Moses Malone
(Kalb: #14, Simmons: #12, BBR: #15)
Moses Malone is the greatest offensive rebounder in the history of the NBA, and was a trailblazer for many of today's players, becoming the first player to successfully jump directly from high school to the pros. He also had an incredibly long career, playing 19 NBA seasons and 21 professional seasons overall.
As I stated above, Malone was easily the best offensive rebounder to ever set foot on a basketball court. He has the three highest single season totals of all time, and is also the owner of 6 of the top 10 offensive rebounding seasons. He led the league in offensive rebounds in each of his first 7 seasons, and in total rebounding six times in his career. In 1978-79, he averaged 7.2 offensive rebounds per game, and 17.6 overall. He was truly a monster on the boards.
Malone was among the top 5 players in the league for five straight seasons early in his career, from 1978-1983. During that stretch, he was awarded the MVP award three times, but he may not have been the best player during those seasons. I'm going to break down the best players from four of those seasons and show my pick for each season's MVP
Gervin (1979) - 29.6 pts, 5.0 reb, 2.7 ast, 1.7 stl, 1.1 blk, .541 FG%, .826 FT%, .585 Win%
Malone (1979) - 24.8 pts, 17.6 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.0 stl, 1.5 blk, .540 FG%, .739 FT%, .573 Win%
Gervin led the league in scoring, while Malone led the league in rebounding. Gervin was the better shooter, despite being the smaller player, and his team finished ahead of Malone's in the overall standings. They also advanced farther in the playoffs than the Rockets, all of which make a strong case for Gervin deserving that season's MVP.
Erving (1981) - 24.6 pts, 8.0 reb, 4.4 ast, 2.1 stl, 1.8 blk, .521 FG%, .787 FT%, .756 Win%
Malone (1981) - 27.8 pts, 14.8 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.0 stl, 1.9 blk, .522 FG%, .757 FT%, .488 Win%
Statistically, Malone was a much better player, but Erving had the advantage of playing for the team with the best record, which is probably why he won the MVP, but in retrospect, the 76ers fell in the Eastern Conference Finals, while Malone led the Rockets all the way to the NBA Finals, where they fell to Boston in 6 games. This one's not completely clear-cut, but I believe Malone was the better player that season.
Johnson (1982) - 18.6 pts, 9.6 reb, 9.5 ast, 2.7 stl, 0.4 blk, .537 FG%, .760 FT%, .695 Win%
Malone (1982) - 31.1 pts, 14.7 reb, 1.8 ast, 0.9 stl, 1.5 blk, .519 FG%, .762 FT%, .561 Win%
Malone had an amazing season, leading the league in rebounding again while averaging over 30 points for the only time in his career, but Magic came closer to a triple-double average than anybody since Oscar Robertson and led Los Angeles to the best record in the West and eventually an NBA Championship, while Houston lost in the first round. This should have been Johnson's first MVP.
Johnson (1983) - 16.8 pts, 8.6 reb, 10.5 ast, 2.2 stl, 0.6 blk, .548 FG%, .800 FT%, .707 Win%
Malone (1983) - 24.5 pts, 15.3 reb, 1.3 ast, 1.1 stl, 2.0 blk, .501 FG%, .761 FT%, .793 Win%
Johnson nearly matched everything he had done the year before, even upping the Lakers' winning percentage and shooting much better than big man Malone, while Moses saw a huge dip in his scoring numbers, which he made up for by winning more games with his new team, the 76ers. The two teams met in the Finals, with Malone's Rockets winning in 4 games, but I still think Magic was slightly better overall, because he could pass the ball and take it away from the other team.
It was during that championship run of 1983 when Moses famously predicted that Philly would sweep through the playoffs in "fo, fo, fo," which they came within one game of accomplishing, losing just once in the second round. Moses ran away with the Finals MVP award and took home his only championship during that season.
You may have noticed that most experts have Malone ranked a bit higher all-time, but there are several reasons to rank him a bit lower. The first is that he really didn't have that much playoff success. He had the one magical and dominant season in 1983, and he took his team to the Finals in 1981, but other than that, he only saw the Conference Finals two other times in 19 seasons. That equals 15 seasons of losing in the first round or missing the playoffs altogether.
Another problem with Malone is that he was traded often during the prime of his career. Usually when one of the best players in the league is traded, it's because there is some sort of problem with the player, and Malone was traded not just once, but 5 times during the best years of his career. In fact, more than half of my top 20 players played for only one team during their prime years. One mark of a truly great player is that he is untradeable.
Moses was also not a great shooter, especially for a big man. His career average was under 50%, which is unacceptable for a center, and he only shot over 50% five times in his 19 seasons. His longevity, durability, and dominance in one category for a long period of time certainly help him out here, but he is not one of history's top 25.
Malone and Wade each have one championship, one Finals MVP, and two Finals appearances in their careers. Malone had a lot fewer injury problems than Wade has had, but Wade was a better all-around player than Malone, who was more of an inside-only star. The thing that keeps Malone ahead was that he was a star player of 14 years, which is longer than Wade has been in the league so far. I'm not sure how much longer he can hold him off, though.
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