Jeff Malone
Born: June 28, 1961
Position: Shooting Guard
Height: 6-4 (1.94m)
Jerseys worn: #2
In the NBA:
His Game:
Jeff Malone was a great scorer for over a decade in the NBA, specialised in the automatic, mid-range (often off-balance) shot and excellent from the free-throw line.
His Career:
Selected in the 10th place of the 1983 draft by the Washington Bullets, Malone spent the best years of his career in Washington.
He scored 12.1 points per game as a rookie, improved to 18.9 points the following year, and in 1986 he scored 22.4 ppg. His best season with the Bullets was the last one, 1989-'90, when he averaged 24.3 points and 3.2 assists.
In the summer of 1990 Washington traded Malone to the Utah Jazz.
This gave him the chance to play more playoff games and even dream of an NBA title, which was not the case in Washington.
Malone helped with his outside shooting but the team didn't advance further than the Western Conference Finals (1992).
Jeff was often criticised for his defense but never for his scoring. He was the 2nd-leading scorer in the team (behind Karl Malone -no relation) during 3 seasons in Utah (18.6 ppg in 1991, 20.2 in 1992 and 18.1 in 1993).
In the 1993-'94 midseason, Malone was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. He missed most of the 1994-'95 season with an injury, playing in only 19 games but still scoring 18.4 ppg. 1995-'96 was his last season in the NBA. He was traded from Philadelphia to Miami and he averaged 5.8 points in just 32 games.
Honors:
Twice an All-Star (1986, '87), Malone finished his career ranking in the top 10 of two teams' all-time scoring list: 2nd in the history of the Washington Bullets and the 9th in the history of the Utah Jazz. He was selected in the 1984 All-Rookie Team.
Statistics:
| YEAR |
Team |
Games |
Pts |
FT % |
FG % |
3PM |
3-pt % |
Reb. |
Trn |
Ast |
St |
Blk |
Min. |
Star? |
| 1984 |
Washington |
81 |
12.1 |
.826 |
.444 |
24 |
.324 |
1.9 |
1.4 |
1.9 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
24.4 |
No |
| 1985 |
Washington |
76 |
18.9 |
.844 |
.499 |
15 |
.208 |
2.7 |
1.4 |
2.4 |
0.7 |
0.1 |
34.4 |
YES |
| 1986 |
Washington |
80 |
22.4 |
.868 |
.483 |
3 |
.176 |
3.6 |
2.1 |
2.4 |
0.9 |
0.2 |
37.4 |
YES |
| 1987 |
Washington |
80 |
22.0 |
.885 |
.457 |
4 |
.154 |
2.7 |
2.3 |
3.7 |
0.9 |
0.2 |
34.5 |
YES |
| 1988 |
Washington |
80 |
20.5 |
.882 |
.476 |
10 |
.417 |
2.6 |
2.2 |
3.0 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
33.2 |
YES |
| 1989 |
Washington |
76 |
21.7 |
.871 |
.480 |
1 |
.053 |
2.4 |
2.2 |
2.9 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
31.8 |
YES |
| 1990 |
Washington |
75 |
24.3 |
.877 |
.491 |
1 |
.167 |
2.7 |
1.7 |
3.2 |
0.6 |
0.1 |
34.2 |
YES |
| 1991 |
Utah |
69 |
18.6 |
.917 |
.508 |
1 |
.167 |
3.0 |
1.6 |
2.1 |
0.7 |
0.1 |
35.7 |
YES |
| 1992 |
Utah |
81 |
20.2 |
.898 |
.511 |
1 |
.083 |
2.9 |
1.7 |
2.2 |
0.7 |
0.1 |
36.1 |
YES |
| 1993 |
Utah |
79 |
18.1 |
.852 |
.494 |
3 |
.333 |
2.2 |
1.6 |
1.6 |
0.5 |
0.1 |
32.4 |
YES |
| 1994 |
Utah / Philadelphia |
77 |
16.4 |
.830 |
.486 |
7 |
.583 |
2.6 |
1.1 |
1.6 |
0.5 |
0.1 |
33.2 |
YES |
| 1995 |
Philadelphia |
19 |
18.4 |
.864 |
.507 |
11 |
.393 |
2.9 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
0.8 |
0.0 |
34.7 |
YES |
| 1996 |
Philadelphia / Miami |
32 |
5.8 |
.906 |
.394 |
5 |
.313 |
1.3 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
0.5 |
0.0 |
15.9 |
No |
| Career |
Career |
905 |
19.0 |
.871 |
.484 |
86 |
.268 |
2.6 |
1.7 |
2.4 |
0.6 |
0.1 |
32.8 |
YES |
In Europe:
In the middle of the 1996-'97 season, Malone signed with Greek team VAO. When he arrived, VAO was the worse team in the Greek Championship and needed a few wins in order not to fall in the 2nd division. Malone helped more with his presence than with his game. His teammates seemed inspired and the team made more victories on the 2nd half of the season, including a great victory over Olympiakos (who won the European, the Greek Championship and the Greek Cup that year). Malone was not in shape though. At age 36 he was slow and except 1-2 good games, he was shooting a lot but not scoring much. He averaged 14.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1 assist shooting 39% from the field, 29% from the 3-point line and 76% in the free throws, in 12 games played. VAO, who desperately needed a super-scorer, left the division in the end of the year.