The show should go on

Here's hoping Stockton-to-Malone returns for another year

NBA players usually retire for one of three reasons -- or a combination of them.

1. Their skills have diminished considerably, with emphasis on considerably.

2. They are tired of playing in pain.

3. They have worn out their welcome, either because their team wants to get younger, or because the player feels underpaid and/or underappreciated.

There is no other reason for a player to retire. The money's too good, the attention too intoxicating, the fix of competition too habitual.

Which brings us to today, March 26, 2003, the 41st birthday of John Stockton, who, like his Utah Jazz teammate Karl Malone (who turns 40 on July 24), is at (or even past) the normal NBA retirement age. The Jazz legends are so old that they have played against eight current NBA head coaches, not to mention two others (John Lucas and Sidney Lowe) who were fired earlier this season. At the start of this season, I assumed that Malone would keep on playing after this year, his eye on the prize of becoming the NBA's all-time scoring leader, but that Stockton would play out the final year of his contract and promptly disappear until his Hall of Fame induction ceremony five years hence. This seemed not only logical but appropriate.

How do I feel now? I'd like to see them both come back next season. And I think they will. Understand that I do not have first-hand knowledge of this. The Mailman has been indecisive about staying in Utah (if, indeed, his staying will be his decision and not management's), but he has been indecisive about staying in Utah for the last 10 years. As for Stockton, one would have as good a chance of discovering the political persuasion of a saltine as get him to reveal his future plans, or much of anything for that matter. But my guess is that both will be wearing Utah uniforms next season.

The NBA is an ever-changing universe. The people around the game -- execs, scouts, journalists, marketing wizards -- turn their telescopes upward as much as toward the court, searching eternally for the new planet or the passing comet. It's a pretty safe bet that "LeBron James" has been mentioned far more frequently in NBA stories this season than either "Stockton" or "Malone." The very fact that the Jazzmen have been together for so long is a glorious stemming of the tide; that they are still contributing in a very real fashion is an added wonder. Here's what makes things even better -- when Stockton goes to the bench, he hands the quarterback reins to Mark Jackson, who turns 38 on April 1.

To one extent or another, none of the reasons for retirement I mentioned earlier apply to Stockton and Malone. Let's look at the categories in reverse order:

Has either worn out his welcome? Well, the relationship between Malone and management, and even Malone and coach Jerry Sloan, has never been what you would call seamless. Malone will speak his mind from time to time -- such as on days of the week ending in "y" -- and he speculates quietly but endlessly about passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the game's all-time leading scorer (the Mailman is about 2,200 points behind Sir Skyhook) while wearing a uniform other than Utah's. Dallas, which is closer to Malone's Louisiana offseason home, comes up most often as his next destination. But at the same time, Malone and Salt Lake City have a good relationship. An African-American in a predominantly white city, the Mailman likes the small-town feel of the place and its hearth-and-home values. As for Stockton, well, he is everything the no-glitz city could want in a sports hero, even though his native Spokane will be his retirement home.

Are they tired of playing in pain? First of all, they've kept themselves in such superior shape that they don't have much pain and they're such warriors that they would play through it if they did. You look back through their careers -- this is Stockton's 19th season, Malone's 18th -- and you see mostly 81s and 82s under "games played" on the stats sheet, and, barring a late-season injury, that will be the case again this year.

Have their skills diminished considerably? Absolutely not. Malone is 20th in the league in scoring with almost 21 points per game; Stockton, the all-time assist king by such a wide margin that there's almost no second place, is fifth in assists with 7.6. If there is one big difference between the dynamic duo of, say, five years ago and now, it is Stockton's on-the-ball defense. Quick guards such as Stephon Marbury and Tony Parker can beat him off the dribble. Duh -- he's 41. Yet Stockton is still 12th in the league in steals with 1.74 per game, three places behind Malone, who is averaging 1.75. The most underappreciated part of The Mailman's game has always been his agility and quick hands as a low-post defender.

The prevailing theory is that Stockton and Malone are still effective on offense because their games were never predicated on those "young-jock" skills such as quickness and aerial acrobatics. That's true to an extent, particularly with Malone. He still has the muscle and the indomitable will to carve out space down low and get himself to the foul line -- only Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Steve Francis, Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady have attempted more free throws this season. And Malone still has a deadly face-up jumper. But forever eliminate from your thinking that Stockton was not, or is not now, quick. You do not play point guard the way he has without quickness. What he does, perhaps better than anyone in history, is make a quick first step, then keep his defender at bay by wedging his slender body between the opposing player and his path to the basket. This means his defender can't get at him -- Stockton was doing that in 1985, and he's still doing it now.

Look, relationship cycles have a life of their own in sports and this one -- Stockton and Malone and Utah -- has lasted longer than most. If it's time for them to break apart, well, so be it. But the Stockton-to-Malone show is still a good one, refreshing in its old-school character, and I, for one, hope there's one more year of it.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.

 

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