SALT LAKE CITY -- Karl Malone watched with pride and bit of surprise when his daughter was the third player picked in the WNBA draft Friday.

	Just like dad Karl Malone, Cheryl Ford was a first-round draft pick out of La. Tech.

"Third? Damn!'' Malone exclaimed with a grin when he saw Detroit had picked Cheryl Ford at No. 3. "I didn't know third. I thought fifth or sixth.''

Malone and Ford give the WNBA a father-daughter combination. They are also both first-round picks out of Louisiana Tech, and if Ford's career goes anything like her father's, the Shock will be very pleased with the selection.

"I want her to enjoy it. But now, she needs to know it's for real now. It's not high school or college anymore. Cheryl's a professional athlete,'' Malone said. "There's going to be a lot more expectations put on the No. 3 pick. She's not going to have the same luxury I had, going No. 13.''

The Shock's first regular-season game is May 31st in Detroit, where Malone plans to be if his schedule allows. It should, unless Malone and the Jazz can rally from a 2-0 deficit to the Sacramento Kings and get past the first round of the playoffs.

On Friday, Malone took a little time to forget about Saturday's game against the Kings and watch and talk proudly about Ford and her twin brother Daryl, his children from a high school relationship with Bonita Ford.

"I want people to know, her mom did a hell of a job with her, for Cheryl and her brother. She deserves a lot of credit,'' Malone said. "You can call it pretty good genes or whatever. She's (Cheryl's) making her own name.''

Cheryl Ford was in New York for the draft Friday. She was to fly later to Utah to see her father play the next night at the Delta Center, where she and Malone used to watch the WNBA Utah Starzz when Ford would train with her father during the summer.

Ford was also a little surprised to go so early in the draft and go to the Shock, which is coached by former Detroit Piston Bill Laimbeer, who clashed with her father many times as players.

"I've heard some interesting stories, some of them from my dad,'' she said during a teleconference. "I think I better leave it at that.''

Quipped Malone, "Hopefully, Bill will like Cheryl more than he liked me. I think he will do great things for Cheryl's game.''