'Mailman' gets short end of the stick

Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz passed Wilt Chamberlain Tuesday to become the second leading scorer of all time in the National Basketball Association. \nMalone, 37, now has 31,443 points in his career, placing him second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Having scored more points than every player, except for Jabbar, Malone hasn't seemed to earn the amount of respect one would expect to come from that statistic.\nBut his numbers don't lie, and Malone is one of the best power forwards of all time. \nFew go as far as to put him in the top 10 or 12 players in history. Maybe he doesn't have the most athletic ability, and he never has won a championship, but it's hard to argue against Malone's effectiveness.\nNow in his 16th season with the Jazz, Malone has averaged 26 points a game for his career, along with almost 11 rebounds a game. \nUtah made it all the way to the NBA Finals twice during Malone's tenure, both times falling to the Chicago Bulls. Malone has 11 times been named to the All-NBA team, and has been selected to 12 All-Star teams. He also won NBA MVP awards in 1997 and 1999.\nProbably the most impressive statistic on Malone's resume, aside from his point total, is the relatively non-existent number of games he has missed. He has sat out only seven games in his 16-year career. And four of those games were because of league suspensions. That averages out to an impressive work attendance record. Malone has missed about one-half of 1 percent of all the games he could have possibly played.\nMalone credits his success in the league to his ability to stay in top-notch shape. Dedicated to working out in the off-season, the Mailman even has aspirations of playing tight end in the National Football League after retiring from the NBA. \nSeveral factors come into play as to why Malone isn't often considered one of the greatest. Malone's rough, physical style of play could have turned some critics off. Indeed, Malone isn't the most popular among the rest of the players in the league, and from what I've experienced, among the fans, either. \nPlaying in Salt Lake City could also have hurt Malone's chances of being considered one of the best, as great players in small markets are often overlooked. And maybe never winning a championship has caused some onlookers to question Malone's legitimacy as one of the best, but he hasn't had the type of surrounding cast that other stars have enjoyed. Not that the rest of the Jazz players have been a bunch of schleps, but they haven't quite been the caliber of some of the surrounding casts on championship teams. It's hard to entice top athletes to relocate to the beautiful paradise of northern Utah to play basketball.\nIf Malone plays for four more years and scores at his current average, 23 points a game, he will break the all-time record held by Jabbar. Then maybe some of his critics will reassess Malone's place on the list of the NBA's stars. \nI'm not claiming he should be first, or even in the top five. But with the consistent statistics Malone has put up throughout his career, he deserves a lot more credit than he is getting.