How did he play basketball with a delicate tough guy in a rough man s outerwear?

Legendary coach Jerry Sloan said of Malone: "Although he has never won a championship, his career is excellent. He has done everything he can to win, and I think this kind of thing is often overlooked in basketball."

As the first uncrowned king, Karl Malone's career is full of magic. In 1984, the Jazz won Stockton in the draft, and the following year, the team selected Carl Malone with the 13th pick in the first round. At this point, the "Utah Double Devils" combined and led the team to the championship in the next 18 years, and never missed the playoffs during this period.

Judging from his figure alone, Carl Malone looks like a bodybuilding champion, and more like a man who only knows how to eat cakes. In fact, most of Malone's career scores are full of technical achievements: pick-and-roll cooperation with Stockton, mid- and low-level frame mid-range shots, empty cuts without the ball, etc. You will find that Malone's offensive methods are quite delicate, showing a "contrast" with his appearance.

In the third year of his career, Ma Long gradually developed a stable mid-range shooting, and his face frame shooting ability became the best at that time. After receiving the ball at the low post, Malone did not directly play with her back, but first turned from her back to the face frame to observe the defender's position. When there is a certain pitching distance, Malone will shoot directly or make a shot.

Marone's dessert position is roughly the free throw line extension line and the 45° elbow area on both sides. The shot gradually becomes softer as the practice accumulates, and the shot is completed without too much adjustment after receiving the ball. In the middle of his career, Malone even evolved his ability to play back and forth and jump shots. After this move, whenever the defender faces Ma Long, he often falls into an embarrassing situation of "whether to go forward and interfere with the shooting."

Throughout Malone's career, he averaged 6.4 shots in the distance area in the regular season, with a shooting percentage of 47.8%; he rose slightly to 7.1 times in the playoffs, with a shooting percentage of 48.6%. The continuous transformation of the middle distance also makes the subsequent pick-and-roll of Malone and Stockton more threatening, and you can catch the ball and pull it out after the pick-and-roll bounces.

At that time, the Jazz team led by Sloan, Stockton and Malone were almost the pioneers of NBA pick-and-roll tactics.

Compared with other teams, in addition to simple pick-and-roll, Malone and Stockton's pick-and-roll will also make corresponding adjustments according to different forms, such as fake covers going straight ahead, short-swing down, and pick-and-roll to catch the ball after pick-and-roll. These moves that are common in alliances today are rare scenes at that time.

Maron can provide solid cover quality. After the cover, Maron will make different choices based on the defense at that time: Because Maron has a good mid-range shooting threat, if the opponent's center squats after the cover, Maron will go straight to the free throw line and catch the ball and complete the shot.

If the defender changes defense, Ma Long will immediately take the lead and create a small situation.

If the opponent has a forced delay and interferes with Stockton's goal, Malone will prepare to hit the ground pass in advance, and then there will be a situation of more and less. In the 12th season of his career, Malone stepped onto the finals as he wished. Before this, although the team never missed the playoffs, it was still a certain distance from breaking out of the division, including 5 first rounds, 2 second rounds, and 4 outs in the division finals.

Facing the Bulls, the Jazz were tied 2-2 in the first four games and finally won the championship by the Bulls. The following year, the two teams met again. Although the Jazz won the first game, the Bulls finally had the last laugh with Jordan's key steal + winning mid-range shot in the sixth game.

In the last year of his career, Malone joined the Lakers as a free agent and formed an F4 championship with Kobe, O'Neal and Payton. However, without the favor of the goddess of luck, Malone suffered a knee contusion in the fourth game and the team eventually lost to the Pistons. At this point, Ma Long announced his retirement.

If measured by the number of champions, Malone is undoubtedly tragic, and his career has been only one step away from the championship. However, if measured by the overall value of his career, Malone is undoubtedly great. Before Duncan appeared, he firmly occupied the position of the No. 1 power forward in history.