Malone
has eyes on first championship with Lakers
NBA:
New faces Karl Malone, Gary Payton and Horace
Grant reported to the Lakers' Hawaii training
camp with hopes of returning the team to
championship form.
HONOLULU
(AP) -- When it comes to winning championship
rings, Karl Malone has some catching up
to do. Among his new Los Angeles Lakers
teammates, for sure, and even in his own
family.
Malone
sat courtside last month and watched as
his daughter, Cheryl Ford, helped the Detroit
Shock win the WNBA championship in her rookie
season. He covered his eyes as she sank
four key free throws in the final minute
of the decisive third game against Los Angeles,
then embraced her when it was over.
"Oh,
I was proud of her, then I said, 'Damn,
she came in and got one before me,'"
Malone said.
"She
came over and hugged me and the first thing
she said was, 'I got mine before you, dad,
now it's your turn.' I said, 'You're absolutely
right.'"
So
here he is, a few weeks later, dressed in
the Lakers' purple and gold and cooling
down after a training camp practice. Huge
ice packs are taped to his knees, and his
right foot and ankle are submerged in a
tub of ice. His body needs the post-practice
maintenance, but otherwise the 6-foot-9,
259-pound Mailman looks as buff as ever,
like he's ready to help carry the load.
"This
isn't a 40-year-old body, this is more like
in the 20s," he joked.
At
the start of camp, Malone could hardly believe
he was with the Lakers. He'd spent his first
18 seasons with the Utah Jazz, reaching
the NBA Finals in consecutive years but
losing both times to Michael Jordan and
the Chicago Bulls in six games.
A
two-time Olympian, Malone said the chartered
plane that brought the Lakers veterans from
Los Angeles to Honolulu was like a Dream
Team flight. Shaquille O'Neal and Horace
Grant were on board, as was fellow newcomer
Gary Payton, a 13-year veteran who has never
won a championship. Kobe Bryant, who faces
a sexual assault charge in Colorado, skipped
the flight, arriving in town 24 hours later.
"It's
starting to sink in because every guy who
has been here and won championships, it
seems like they appreciate me being here,"
Malone said. "Not that my teammates
didn't in Utah, but they expected so much,
and that's fine. But the guys here, it's
like ... 'I couldn't believe you did what
you did, but welcome.' And that's a feeling
that I can't explain.
"It
makes me work harder. It makes me want to
do the right thing every time I'm out there."
Malone,
the second-leading scorer in NBA history
who is considered perhaps the greatest power
forward ever, took a huge pay cut to join
the Lakers in his quest for his first NBA
title. After earning $19 million last season
with the Jazz, he'll get the veteran's exception
of $1.5 million in the first year of his
two-year Lakers deal.
"Don't
get me wrong -- if I could have come in
for $10 million, I would have done that,"
Malone said. "This is where I wanted
to be. And I knew the situation coming in.
If Gary came, it was one way, if I came
by myself it was one way, if both of us
came, it was cut and dry.
"I've
been pretty smart with what I've done with
my money. I'm playing because I want to
play this game here. I want the opportunity.
I want to do the best I can. Everybody knows
money wasn't the issue."
O'Neal
hopes to help Malone get his first ring.
"Luckily
we're all back on the same page because
he wants one and I want another one,"
said O'Neal, who led the Lakers to three
straight titles from 2000-02. "So we're
going to work together to get that one,
which will be his first and my fourth. It's
going to be fun. He's one of the greatest
players in the game."
"It's
kind of a shame that Utah let a great player
get away," O'Neal added. "He played
for Utah, but he's going to be known in
his career as a Laker. If I was an owner,
I don't think I could let that happen, but
you know these owners."
Malone's
joy at signing with the Lakers was tempered
by the death of his mother, Shirley Jackson
Malone, in August while he was practicing
with the U.S. Olympic team for a qualifying
tournament.
"I
think as a person it changed me forever,"
Malone said. "You're talking about
the person who gave me life. Not a day goes
by I don't think about her.
"This
is what she wanted me to do," he said.
"So I'm going to play this one for
her. As long as I play for her, that could
be pretty scary."
The
Lakers play the Golden State Warriors in
exhibition games Tuesday and Wednesday at
the University of Hawaii. ... Coach Phil
Jackson said O'Neal's bruised heel is getting
better, but that Bryant, who had offseason
shoulder and knee surgery, probably won't
be ready until the Lakers play Phoenix in
San Diego on Oct. 14.
"I've
been pretty smart with what I've done with
my money. I'm playing because I want to
play this game here. I want the opportunity.
I want to do the best I can. Everybody knows
money wasn't the issue."
-- Karl Malone,
newest Laker
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