Karl Malone has a case for top 10 ever and best PF ever

[Jasen777]

Barkley and Malone were in same era. And it’s debatable if Malone was even better than Barkley. They are very close

And Barkley is never considered a top 10 player of all time. He’s more in the top 20 range. So is Malone. Nothing to sneeze about being mentioned in the top 20 range.

The case for Malone is longevity. If he's equal with Barkley per game, Malone's 400 extra games is a significant edge. He's got that on a lot of people. I wouldn't put him in the top 10 but there is a clear rationale for arguing it.

[Ito]

Prolly doesn’t get mentioned like that for losing to Jordan and failing at ring chasing with the Lakers.. also Stockton and Malone played their careers together while they complimented each other well they also have to share credit to their “success” neither is considered TOP players in their positions despite one being an all time leader in assists and the other one of the top scorers..but to me Stockton should be ranked lower than let’s say Jason Kidd.. and Malone is not up there with Duncan and Dirk..

[Johnny Tomala]

I have him as 14th best of all time and 3rd PF ever.

[drchaos]

Tim Duncan was the best PF to play the game.

Garnett vs Malone vs Barkley is a good conversation to have at a pub.

[madmaxmedia]

Wow we're bringing back Karl Malone to the GB???

[Clay Davis]

She was 13 Karl

[ImSlower]

The only numbers i relate with Karl Malone are 0 and 13.

[Hook_Em]

She was 13 Karl

He was in college and never charged. Turns out his son from that encounter made it to the NFL but never had a relationship with Karl (understandable from the kids perspective not wanting to know him).

[Jasen777]

Tim Duncan was the best PF to play the game.

If he's a PF.

[CIN-C-STAR]

Barkley and Malone were in same era. And it’s debatable if Malone was even better than Barkley. They are very close

And Barkley is never considered a top 10 player of all time. He’s more in the top 20 range. So is Malone. Nothing to sneeze about being mentioned in the top 20 range.

The case for Malone is longevity. If he's equal with Barkley per game, Malone's 400 extra games is a significant edge. He's got that on a lot of people. I wouldn't put him in the top 10 but there is a clear rationale for arguing it.

He also won 2 MVPs over 3 seasons.
His peak AND his longevity are both pretty noteworthy.

[Woodsanity]

Karl Malone is an alltime great and definitely a top 20 player in history, I think most definitely top 15 but he seems to never be mentioned in the top 10. Kevin Garnett, an alltime great himself, is rated highly on here, and rather justifiably, and seems to be rated ahead of Malone. Duncan is listed very often as top 10 ever and is almost unanimously rated as the best PF ever.

Karl Malone has a case for being better than both and it can be argued that he quite clearly is better than both.

The numbers are strong for Malone:
1476gms, 25pts, 51.6fg%, 74.2ft%, 10.1reb, 3.6ast, 1.4stl, 0.8blk - 19yrs, ages 22 to 40.
234.6WS, 99VORP

Kevin Garnett:
1462gms, 17.8pts, 49.7fg%, 78.9ft%, 10reb, 3.7ast, 1.3stl, 1.4blk - ages 19 to 39.
191.4WS, 96.9VORP

Tim Duncan:
1392gms, 19pts, 50.6fg%, 69.6ft%, 10.8reb, 3ast, 0.7stl, 2.2blk, ages 21 to 39.
206.4WS, 91.1VORP

Most impressive is that Garnett's best season, his mvp 2004, he averaged 24.2pts, less than Malone did for his whole career. Duncan's highest scoring season his mvp 2002, he averaged 25.5pts, half a point higher than Malone's career average.

Malone was more consistent for a longer period in his career, definitely a longer prime. He wasn't quite the defender the other two are but made multiple alldefense teams in a big man heavy era with many very good defenders.



Does Karl Malone have a real case for top 10 ever and does he have a case for best PF ever?

Look at his numbers in the playoffs. Thanks.

[KrAzY3]

This is another one of those stats matter when you want to say a guy is great, but they don't matter when you want to say he isn't great.

The guy is second all time in scoring, it's not that hard to make a case that he's a top 10 player even if you don't like him.

[Hellcrooner]

He is a serious top 3 player in at least to categories.

1 biggest nba douchebag ever
2 candidate to surprise nobody if someday you read in the papers that " one former great" is going to be outed as being high on the juiceometer.

[drchaos]

This is another one of those stats matter when you want to say a guy is great, but they don't matter when you want to say he isn't great.

The guy is second all time in scoring, it's not that hard to make a case that he's a top 10 player even if you don't like him.

How can you put him over any of these guys?

Wilt
Kareem
Russell
Magic
Bird
Dr J
Hakeem
Jordan
Lebron
Duncan
Shaq
West
Kobe
Durant

Sorry, there is no way Malone makes the top 10

[KrAzY3]

This is another one of those stats matter when you want to say a guy is great, but they don't matter when you want to say he isn't great.

The guy is second all time in scoring, it's not that hard to make a case that he's a top 10 player even if you don't like him.

How can you put him over any of these guys?

Wilt
Kareem
Russell
Magic
Bird
Dr J
Hakeem
Jordan
Lebron
Duncan
Shaq
West
Kobe
Durant

Sorry, there is no way Malone makes the top 10

It's pretty funny to me how varied arguments on this forum could be. I've had a lot of people here push the Kareem and LeBron for GOAT narrative built in large part on the longevity/stats narrative. If we're talking about a career as having cumulative value or simply that individual statics matter more than things like record in the Finals, then obviously being #2 all time in scoring means a heck of a lot. If we're talking about it in a narrower view, then the GOAT as a career accomplishment/longevity stuff needs to stop. It can't be both ways, and I'm not saying you're doing both but I can't have both viewpoints simultaneously.

If we're talking about his career accomplishments I think you do have to consider Karl Malone as a top 10 players. That doesn't mean he's a top ten player, I didn't say that, but as the title and I said you can make the case. If we're not going to view things in terms of longevity and career totals/individual stats then let's stick to it going forward shall we?

[TheBobster]

For the PF mentioned here I would rank them -

Duncan
Barkley
Malone
Garnett
Nowitzki

Barkley was the best offensive player, although Malone and Dirk were in the neighborhood. Duncan and Garnett were very good offensively at their peaks, but their offensive peaks don't match those for Malone, Barkley and Dirk.

Duncan and Garnett were the best defenders, but Malone was pretty good. Barkley was good when he wanted to be, and Dirk was above average at best.

Of the five Malone had the best career totals because he he played in 99% of the games over his 17 years with the Jazz, so he played at a high level for a long time (he was basically at his best for 13 years).

[BostonCouchGM]

No, he really doesn’t

[D.Brasco]

She was 13 Karl

Young girl gave birth at 13, so you can do the math.

[dhsilv2]

Karl also had the benefit of playing with one of the all time great PGs of the 20th century, which certainly inflated some of his offensive stats in Utah.

Watch on YouTube

But seriously, look at this highlight reel of Malone's play. 90% is just him receiving a pass and finishing strong at the rim. He lacked the finesse and overall scoring prowess of Hakeem, Garnett, Dirk or Duncan. At 260 pounds, he had the size and strength of a center and then expanded his mid range game out to 15 feet. Combine that with being the perfect roll man for the PnR opposite Stockton and it explains why he was so difficult to cover. Too big and strong for forwards to cover -- to quick and agile for plodding Centers.

Also, raw offensive numbers between the 3 players is a bit unfair considering the differences in eras and caliber of teammates Malone and Duncan had over KG.

Malone certainly had the harder job in the P+R than Stockton. If anything he was padding Stocktons stats by being such a monster roll man and a very reliable mid range popper

Strongly disagree and our plus minus data which goes back to 97 really shows that Stockton's impact didn't fall when Malone left the Jazz, and he remained among the elite of the elite players even in his final season. I'm sure the jazz would have missed Malone, but nobody was replacing Stockton in that era. Stockton really was the engine of their attack.

[Blame Rasho]

This is another one of those stats matter when you want to say a guy is great, but they don't matter when you want to say he isn't great.

The guy is second all time in scoring, it's not that hard to make a case that he's a top 10 player even if you don't like him.

How can you put him over any of these guys?

Wilt
Kareem
Russell
Magic
Bird
Dr J
Hakeem
Jordan
Lebron
Duncan
Shaq
West
Kobe
Durant

Sorry, there is no way Malone makes the top 10

It's pretty funny to me how varied arguments on this forum could be. I've had a lot of people here push the Kareem and LeBron for GOAT narrative built in large part on the longevity/stats narrative. If we're talking about a career as having cumulative value or simply that individual statics matter more than things like record in the Finals, then obviously being #2 all time in scoring means a heck of a lot. If we're talking about it in a narrower view, then the GOAT as a career accomplishment/longevity stuff needs to stop. It can't be both ways, and I'm not saying you're doing both but I can't have both viewpoints simultaneously.

If we're talking about his career accomplishments I think you do have to consider Karl Malone as a top 10 players. That doesn't mean he's a top ten player, I didn't say that, but as the title and I said you can make the case. If we're not going to view things in terms of longevity and career totals/individual stats then let's stick to it going forward shall we?

Compare career playoff numbers of Malone compared to Duncan. I mean you keep going on and on about 2nd in career regular season points, but in the playoffs, Duncan in all measures is better. Malone at this point isn’t going to be in the top 10 conversation if you include those measures. We are also not going to include him if you look at KDs and Gianis careers going forward.

If everyone is mocking your suggestion, you might want to do some inflection on your thought process. Malone is a great player but there are easily more than 10 players better than him all time.