Just classic, classic Karl Malone in this interview (mp3) here on ESPN 700. There is not enough hard disk space on the internet to list all the gems, but here are a few:
- "Someone there must carries some weight for me to get my boat off the lake"
- The Jazz received "some heck of a players."
- He doesn't feel the Sloan situation was handled right.
- "The coach don't go, you go."
- On Sloan, "If he told me a flea could plow, I would hitch him up." If A Flea
- He doesn't necessarily want to coach. He would like to learn how to build a team. "Look at John Elway. That's not corny. That's real."
- "Not once did the Denver Nuggets say, 'You know what Carmelo, shut up and play."
- "Back in the day, it was great, I wore something with the Jazz on it just about all the time I left the house. If I wasn't going to an unbelievable function." #unbelievablefunction
- "If it was Valentimes (sic) Day, I wouldn't be bringing no chocolate and no roses to the table."
- Thinks the Jazz players need to condition and train more.
- When asked if he would bring in Ostertag as an assistant if he worked for the Jazz, "Not no, but hell no."
- Lots of variations on "I will tell you this," or "Let me say something..."
- He said he would coach for free at first, "I wouldn't want to be a coach at this point. I would love to to have an opportunity to work with Coach Tyrone and the Jazz staff and see if we even like each other."
- On Big Al, "This young man from Mississippi, I absolutely love him. I went to practice one day, and I said two or three words to him, and he went out and did it."
- His teams he likes to watch play: Portland, OKC, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Dallas
- On whether he liked Blake's dunk over the KIA, "I don't like to say KIA, cause I'm a Toyota man. It should have been a 4-runner."
- On whether Blake Griffin is a hybrid of him and Charles Barkley, "I see a lot of me, I don't see a lot of Charles, he don't have a gut, he don't have a bald head"
- On Barkley at TNT, "Come on Charles. Stop stealing from TNT."
Listen to all 32 minutes. You won't be disappointed. Then listen to it again.
Kevin Pelton (Insider) gives Denver a pretty good chance still at making the playoffs. The Jazz still have a chance, but would have to go at least 13-11 over their last 24 games,
An optimistic assessment would project the Jazz going .500 the rest of the way. Even that may be enough to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. Surely, part of Utah's thinking in dealing Williams was the team's fading postseason hopes. As of yesterday morning, John Hollinger's Playoff Odds gave the Jazz just a one-in-four chance (25.9 percent, to be exact) of reaching the playoffs. The simulation suggests 44 wins will probably be needed to claim the eighth seed, and that would require Utah to go 13-11 over the final 24 games of the season.
It is going to be tough. Even with Deron, the Jazz were five months in and still looked like they hadn't figured things out.. So removing a PG who's an expert in the system while bringing in another new guy and a rookie, I'm not sure they're going to be able to get it together in time.
They have 11 games left at home with 13 on the road. Even the home games are tough. They have Denver twice, Boston, and the rest of the contenders in the West. They also have Philly and Washington at home whom they've lost to already this season.
Of the 13 remaining road games, only 3 are against non-playoff teams. It will take some inspired play for the Jazz to make it this year.
I felt a big pit in my stomach watching the DWill news conference yesterday. He may have been frustrated with the team here and how things were going, but he's not in a better situation now. The Prok will have to work overtime I think to keep Deron in NJ. They would have to make a big splash with Dwight Howard to get Deron to stay.
As many pointed out, logically the Clippers makes sense for him. Baron Davis is gone and the Clips should have plenty of cap space in 2012 to offer him whatever the max is then. It's also close to his other home in San Diego. He could be playing with Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon and other talent there.
I've always been Jazz fan and have never remained a big fan of a player after they left. Part of that is because Stockton and Malone were here their entire careers (Malone retired in 2003 as far as I'm concerned).
But I will still follow DWill. I hope he gets on a contending team and wins a title.
Quickie from a Derrick Favors interview:
Been to Salt Lake City before: This is my first time.
Um, he has been to Salt Lake before when they played here in November. He put up 6 & 9. Not sure why this question was asked.
Friday poll...