the postman"). This nickname comes from the fact that as a power forward he threw his balls into the basket as reliably as the postman threw his letters into the box.

Malone is widely regarded as one of the best power forwards of all time. He played a total of 19 seasons in the NBA , including 18 with the Utah Jazz , and during his time in the US professional league was among other things MVP twice and NBA All-Star 14 times . In 2010 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame .

Childhood and college

Karl Malone grew up as the youngest son of nine children with his single mother Shirley on a farm . His father Shedrick Hay lived with another wife and family. Hay died by suicide when Malone was 14 years old. Malone often worked on the farm during his childhood and youth. His other hobbies were hunting, fishing and chopping wood.

At Summerfield High School, he played for the school's basketball team. He led his team to three "Louisiana Class C" titles in a row. Because of his individual achievements, Malone was initially recruited by the University of Arkansas . However, he decided in retrospect to study at the local Louisiana Tech University College and play for the basketball team of the "Louisiana Tech Bulldogs".

Malone had to skip his freshman year due to poor grades . During the remaining three years of his college career, Malone became one of the best players in the country. He led his team to the top of the Southland Conference at 29-3 during the 1984/1985 season, and the Bulldogs made it to the finals of the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship for the first time in their college history .

NBA career

First years (1985–1988)

Malone in his early days with jazz

In the 1985 NBA Draft , Malone was selected by the Utah Jazz in 13th place. At first, Malone refused to go basket-hunting for the team from the Mormon state and forced a move to the Dallas Mavericks to be closer to his home. However, he later admitted that he was a fan of jazz, as it was originally based in New Orleans , Louisiana, before the team moved to Salt Lake City .

Malone developed under head coach Frank Layden into one of the best rookies of his year. With 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, he was appointed to the NBA All-Rookie Team and third in the election for NBA Rookie of the Year . After the jazz management transferred his star player Adrian Dantley to the Pistons, Malone became the best jazz player. In his second year, Malone already posted 21.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game and despite his 24 years was the undisputed leader of jazz.

In 1987, John Stockton, the previous substitute for Ricky Green, took over the role of starting playmaker. Together with Stockton, Malone formed a dangerous duo that was nicknamed 'Stockalone' due to their textbook-like mastery of the pick-and-roll play. In 1988, Malone was first called into the All-Star Game , the first of a total of 14 appointments that followed in his career. He led the Western Conference with 22 points, but lost his West selection against the East selection. Malone scored 27.1 points per game that season and was called up to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career . Malone was in the starting line-up without interruption until 1999 . With the Utah Jazz Malone reached the second playoff round, but the Jazz were eliminated against the Los Angeles Lakers .

Rise to All-Star (1988–1990)

In the summer of 1988 Malone signed a 10-year deal with Jazz. In December 1988 they got a new head coach with Jerry Sloan . Frank Layden switched to the management of Jazz. Malone was called up again in the All-Star Game in 1989 and was elected MVP of the All-Star Game with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists . With 29.1 points he was the best scorer in the league behind Michael Jordan , with 10.7 rebounds Malone reached the fifth-best place. In the playoffs, the Jazz were eliminated in the first round against the Golden State Warriors . During the 1989-90 season, Malone achieved a personal record when he scored 61 points against the Milwaukee Bucks on January 27, 1990 in just 33 minutes . On average, Malone scored 31.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. The Jazz were eliminated against the Phoenix Suns again in the first play-off round.

Olympic champion and superstar (1990–1996)

Between 1992 and 1996, Karl Malone regularly scored 25 points and 10 rebounds per game and was one of the best players in the league. In 1992, Malone and his teammate Stockton became a member of the Dream Team , which won gold with stars like Magic Johnson , Larry Bird and Michael Jordan at the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona . Although he was on the field with Johnson at the Olympics, Malone was the spokesman for the group that spoke out after the Games against the NBA comeback sought by Johnson for the 1992/93 season, as they feared an alleged risk of infection through wounds or even had sweat on Johnson infected with the HI virus . At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta , Stockton and Malone won the gold medal again as members of Dream Team III.

During the 1992/93 season, Malone was named co-MVP of the All-Star Game in their hometown of Salt Lake City along with Stockton . In 1994 jazz intensified with Jeff Hornacek . Malone and the Jazz reached the 'Western Conference Finals' three times (1992, 1994 and 1996), but were always just eliminated.

Final participation with the Jazz (1997-1998)

Karl Malone (1997)

In the 1996-97 NBA season, the Jazz established themselves as the best team in the West. Malone scored 27.4 points per game. Karl Malone was voted NBA Most Valuable Player of the season for his individual and team successes . Utah reached the NBA Finals for the first time in team history in 1997. The Jazz lost to the Chicago Bulls 2-4 . Malone showed nerves especially in game 6 and stumbled from the free throw line in the crucial minutes .

The following year, the Jazz ended the season as the best team in the NBA. Once again the Jazz reached the NBA Finals, where they met the Bulls again. Malone played a good series, but made a mistake in the decisive sixth game when he lost the ball in the low post to Michael Jordan , who made the decisive points for the Bulls. The Jazz's last attack failed when John Stockton missed the throw at the last second. The Jazz lost again 2: 4 to the Bulls.

Last years with jazz (1998-2003)

With Michael Jordan's resignation, Malone and Jazz saw their chance to bring the longed-for championship to Utah. In the 1998/99 NBA season, which was shortened to 50 games, Malone again won the MVP award and led Utah to 37 victories. However, Utah lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in the second playoff round.

Jazz also fell short of expectations in the years to come. Despite well-known reinforcements such as Donyell Marshall or Matt Harpring , they never made it to the Western Conference finals until 2003. Malone's scoring also fell from 25.5 points per game (1998/1999) to 20.6 (2002/2003). Nevertheless, despite his old age, he was still considered one of the best players in his position. In the 1999/2000 season Malone outbid Michael Jordan on points and has since been in second place in the all-time scorer list in NBA history behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar .

Guest performance with the Lakers (2003-2004)

In 2003, Malone's longtime teammate and friend John Stockton retired from professional basketball. Malone left the Utah Jazz as a free agent and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers to play for the title one last time. Due to injuries, he only played half of the season. At the side of Shaquille O'Neal , Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton , the Lakers reached the NBA Finals. Despite being favorites, the Lakers lost 4-1 to the Detroit Pistons in the best-of-seven series. Due to injury, Malone played the first four games of the final series with moderate performance, the fifth and last game he completely missed.

Free agent and resignation (2004-2005)

After the lost final, Malone became a free agent again. Due to the injury and internal team problems with Kobe Bryant, Malone did not return to the Lakers. During the 2004–05 season, it was rumored that Malone would try again at the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs . However, these rumors never came true. On February 13, 2005, at the age of 41, Karl Malone announced his retirement from professional sport at the Delta Center .

Coaching

In May 2013, Malone returned to jazz as a Big Man coach. In jazz, he was supposed to promote the development of young jazz players Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter . His engagement ended after a year.

Others

With 1,434 games for Utah Jazz , Malone is after John Stockton (1,594) the “most loyal” player in franchise history. With 1,412 games, Stockton and Malone ( "Stockalone" ) have played more games together than any other duo in NBA history. For eleven seasons in a row, Malone has scored more than 2,000 points.

The first triple-double of his NBA career was in his 860th game. This makes him the player who played the most games up to his first triple-double among all NBA players who scored at least one triple-double in their career in the NBA. Malone is also the oldest NBA player to triple-double (40 years and 127 days).

Awards

Personal

Karl Malone has been married to former "Miss Idaho" Kay Kinsey since 1990. They have four children together. Malone has three other children from previous relationships, Demetrius Bell and twins Daryl and Cheryl Ford . Bell was among other things a player in the Buffalo Bills in the NFL , Ford plays basketball and was active from 2003 to 2009 with the Detroit Shock in the WNBA .

Malone is an avid truck fan and owns a car dealership with the company name "Karl Malone Toyota" in Utah .

Malone is a board member of the National Rifle Association .

See also

Web links

Commons : Karl Malone  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Karl Malone. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Johnson's return to league isn't welcomed by some in: The New York Times, November 1, 1992, accessed November 8, 2016
  3. ↑ When Magic Johnson shocked the sports world in: Spiegel Online from November 7, 2016
  4. ↑ Karl Malone to Work with Utah Jazz Big Men Article from May 29, 2013 (English)
  5. ↑ Triple Double Alert, Part 2 , accessed May 16, 2017
  6. ↑ Meet the NRA's Board of Directors (English)
personal data
SURNAME Malone, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mailman, The (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Summerfield , Louisiana