Karl Malone

One of my favorite players of all time is Karl Malone. There are several reasons for this. I'll admit the first reason was because I grew up watching Jazz games. Aside from my home town bias, I have always been impressed with the Mailman for the following reasons.

His work ethic. Few players exerted more effort on the court than Malone. He is known for fighting for rebounds, sprinting down the lane and finishing strong with power dunks. As a result of his physical play, no other NBA player has shot or made more free throws.

His work ethic also carried this over into his off season training. Some athletes occasionally show up at the beginning of the season unprepared and out of shape, but Malone always showed up ready. He kept himself in great shape which is one reason he lasted 19 seasons in the NBA. I was a little sad when he decided to retire because I knew if any player had a chance at breaking Kareem's all time scoring record, it could have been Karl since he kept himself in such great condition. He is the second all time leading career scorer in the NBA. He also earned two MVP trophies during his career.

Karl wasn't afraid to speak his mind, however; this was also one thing that occasionally made me uncomfortable. Sometimes I would cringe when he'd make certain statements, but I still have to respect the guy for speaking up and saying what he believed.

Some have criticized him for never winning a championship ring despite two years to the finals with losses to Michael Jordan and the Bulls, but he still solidified himself as one of the greatest power forwards to play the game. Karl Malone will always be one of my favorite players.

The Countdown

Just 13 days until the 2012-2013 NBA regular season starts. I'm excited to watch a full season of NBA basketball this year. I'm glad the lockout issue was resolved last year so we can start the season on time this year.

I don't get too excited for the pre-season games and apparantly neither do the Lakers who are off to a 0-4 start. I'm sure that will change when the regular season starts. Can't wait to start watching my NBA top 10 highlights at the end of each day.

Lucky Shots

Many players have been accused of being lucky when it comes to making a shot, but I think the more a person  practices, the luckier they get.

Domimique Wilkins

When I was young, my favorite players were Dr. J., Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Dominique Wilkins. These players all had great athletic ability and were great dunkers.

I think Dominique Wilkins was a pioneer when it came to dunking. He would pull off dunk contest caliber dunks in close games.  He was also the originator of the windmill dunk. Lots of guys can cradle the ball and wiggle it around before they dunk it, but Dominique started the full blown windmill. Nobody could come near the range of motion he pulled off with his windmills.

There have been many players with great leaping ability, but Wilkins also had great dunking power. He wasn't content with just flushing the ball through the rim but looked more like he was trying to rip the rim off with his power dunks.

 I was a little surprised when he was not named to the top 50 greatest all time players since he was one of the top 10 all time career scorers in the NBA at the time.  The Human Highlight Film may have been known more for his scoring skills and dunking than he was for defense, but he still made some big contributions to the game.

 

NBA Memes on Facebook

I like the NBA Memes on Facebook. They usually have some 

funny stuff there. That's where these came from.

The Big News in L.A.

You might think the title to this post is about the Lakers landing Dwight Howard and dealing Bynum. That's big news, but I'm even more surprised by what I read yesterday about Kobe's statement that he has nothing to learn from his fellow Olympian teammates.

I am not a Kobe hater but I'm sure those who are can't wait to jump all over him for that statement. I understand that he is the elder statesman on the team and has had a distinguished career so he is where most of his teammates would like to be down the road, but saying he has nothing to learn from them is ridiculous.

Maybe his comment was completely sarcastic and was meant as a joke, or taken out of context, but if he seriously believes he has nothing to learn from his fellow All Stars, then maybe he is right and he is done improving.

I would think that any great player would never stop learning from their teammates and opponents. That doesn't mean he has to idolize them or have posters of Lebron and Durrant hanging in his bedroom.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new look Lakers next season. It's too bad Kobe won't be learning anything from Steve Nash because it wouldn't hurt his game to be able to dish out a few more assists.

Chuck Taylor Converse

I have a lot of respect for the old school players. Not only did they have to play in black and white (according to the old footage I've seen), but they also played while wearing horrendous footwear. I can't believe that some guys played professional ball while wearing Chucky T's.

First of all, I really like the Converse brand and Weapons were my shoe of choice when I was younger. I wish Converse made more basketball shoes these days. I had a pair of Chuck Taylor canvas shoes when I was in high school, but they were just worn for leisure and I would never think of seriously playing in them.

Old canvas basketball shoes are the equivalent of the old leather football helmets that football players used to wear when they would try to win one for the Gipper. It makes me wonder how much longer some of the old legends could have played if they had today's hi tech footwear as opposed to the shoes they wore which pretty much resembled bowling shoes.

The other day when I was at the mall, I slipped into a Foot Locker store in order to avoid a pushy kiosk salesperson. While I was there I noticed how expensive the basketball shoes were. I can't see paying over $100 for a pair of shoes and they had pairs for close to $200. The kid working there said he owned 7 pairs of Kobe shoes. I guess I know what he does with his paycheck each week.

My hat is off to the players who had less than ideal equipment, gear, and shoes to play in, yet still excelled at the sport.