A three-time MVP with the Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers , he was the first player to go straight from high school into the pros. He was supposed to play in a charity golf game on Sept. Petersburg won back-to-back state titles and Malone was planning to attend Maryland on a basketball scholarship. The Utah Stars, however, selected him in the third round of the ABA draft and he decided to turn pro.
The Stars folded early into the season and Malone was sold to the Spirits of St. Louis where he averaged The Blazers then traded him to the Buffalo Braves. After just two games with the Braves, he was dealt to the Houston Rockets. In our scenario, Malone and Howard would be separated by just two years in age, giving them a lengthy period of time to battle each other -- especially after a trade sent Malone to the Eastern Conference with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Our modern Malone would have begun to decline late in the decade after being dealt to the Atlanta Hawks , coming up with one last hurrah in with the Milwaukee Bucks possibly as Andrew Bogut 's replacement at age 36 before finishing up his career as a reserve. Adding in the season we couldn't update , Malone's career totals are not quite as lofty as reality but impressive nonetheless.
Playing a contemporary style, Malone would have finished with 23, points good for 18th all-time and 14, rebounds sixth. His 5, offensive boards would have been a significant decline from his actual total 6, yet still good enough to rank best in NBA history by more than rebounds. Malone's prowess on the offensive glass would have stood out even more in today's NBA than it did in the s. Because coaches are so concerned with getting back defensively instead of crashing the boards, and because of the rise of the 3-point shot, offensive rebound percentages have been declining steadily since the late '80s.
Whereas one in three rebounds was grabbed by the offense in , today that number is not much more than one in four Malone's translation shows him averaging better than five offensive boards per game three times. In reality, that mark hasn't been reached since Elton Brand averaged 5. Malone would have dominated the offensive rebound leaderboard before Kevin Love topped him with 4.
The growing importance of the 3-pointer would have worked to Malone's benefit. That sounds odd, given that Malone made just eight triples in his entire NBA career. Where more outside shooting would have helped Malone is by making it more difficult to double-team him in the post. Howard is a great example of this. When the Magic signed Rashard Lewis and upgraded their perimeter attack in , it allowed Howard to dramatically cut his turnover percentage from In general, players turn the ball over less frequently than they did in the '80s, so our projection sees Malone's career turnover total decline from 3, to 3, -- a difference of more than 20 percent that takes him from fourth in NBA history all the way to 18th.
The lack of competition in the middle outside of Howard also could help Malone boost his numbers. However, part of the reason for the position's decline is that today's best post players tend to drift to the power forward position. So how did a guy like him drop 14 straight double-double seasons as the greatest offensive rebounder in league history? Imagine Malone as a big man who shares the leaping ability, speed and coordination of Blake Griffin as well as the shooting touch and power of Zach Randolph, both in their best years.
Malone was always running all over the court; he could shoot from 15 feet about 4. When he met those seven-footers on the court, Malone was always able to appear in the best position between his rival and the basket in a blink. Then he could show his opponents why nobody ever matched him in "shooting, missing, jumping again, and again before he either scored or drew a foul.
In the following season, Malone finished with By the way no center ever did that since then. He became a free agent and, he needed a championship. In September, he joined the Philadelphia 76ers. Before Malone, the 76ers already had "Dr. J," Julius Erving, an elegant flyer and a real gentleman. Though Malone told his new teammates that this was Erving's team and his only job was to grab offensive rebounds, Malone soon became the true leader of the 76ers and built the team into a new basketball gang.
Philadelphia in the season became a true legend. They won franchise-record 65 games. Before the playoffs began, Malone made his well-known victory statement: fo fo fo — meaning that the 76ers will sweep all the opponents to win the NBA Championship. Malone averaged 26 points and 18 rebounds per game in the finals. In Game 4, he grabbed 23 rebounds, including 10 in the last quarter.
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