Hall of Fame Tonight

[Sloanfeld]

On NBA TV. Looks like a one hour special on Malone and his best Finals game, game 5 1998. I'm out to go watch that!

http://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule/

[Sloanfeld]

Malone in a tux! (Complete speech)

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/hall_ ... alone.nba/

[Matt007b]

thanks for the link

*edit it was a good speech!*

[BlazertheGreek]

I lived in Utah for about half my life and now watching basketball today with this new generation of players, I am really glad that I got to watch Karl Malone play. Karl Malone played the game like it should have been played. The best power forward ever to play the game hands down. His speech tonight was very well done.

Karl Malone, one of the last truly great players to play this game. One of the few players to play his whole career with one team (one year with the Lakers being an exception).

Today's NBA has got nothing on Karl Malone's generation. Congratulations on the hall of fame Karl!

[QuantumMacgyver]

Anyone can say what they will about Karl Malone, but the bottom line is he had, and continues to have, more respect for the game and the people that make it possible then probably any player today. It's interesting watching Malone's speech and thinking back on Jordan's speech. Chicago may have half a dozen rings but at least our best memories don't revolve around a total douchebox who rips on his own friends and family in his hall of fame speech.

[Ming Kong!]

Just saw Malone and Pippen's speeches, good stuff. It's great to see these men (or boys) who came from usually humble backgrounds, remember back, and recognize the coaches and people who helped them along the way.

As a child I was introduced the game by MJ and the Bulls, Bird was at tail end of his career (though still very good) and Magic was voted out of the NBA with HIV, but there were a handful of players I had HEARD of, Pippen was one of them. For a kid who didn't watch basketball at all, that tells you what a household name he was. I became a Jazz fan though when by chance a friend got a hold of several boxes of Upper Deck basketball cards and gave me a box, and I went through all the cards, looking at who has the best stats to determine the best players, and I thought Malone was the 2nd best player and that's when I started following him, to not follow the status quo (Bulls fans were everywhere in Miami, Miami was still that crappy expansion team then.

These two guys really mean a lot to me when it comes to basketball, and I think that there aren't too many of these guys left out there. Pippen was so dynamic, it's VERY hard to measure his impact as a player since he will forever live MJ's shadow, but he was a villan to Jazz fans', with his defense amongst all his other great skillsets. Malone was pretty much what I expected to see, he looks like could probably still put up atleast 10 points a night. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Pippen with post NBA life, hope he doesn't go wrong road like many other former players have been, and for Malone just a little for never getting that MUCH deserved title, still those who watched him every night know that he was more than his stats and incredible list of accomplishments and honors, he was a beast like few others in the league's history.

Great night man.

[StocktonShorts]

Good speech by Karl. I think he was being sincere when he said (repeatedly) "It wasn't about me." Clearly it WAS about him, it was his career after all, but I think what he meant was: "I did all of this to make Mom and my family proud, and to prove all those other people wrong, not because I wanted some glory for myself." I truly believe that's where his motivation came from. He didn't set out to become a Hall of Famer, he just worked hard to improve himself every year and to make his momma proud.

It was very hard not to contrast it with Jordan's speech.

[Sloanfeld]

Malone gives his jacket to handicapped kid:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=304&sid=11986360