876Stephen wrote:
Those guys were better than anything Barry and Oscar had. Malone just didn't perform as well in the postseason like Barry did and i already talked about him not deserving his 1999 mvp which i think we can all agree on.
While Barry did indeed win a title in 1975... let's not forget that it was in a fractured league... with half of the top players in the ABA.
Barry averaged 31 ppg on 46.4% shooting during the regular season in 1975.
His averages dipped across the board in the Finals... fewer assists. Fewer rebounds. And fewer points... while shooting only 44.4%.
But his team won so he gets A LOT of credit for that 40 years later.
In 1998, Malone averaged 25/10/4/50% in the Finals... the next highest scoring Jazz player averaged 10.7 ppg on 41% fg. But who gets blamed the most for the loss to the Bulls?
No reasonable person blames Malone for losing in 1998. That series was close, outside of game 3, and either team could've won. Thankfully the Bulls won.
Now 1997 is different.
Well, it seems like Malone "not winning a title" is definitely hurting him in this thread right now, isn't it?
While Barry did indeed win a title in 1975... let's not forget that it was in a fractured league... with half of the top players in the ABA.
Barry averaged 31 ppg on 46.4% shooting during the regular season in 1975.
His averages dipped across the board in the Finals... fewer assists. Fewer rebounds. And fewer points... while shooting only 44.4%.
But his team won so he gets A LOT of credit for that 40 years later.
In 1998, Malone averaged 25/10/4/50% in the Finals... the next highest scoring Jazz player averaged 10.7 ppg on 41% fg. But who gets blamed the most for the loss to the Bulls?
No reasonable person blames Malone for losing in 1998. That series was close, outside of game 3, and either team could've won. Thankfully the Bulls won.
Now 1997 is different.
Well, it seems like Malone "not winning a title" is definitely hurting him in this thread right now, isn't it?
Maybe, but not with me. Right now at this point in the rankings, rings aren't nearly as heavily weighted as they are in the first 10-12 picks.
Who else would you give credit too other than Barry for that title? Wilkes and his monster 14 ppt on 44% shooting? Butch Beard? Charles Johnson? The second best player was probably Clifford Ray. Yep, Barry won a title with Clifford Ray as his second best player. Of course your numbers will go down when your the only adequate player on the team, especially in the postseason. I don't care how diluted the league was, his team was shitty even compared to the rest of the NBA. Let's not forget he swept a 60 win Bullets team in the finals, a team with 2 20 point scorers and Wes unseld. He also won a title in the ABA so he succeeded in both leagues.
The knock on Malone was that he hated being the favorite and loved being the underdog and the reason he lost the 97 finals was because the mailman doesn't deliver on Sundays.
