Jeffrey Nigel Malone (born June 28, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Mississippi State, and is mostly known for his time with the Washington Bullets (1983–1990) of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was an NBA All-Star twice, playing the shooting guard position. He also played for the Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, and Miami Heat.

Jeff Malone
Personal information
Born (1961-06-28) June 28, 1961 (age 63)
Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High schoolSouthwest (Macon, Georgia)
CollegeMississippi State (1979–1983)
NBA draft1983: 1st round, 10th overall pick
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Playing career1983–1997
PositionShooting guard
Number24, 25
Coaching career2000–2006
Career history
As player:
19831990Washington Bullets
19901994Utah Jazz
19941996Philadelphia 76ers
1996Miami Heat
1997VAO
As coach:
1999–2000San Diego Stingrays (assistant)
2000San Diego Stingrays
2001–2005Columbus Riverdragons
2005–2006Florida Flame
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points17,231 (19.0 ppg)
Rebounds2,364 (2.6 rpg)
Assists2,154 (2.4 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

Basketball career

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Malone averaged 19.0 points per game over 13 years in the NBA. He was known for his capable offense, averaging more than 20 points in six full NBA seasons with Washington and Utah. In particular, Malone was adept at running his defender through a pick or series of screens, receiving a pass and hitting a quick mid-range jump shot. Often, these shots were off-balance, either fading sideways or falling backwards away from hoop, but his accuracy remained lethal, even when well-defended. At times, Malone would go on a hot streak and score more than 15 points in a single quarter.

On January 3, 1984, Malone, during his rookie season, hit a game-winning 3-pointer against the Detroit Pistons[1] as he fell out of bounds along the left baseline and lofted the basketball above the backboard and made it to give the Bullets a 103–102 lead with 1 second left. This shot was listed in a votable list of the NBA's greatest shots.[2] Malone emerged as one of the best scoring guards in the league over the next few years, appearing in the NBA All-Star Game in both 1986 and 1987. He averaged a career-best 24.3 points per game with the Bullets in 1989–90,[3] his last season with the team.

Malone was traded to the Jazz in the off-season, adding another offensive weapon to a team that already featured future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and John Stockton. Jeff Malone averaged 18.6 points per game in his first year in Utah, and shot 91.7 percent on free throws, good for second in the league (narrowly losing the free throw title to Indiana's Reggie Miller, who shot 91.8 percent that season). Malone averaged 20.2 points per game the following year, and was named NBA Player of the Week for December 8, 1991.[4] His scoring helped the Jazz to the Western Conference Finals that year, at that time the franchise's best-ever performance in the playoffs. During the 1993–94 season, Malone was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers in a trade that brought Jeff Hornacek to Utah.

Jeff was hired as Smokey Gaines' assistant coach for the IBL Stingrays in July 1999.[5]

Malone also coached the NBA Development League's Columbus Riverdragons from 2001 to 2005, compiling a 102–98 record, before the franchise changed ownership and moved to Austin, Texas, renaming the team the Austin Toros and leaving Malone out of a job.[3] He spent some time as the head coach of the Florida Flame until that team ceased operations in 2006, citing a lack of a suitable arena to play in.[3]

Personal life

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Malone resides in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife. He has four children; Jay, Joshua, Justin, and Jasmine Malone and one grandson Marshall Knutson-Malone.

Malone is the nephew of the late Vivian Malone Jones, the first African American graduate of the University of Alabama, and Dr. Sharon Malone Holder, wife of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.[6]

He is not related to either former Jazz teammate Karl Malone or Moses Malone (with whom he was a teammate in Washington from 1986 to 1988).[7]

NBA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1983–84 Washington 81 2 24.4 .444 .323 .826 1.9 1.9 .3 .2 12.1
1984–85 Washington 76 61 34.4 .499 .208 .844 2.7 2.4 .7 .1 18.9
1985–86 Washington 80 80 37.4 .483 .176 .868 3.6 2.4 .9 .2 22.4
1986–87 Washington 80 79 34.5 .457 .154 .885 2.7 3.7 .9 .2 22.0
1987–88 Washington 80 80 33.2 .476 .417 .882 2.6 3.0 .6 .2 20.5
1988–89 Washington 76 75 31.8 .480 .053 .871 2.4 2.9 .5 .2 21.7
1989–90 Washington 75 74 34.2 .491 .167 .877 2.7 3.2 .6 .1 24.3
1990–91 Utah 69 69 35.7 .508 .167 .917 3.0 2.1 .7 .1 18.6
1991–92 Utah 81 81 36.1 .511 .083 .898 2.9 2.2 .7 .1 20.2
1992–93 Utah 79 59 32.4 .494 .333 .852 2.2 1.6 .5 .1 18.1
1993–94 Utah 50 50 33.1 .488 .500 .843 2.3 1.3 .5 .1 16.2
1993–94 Philadelphia 27 23 33.4 .481 .667 .809 3.1 2.2 .5 .0 16.8
1994–95 Philadelphia 19 19 34.7 .507 .393 .864 2.9 1.5 .8 .0 18.4
1995–96 Philadelphia 25 3 16.3 .394 .313 .923 1.3 .8 .5 .0 6.2
1995–96 Miami 7 0 14.7 .394 .833 1.1 1.0 .4 .0 4.4
Career 905 755 32.8 .484 .268 .871 2.6 2.4 .6 .1 19.0
All-Star 2 0 12.5 .600 .000 1.5 3.0 .5 .0 6.0

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1984 Washington 4 17.8 .462 .000 1.3 .5 .3 .0 6.0
1985 Washington 4 4 31.5 .482 .333 .769 1.5 2.0 1.3 .0 16.3
1986 Washington 5 5 39.4 .408 .000 .897 3.2 3.4 1.4 .6 22.0
1987 Washington 3 3 35.0 .370 1.000 2.3 3.0 .3 .0 15.0
1988 Washington 5 5 39.8 .515 .000 .757 3.4 2.2 1.0 1.0 25.6
1991 Utah 9 9 39.0 .493 .000 .917 3.9 3.2 1.0 .1 20.7
1992 Utah 16 16 38.1 .487 .333 .861 2.4 1.9 .5 .1 20.7
1993 Utah 5 5 30.0 .446 .692 3.2 .6 .6 .2 13.4
Career 51 47 35.5 .470 .167 .852 2.8 2.2 .8 .2 18.7

D-league Head Coach

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Season Finish Wins Losses Pct. Postseason results
Columbus Riverdragons
2001–02 3rd 31 25 .554 Lost Semifinals (Greenville) 1–2
2002–03 6th 23 27 .460
2003–04 6th 18 28 .391
2004–05 1st 30 18 .625 Won Semifinals (Roanoke) 96–89
Lost NBDL Finals (Asheville) 67–90
Florida Flame
2005–06 3rd 25 23 .521 Lost Semifinals (Albuquerque) 80–71

See also

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References

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  1. ^ New York Times: Bullets 103, Pistons 102
  2. ^ "NBA's Top 10 greatest". Archived from the original on March 10, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c D-League: Flame to name Malone as coach Archived July 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Deseret News: Jeff Malone is NBA Player of the Week". Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  5. ^ "Transactions". The New York Times. New York. August 3, 1999.
  6. ^ Hook, Carol (November 19, 2008). "10 Things You Didn't Know About Eric Holder". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  7. ^ Cotton, Anthony (March 12, 1988). "Jazz Stops Bullets Streak". Washington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2019. Washington's John Williams, remaining in the starting lineup at forward, scored 22 points with six rebounds and five assists. Despite those efforts, it seemed that the two rising stars would be eclipsed by the goings-on among a trio of non-related Malones.
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