| | OAKLAND, Calif. -- Karl Malone ended his All-Star holdout
and then wondered what all the fuss was about.
The Utah Jazz star complained his desire for a weekend getaway
with his family was twisted into three-day soap opera pitting him
against everyone from league managers to the NBA's younger
generation players.
"I have no battles to fight," Malone said Sunday.
Malone, a two-time league MVP and 12-time All-Star, arrived
hours before the league's showcase at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
He insisted the test of wills between him and NBA rulers and his
distaste for the way the league is promoting its rising stars over
more established veterans had nothing to do with his absence from
most of the weekend activities.
"I'm here. I'm going to play. I'm fine," said Malone, whose
initial attempt to get out of his All-Star obligations by claiming
he had a sore back was rebuffed by league management. "I just want
to go in and break a little sweat."
He barely did that, playing just three minutes and going
scoreless in the first half and watching from the end of the bench
for the rest of the game, won by the Western Conference 137-126
over the East.
"That was fine," Malone said. "I've been nursing some
injuries. I talked to coach (Phil Jackson) right before the game
and he said you can play as much as you want or as little as you
want. And that's what I wanted to play. I talked to the guys on the
bench and I enjoyed myself. I knew I would once I got here."
Jackson said he honored Malone's request to play sparingly.
"He said, `I don't know if I'm capable of more than 4-5
minutes. I just need to make the appearance,"' Jackson said. "So
we pulled him."
Malone, whose Jazz played their last game Wednesday before the
All-Star break, said he and his wife and children spent time on
their Arkansas ranch and he also went to Louisiana to see his
teen-age son and daughter from a previous relationship play
basketball.
"And I wouldn't change a thing," Malone said. "I don't know
what the big deal is. It's kind of amazing. We as pro athletes are
criticized when you don't do things with your kids or spend time
with your family and I was trying to do that. It was a great
opportunity for me to see my kids play and spend time with my kids.
But I'm here now."
Malone said he didn't watch any of All-Star Saturday's events,
including the slam dunk contest won by budding superstar Vince
Carter, who epitomizes the league's rising stars.
Malone added he learned Sunday he had been fined for missing
Friday's mandatory media session, but said he didn't care.
"If I'm going to get fined so I can see my kids, I'll take
that," he said, adding later, "You know what? I wouldn't change a
thing."
The league also had threatened additional fines and a possible
five-game suspension if Malone blew off the whole All-Star weekend.
Utah teammate John Stockton, a member of the Western Conference
all-stars, said he was relieved Malone showed up not only to
bolster the elite squad to prevent what would be a damaging blow to
the Jazz if Malone was suspended.
"I'm just glad he's here," Stockton said. "He's a good friend
and it's good to share this event with him. I'm just glad this is
over and he's here playing."
Malone never indicated in the days before the All-Star game
whether he would show up. He declined to say if he thought the
league might have handled the matter with a softer touch if he had
been more definitive with his plans.
He also declined to discuss his feelings toward NBA management.
"I'm going to do a book one day and it will be in there," he
said. "Right now, I don't want to talk about it. I'm still
playing."
As for his past complaints about the younger generation's
"disrespect" for the game, Malone insisted it was overblown and
certainly had nothing to do with his pre-game All-Star absence.
"Everybody wants to portray me like I'm jealous of the younger
guys," Malone said. "I made my mark in this league and I continue
to try to do my own little thing. There's no ill feelings at all
because this changing of the guard, so to speak, is going to happen
to everybody whether it's Karl Malone or whoever. I have no
grudges." | |
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