
Originally Posted by
Chronz
Case against D-Rob, pre-peak he lost to the lower seeded Warriors in R.1, he put up really good numbers but many questioned his desire. He went ghost for key stretches and didn't take over when he had a huge mismatch against the undersized Warriors, Tom Tolbert was a primary matchup in the 4th quarter of a close game they lost. Legendary coach Larry Brown was annoyed with what they got out of the post, offended by the amount of turnaround jumpers (a common complaint of guys like KG too come post season) when they had the size advantage.
At the start and finish of his peak/prime run he was regularly Malowned.
1994 - Loses with HCA in R.1 just barely averaging 20-10 on 41% shooting (including a 2-14 stinker). Malone averages 29-12
1996- Loses with HCA in R.1, averaging 19-9 and watching Malone go for 25-9-5.
1998 - Loses in R.2 averaging 18-12 shooting 39% and watching Malone drop 25-10-4 draining jumper after jumper over both he and Duncan on the interior. Yes, this was the year D-Rob co captained the offense with Duncan, who was arguably already the superior player. He lost in 5 games
In a secondary role, he might be better than Malone given his portability but as a peak player, what does he got on Malone? When D-Rob won his 1st ring, it was actually one of the better defensive performances we've ever seen in the playoffs and his overall efficiency was good given the competition.
Charles Barkley is better than Malone, therefore D-Rob has no shot.