Derick Hingle/USA TODAY Sports
I have no idea how I didn’t hear about this until this afternoon, but whatever. Better late than never and I didn’t have a blog in February. Sue me.
Anyways, Hall of Famer Karl Malone apparently admitted during All-Star weekend that he only watches about “10 or 12” players in the NBA nowadays and one of those at the top is none other than the Clippers’ Blake Griffin. Yeah, the guy flying in the blog post before this one. This also explains the Mailman dunk tribute Griffin displayed on Monday. See it here if you missed it. You’d think he’d have waiting until tonight to when they played the Jazz, but maybe he would have thought that would’ve been disrespectful to do that as an opponent in Malone’s old home.
For us average fans, watching Griffin and Lob City is a no-brainer. But to get a Hall of Famer like Malone to say that, who you know must find it hard to watch a game that he loves, but can no longer play at a high level, that’s a ridiculous amount of praise. And not only was Malone a Hall of Famer, but he played the same position as Griffin and has the same frame. Coincidence? Maybe.
Of course the main thing that separates the two (right now) is that Malone was a more well-rounded player, had a vertical that wasn’t that impressive and was consistent for many years, while Griffin is more known for his highlight reel dunks, despite his more polished jump shot and not to mention he’s still early in his career. If Blake keeps improving, who knows. Maybe he’ll also share a place along side Malone in Naismith.
Sure, it may be a bit premature to say Griffin will enter the Hall, but hey, crazier things have happened.
Christian Laettner is in the Hall of Fame, and what do you know, he kinda owes that to Malone.
I think I sense the universe aligning.
