Karl Malone, either the greatest, or second greatest Utah Jazz player, remains one of my least favorite players in any sport.
SI.com - NBA - Jazz to retire Malone's No. 32, erect statue in March - Monday January 30, 2006 10:23PM
The Utah Jazz will retire Karl Malone's No. 32 and unveil a statue of the two-time MVP on March 23 when the Jazz host the Washington Wizards.
Tivoed a classic NBA playoff game between the Utah Jazz and the starting-to-emerge Sacramento Kings (the series during which I adopted the Kings) in the spring of 1999, reminded me of how much of a punk Karl Malone always was. In this game alone, Malone was guilty of: throwing the ball at Vlade Divac's face instead of taking a 15 foot jump shot (Vlade retaliated by throwing Malone to the ground - Malone walked away as Malone only fought with guys smaller than him), cheap fouls, illegal picks, flopping, and general poor-sportmanlike behavior. Glad that no current NBA player models their game after Malone.
Tags: Basketball, /Sacramento_Kings
You will notice, though, that it isn't the citizens of Salt Lake City or Utah that is honoring him, it is his former franchise.
I don't know of anyone around here that thinks highly of him...
Personally, I didn't like him when he played here (Stockton was better and Eaton was nicer) and I like him less now.
Interesting point. Stockton was the arguably better player, btw, and to be honest, Stockton sometimes played "Jerry Sloan" style as well. However, you would always want someone as skilled and hard working as Stockton on your team. Can't really find fault with his game, he never resorted to bully-ball plays like Malone.