more on Stockton and Malone

This comes from serious NBA fan Diarmuid the only Irishman I know who actually read Slam magazine:

“I think your characterisation of Karl Malone’s spot on: the pick and roll has had few better practitioners than Stockton and Malone and, given that Malone really carried the entire scoring weight for the Jazz (with infrequent appearances by Bryon Russell), the Jazz would never have got anywhere near the finals without him!”

There was also some scoring from Hornacek, and occasionally Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson, but it’s safe to say that Utah was not an especially powerful scoring team outside the Big Two.

Interestingly, both Stockton and Malone were drafted fairly low in the first round. If memory serves, it was 1984 (Stockton) and 1985 (Malone). I may be off by a year in either case but I’m pretty sure it was those two years. Both of them flourished beyond all expectations, and they stayed together in Utah for many years. Stockton retired with the Jazz, Malone made a failed effort at an elusive championship with the Lakers. But I still contend that Malone and Stockton would have had back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998 if not for Jordan’s return.

Below: Karl Malone (left) and John Stockton (right)