Malone Coming Back For More

After three days of sitting by the pool at his spacious new home in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, Karl Malone had had enough.

He wanted to begin again.

“I was watching the kids play in the pool, and I guess I was kind of numb,” Malone said. “After about three days of that, I called Mark [McKown, the Utah Jazz’s strength and conditioning coach] and said, ‘I want to train.’ He said, ‘You’re crazy.”’

On June 3, the 35-year-old Malone became the oldest player in NBA history to win the Most Valuable Player award. Days later, he was named to the All-NBA first team for a record 11th straight time.

The two honors, while leaving little doubt he remains at the height of his formidable talents, came as Malone was struggling to come to grips with the fact he may never win a championship.

No one knows better than Malone that every accomplishment of his 14-year career will be somewhat lessened by that single omission from one of the most impressive resumes in basketball history.

But he simply can’t stop trying--to be the best and to win a title.

“The day I don’t want to train in the offseason, the day I don’t want to work as hard as I possibly can, that’s the day I’ll quit,” Malone said. “I still have the desire to push myself, and I’m going to keep playing until I don’t.”

After a 1998 offseason that strayed off both sides of the line between comedy and melodrama, Malone seems a changed person in the days before and after Utah’s unceremonious exit from the playoffs. He looks calm, cool and collected--and determined to remain that way.

He met with coach Jerry Sloan the day after the Portland Trail Blazers ended the Jazz’s season in the raucous Rose Garden. Malone’s final game of the year was disastrous: He was 3-of-16 from the field, scoring a career playoff-low eight points.

“After that kind of game, you doubt yourself a little bit,” Malone said. “[Sloan] and I sat down and got to talking ... and he said he wanted me to take the summer off. He was talking about how you’ve only got so many jumps left in your legs, that kind of stuff. So I thought about it.”

He did his thinking by the pool, but his mind wandered to the sweaty, dank gyms of Louisiana and Arkansas where he and his brother fulfill a rigorous training regimen every offseason. Malone is a fitness freak who is said to have worn out many a Stairmaster.

He also thought about a lingering embarrassment from his last offseason, when he alienated his teammates and his fans with a series of stunts that included a wrestling match with Dennis Rodman, a talk radio show and a vow to leave Utah, his only club in 14 NBA seasons.

He emerged from his recent contemplation with a resolve to remain at peace with himself and his career. His mid-life crisis was over. He would go back to work.

“To do this at age 35, I mean, this is a young guy’s sport,” he said. “That’s maybe the biggest honor with the whole MVP thing. ... This recognizes the time and work I’ve put into maintaining my fitness and my training.”

Malone still gets up at 5:30 to work out on some mornings, even during June and July. He’s compelled to do it by urgings he doesn’t understand; he only knows that if he doesn’t, he will never be sure he did everything he could.

In announcing their retirements in recent months, John Elway and Wayne Gretzky both said they had lost the desire to stay in the condition needed to compete at the top of their games. Malone can’t even imagine that feeling.

With 28,946 points, Malone should pass Michael Jordan for third place on the career scoring list early next season. Though he’s one of only nine men to be named MVP twice, he doesn’t think he has the abilities of many who accomplished the feat before him.

“I don’t think I’m in the top seven or eight of the most talented players to win this award,” Malone said. “I just try to work hard.”

“Karl has the ability to re-evaluate his energies every year and get the most out of what he has,” Jazz vice president of basketball operations Scott Layden said. “He has this great ability to focus.”

This summer, that focus will be on his family and his workouts, the two parts of his life he can best control.

After over a decade without contact, Malone recently re-established ties with two Louisiana children he fathered as a teen-ager. His 17-year-old daughter, Cheryl Ford, will play basketball next year at Louisiana Tech, his alma mater. Cheryl frequently visits Malone and his wife Kay, and Malone took her to a recent Utah Starzz practice.

“My family is the most important thing to me,” he said. “I love basketball, but I need my family around me.”

Malone also has pledged to stay out of the Jazz’s affairs this summer after years of making what he thought were helpful suggestions.

“I won’t talk to one guy about signing,” Malone said. “I learned a valuable lesson last summer. I wanted Isaac Austin here; he’s a good friend of mine. He chose to go (to Orlando). All of a sudden, he comes by the house the other day, and guess what? He doesn’t like it there. He wants to be here.

“I think me telling him I wanted him to be here clouded his decision process. I think I did a disservice to him. Now, I’m going to just sit back and watch.”

His contract expired this season, and Malone is a free agent for the first time in his career. He and Jazz owner Larry Miller held a press conference before the year at which they all but confirmed Malone would finish his career in Utah. But for now, he is theoretically available.

“I wiped everything off my schedule this summer,” Malone said with a grin. “I told Scott that when I want to do something, I’ll let you know.”

But in the most stunning development of all, Malone appears to have mended his bond with Jazz fans, who roundly booed him early in the season. He celebrated his MVP award by hosting a fan appreciation night at the Delta Center, complete with tours, food and a display of his car and motorcycle collections.

“I’m just trying to stay true to the people who have supported me,” he said. “I’m talking about my family, my fans, my teammates -- that’s who I care about, and that’s who I’m playing the rest of my career for.”