For those that missed it, there was a great article in the Deseret News about what The Mailman is up to now that he has stopped "delivering", or puns and what not. Think of how many players we read about that are even just recently retired, that have made $100's of millions that are now flat broke (Antoine Walker, Scottie Pippen, etc). Now look at what Karl is up to, via Doug Robinson and the Deseret News:
Karl Malone has become a successful entrepreneur since retiring from professional basketball.
A list of Malone's businesses and properties:Full or part ownership in four restaurants, in Louisiana, Idaho and Utah.
A new-car dealership in Draper.
A used-car dealership in Sandy.
A car accessories business in Sandy.
A body shop and collision center, now under construction in Draper.
Three oil change-service stores.
A cattle ranch in Louisiana.
Two condos at Green Valley Resort in St. George.
A "few thousand acres" of Louisiana property, which he uses for a tree-harvesting business as well as mineral rights.
A commercial development business, currently focused primarily on developing a large mall in Ruston, La.
A 12,000-square foot building in the aforementioned mall, which Malone is trying to fill with retail stores
A deer-raising venture.
A hunting guide business.
Now that's diversification. I'm sure everyone is listening to Karl's life changing radio shows, or at least reading the recaps over at Moni's site. I could listen to him talk all day. I want some Kenny Powers type spoken word audio books from Karl.
Hey, did you guys know that the darft (<-- shout out to Amar) is tomorrow? Oh, you did. Here's a rundown of the trades so far:
NO gets Rashard Lewis - Wash. gets Okavor/ Ariza
Hou gets 18th pick - Minn gets Chase Budinger
Cha gets Ben Gordon and protected 2013 Draft pick - Det gets Corey Magette
I think that Houston and NO trades make a lot of sense. The Cha/Det one... like trading Fuji apples for Gala apples. Obviously Charlotte is banking on the Pistons continuing to be horrible.
The Jazz, as expected, has been very quiet. Of course the conclusion we can draw from this is: absolutely nothing. The last 5 years we have really seen the Jazz do the exact opposite of what we expect. We expect a move and nothing happens. We expect a quiet trade deadline and they trade Deron Williams. It's a bit like a Battle of Whits with a Sicilian.
This morning on his Tip Off, David Locke spoke a bit about "pass first" point guards and how they don't translate to wins. I have been as critical of Devin Harris as any, but if you look at the teams that have been winning, Locke is right. You don't need this point guard to win in the NBA. Wings are far more important, even more so than bigs. Look at the teams that have gotten rings, and for the most part, they have very good wing players.
Spurs: Ginobili
Heat: Wade/ James
Thunder: Durant/ Harden
Lakers: Kobe
Celtics: Allen/ Pierce
Bulls: Deng
Anyone going to try and make it down to Vegas for the USA Men's Basketball Events? I am going to be down there next week to visit my Pops, so I may just try and get over to Thomas & Mack later in the week.