Tag: Karl Malone

All-Time Philadelphia 76ers vs. All-Time Minnesota Timberwolves

Commentary

SWEEP!

Results

Philadelphia wins, four games to none.

Next Round

Philadelphia faces the winner of the All-Time Knicks vs. All-Time Cavaliers.

More Commentary

The only interesting battle between the All-Time Philadelphia 76ers vs. All-Time Minnesota Timberwolves is at the power forward position, where three legends will face off (Charles Barkley, Dolph Schayes, and Kevin Garnett). Garnett was part of a recent renaissance at the position that re-set the all-time rankings. Here are the statistics for the greatest power forwards ever, and then my rankings, from 10 to one (note: Elgin Baylor, Billy Cunningham, Chris Bosh, and Pau Gasol had more years at other positions than at power forward in the basketball-reference.com database, so they’re not included in this analysis).

Greatest Power Forwards Infographic
Honorable Mention

Bailey Howell, Tommy Heinsohn, and Vern Mikkelsen were multiple time all-stars who contributed to championship teams over the course of their underrated careers…Through nine seasons, Shawn Kemp made six all-star game appearances, and was an integral cog in several championship-level teams in Seattle. However, his career soon fell off of a cliff, and he has the least compelling case of the 19 players listed here…Spencer Haywood won Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season in the American Basketball Association, but had his greatest NBA success on a string of losing teams in Seattle…Dave DeBusschere and Dennis Rodman are two of the greatest defensive players of all time, who were key contributors to championship teams. It’s difficult to leave them out of the top 10, but their combined three all-NBA team appearances and limited offensive arsenals prevent them from being placed above the other legends on the list…Chris Webber and George McGinnis have similar statistical profiles, and each has an intriguing Hall-of-Fame case. However, Webber’s prime was cut short by injuries, and McGinnis was not nearly as dominant in the NBA as he was in the ABA.

10. Jerry Lucas
Lucas was a rebounding machine who made three all-NBA first-team appearances in the 1960s ahead of the likes of John Havlicek and Willis Reed (who was considered a power forward for a few years in his career). He was a contributor to the second Knicks championship team (off the bench), had a very high field goal percentage for his era, and currently ranks as the fourth leading rebounder in NBA history on a per game basis.

9. Kevin McHale
McHale never had to carry a team on his own, and came off the bench for the majority of his career. When he was on the court, however, he was an offensive force, and currently has the highest field goal percentage in NBA history for a non-center (outside of Bo Outlaw, who rarely shot the basketball). He was also a brilliant defender, making six all-NBA defensive teams. Similar to Rodman and DeBusschere, he lacks the all-NBA team appearances that others on the list accumulated. However, he was a far superior offensive player to either of those two, and while his excellent defense may not have been as renowned as either of theirs, it was still elite, and thus, his all-around play lands him in the top 10.

8. Elvin Hayes
I’ve already chronicled the many criticisms of Hayes, who was as difficult a personality as there was in the NBA. However, it’s hard to look past his 12 all-star game appearances, six all-NBA appearances, and the fact that he was the leading scorer and rebounder on a team that won the NBA championship. You could win with Elvin Hayes, despite his personality issues, and his resume secures his place on this list.

7. Dolph Schayes
Schayes was one of the NBA’s best players in its infancy, making six All-NBA first team and six All-NBA second team appearances from 1950 to 1961. He was the best player on a championship team (the 1955 Syracuse Nationals), and was one of only 10 players to make the league’s Silver Anniversary team.

5. (Tie) Charles Barkley and Dirk Nowitzki
These are two of the greatest offensive players in NBA history. Dirk is one of the greatest jump-shooting big men ever, while Barkley did his best work near the basket. Barkley was also a relentless rebounder, while Nowitzki is one of only two players to register below eight rebounds per game on this list. Both thrived in the playoffs; in 123 playoff games, Barkley averaged 23.0 PPG, 12.9 RPG, 3.9 APG, and had a 24.2 PER, while Nowitzki averaged 25.4 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 24.0 PER in 140 playoff games. Barkley infamously never won a championship, while Nowitzki was the best player on the Mavericks only championship team in 2011. Each won one MVP award, and each led the league in PER one season. Nowitzki gets extra credit for leading a constantly rotating supporting cast to 11 straight 50 win seasons during the prime of his career.

4. Karl Malone
As Jack McCallum described in Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever, I believe that Barkley was a better player than Malone during their respective primes. However, Malone’s work ethic allowed him to get the very best out of his body, and his 14 all-star game and all-NBA appearances reflect this. Malone was fortunate to play his entire career with one of the greatest orchestrators in NBA history, while Barkley didn’t play with an elite playmaker until he was traded to Phoenix, and Nowitzki lost Steve Nash just as both were entering their respective primes. Malone’s PER dropped from 23.9 in the regular season to 21.1 in the playoffs, and he wasn’t at his best in his two NBA Finals appearances. Malone gets credit for being a solid defender, which isn’t something that can be said about Barkley or Nowitzki. Numbers three through six are very close, and could change once Nowitzki’s career is finished.

3. Kevin Garnett
During his prime, Garnett may have been the best all-around player in the NBA. While he wasn’t the scorer that Barkley, Nowitzki, or Malone was, he was still a multitalented offensive threat, who once averaged a mind-blowing six assists per game from the power forward position. He’s also one of the handful of greatest defensive players in NBA history, operating almost as a giant Scottie Pippen, who could singlehandedly disrupt opposing offenses. In Minnesota, his postseason play was sometimes criticized, but he never had adequate talent around him to win a championship. He led the Celtics to a title in his first year with the club, and could have repeated if he hadn’t suffered a season-ending injury the next year (he was never the same player after that). His all-around play places him in the top three.

2. Bob Pettit
Pettit has an unassailable resume. He made the all-star game every year of his career. He made the All-NBA first team in each of his first 10 seasons, and made the second team in his 11th and final year. He was the best player on a championship team, and led the Hawks to three other NBA Finals appearances. Advanced statistics support the fact that he was one of the handful of greatest players ever, and he is one of only three players on this list to win multiple regular season MVP awards.

1. Tim Duncan
The only ‘criticism’ of Duncan is that he’s played half of his career at center, but for our purposes, he’s eligible for this list (basketball-reference.com has him listed as playing primarily power forward in 10 seasons, and primarily playing center in eight). Like Malone and Nowitzki, Duncan has aged like fine wine, and has accumulated the most all-star game, all-NBA, and all-NBA defensive appearances on this list. His advanced statistics are spectacular. He’s a two-way player, who can operate as the offensive and defensive anchor on championship-level teams. He’s won five championships, and has been the clear-cut best player on four of those teams. His playoff PER is virtually identical to his regular season PER. And he’s still going! Duncan is the greatest ever.

All-Time Miami Heat vs. All-Time Utah Jazz

It’s easy to look at our next first round match up as a contrast of styles. The athleticism of the All-Time Heat vs. the precision of the All-Time Jazz. Wade and LeBron vs. Stockton and Malone. Alley-oop vs. pick-and-roll. However, both teams have strengths that go well beyond these stylistic differences. During the latter part of LeBron James’s tenure with the team, Miami mastered a beautiful offense based on ball movement and spacing. Expect their all-time team to implement this, especially when they play James at power forward and surround him with shooters. Jerry Sloan’s flex offense was ahead of its time, and will maximize the offensive talent of the high scoring team he leads in this tournament. These tactics and several key advantages held by each side will help determine the outcome of this series.

Miami’s Advantages

Perimeter athleticism: Utah doesn’t have a good option to defend Dwyane Wade. Pete Maravich and Jeff Hornacek are outclassed athletically. John Stockton will be busy guarding Tim Hardaway. The Wade and James combination can overwhelm people on both ends of the court, and Utah doesn’t have many rangy wings who can slow them down. Speaking of James…

Jack of all trades: LeBron James should dominate in this series. Adrian Dantley has no chance of slowing him down. Expect Utah to use Karl Malone on him at times, and to play Andrei Kirilenko big minutes as the primary LeBron defender. Neither is an ideal option; Malone isn’t quick enough to defend him on the perimeter, and Kirilenko doesn’t have the bulk to contend with the brilliant post-up game James developed with the Heat.

Battle of the big men: Alonzo Mourning and (an older) Shaquille O’Neal vs. Mark Eaton and Mehmet Okur. Enough said.

Utah’s Advantages

Offensive efficiency: Dantley, Stockton, and Malone are not only three of the great offensive players of all-time, but also three of the most efficient (ranking fifth, ninth, and 56th ever in true shooting percentage). No defense will be able to completely shut down this trio. Add in Maravich’s playmaking ability, and the long-range shooting of Hornacek, and this offense has the potential to be deadly.

X-Factor

Jazz’s pick-and-roll vs. Heat’s aggressive, blitzing defense: Can Miami’s aggressive approach disrupt one of the greatest orchestrators in NBA history?

Results

Despite the brilliance of Utah’s offensive playmakers, the two-way dominance of the Heat overwhelms the Jazz over the course of the series. How do you feel about that LeBron?

LeBron celebration pose

Miami wins, four games to two.

Next Round

Miami faces the All-Time Orlando Magic.

All-Time Utah Jazz Team

All-Time Utah Jazz Team Infographic

The all-time Utah Jazz team is…interesting. They should have no trouble scoring, with two former scoring champions (Pistol Pete Maravich and Adrian Dantley), the second leading scorer in NBA history (Karl Malone), and the all-time leader in assists (John Stockton) leading the offense. The question becomes, how well do the pieces fit together? The 24th seed in our tournament, they face a difficult first round match up against the all-time Miami Heat.

John Stockton is the starting point guard, an all-time great legend who had few weaknesses and made everyone around him better. In his 19 seasons, he was incredibly efficient, with a .515 career field goal percentage, and a .608 career true shooting percentage, which currently ranks ninth in NBA history. Pete Maravich, the starting two, was an incredible showman, who had the misfortune of playing on miserable Jazz teams in the 1970s. In his five full seasons with the franchise, the team averaged only 32 wins per season. While some may ascribe blame to Maravich for these failings, the talent around him was nonexistent (see this team, for example), and he was never put in position to carry the team on a deep playoff run. Maravich averaged 25.2 points per game for Utah (New Orleans at the time) without the benefit of a three-point line. It’s questionable whether his freewheeling style fits into Jerry Sloan’s structured offense, however, and it’s hard to imagine two more different players sharing the same backcourt.

The starting forwards should be able to score with any duo in this tournament. Adrian Dantley was a mid-range and low post wizard who used his rare foul-drawing ability (currently eighth all-time in free throws made) to become one of the most efficient scorers in NBA history (currently fifth all-time in true shooting percentage). Dantley averaged over 30 points per game for four straight seasons with the Jazz, and won two scoring championships in 1981 and 1984. Karl Malone was a two-time Most Valuable Player, and the fulcrum for Jerry Sloan’s offense. Having Dantley and Maravich as the starting wings is less than ideal defensively, so their minutes will have to be staggered to maximize their effectiveness.

The starting center, 7’4” Mark Eaton, was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year who averaged 5.6 blocked shots per game in the 1985 season. Eaton was not much of an offensive player, but his presence will help make up for the team’s lack of wing defense.

This team has a solid yet unspectacular bench. Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer were the poor man’s Stockton-to-Malone in the 2000s. Jeff Hornacek was a great shooter who will get plenty of minutes behind Maravich. Andrei Kirilenko might be the bench’s most important player; he’s by far this team’s best perimeter defender, and their only other rim protector besides Eaton. Mehmet Okur was a rare stretch-five who will serve as Eaton’s primary backup. Unfortunately, he offered little resistance defensively, and he’ll have to be paired up with Kirilenko whenever he enters a game.

Expect this team to use different looks around their core players. Stockton should get plenty of minutes alongside Maravich, Hornacek, and even Deron Williams in two point guard sets, while Malone will be surrounded by both the Dantley-Eaton and Kirilenko-Okur pairings. Rickey Green and Paul Millsap will play sparingly as solid third string point guard and power forward options. Down the stretch of close games, Kirilenko, Malone, and Eaton will be a very solid defensive frontcourt pairing, and Stockton, the all-time leader in steals, will provide good resistance against opposing ball handlers.

Coach: Jerry Sloan

All-Time Franchise Winning Percentage (through 2014-15): .536