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Ten Questions about Former Spurs: Malik Rose



Part one of an ongoing series about former players who once donned the Silver and Black. Today's focus: Malik Rose

1) Who was he?

Malik Rose is at least one answer to a decent trivia question: Who was the first player taken in the 1996 NBA draft to win an NBA title? A strong-bodied 6'7" forward - okay, maybe 6'6" - with surprising hops, Rose was physically a throwback to some of the shorter and squarer PF's of the 1980s such as Charles Oakley and Sidney Green. Similar players in his own time include Jerome Williams and Eduardo Najera. Malik's actual basketball skills were limited when he entered the NBA, but he came to improve some of them. And whatever he did worked - he played thirteen NBA seasons, which is huge for an undersized PF from a basketball desert like Drexel University. Rose is only the second, and still most recent, Drexel alum to play in the NBA. The first played in 36 games in the 1988-89 season - for your San Antonio Spurs! (His name is Michael Anderson)

2) What did he do?

Malik Rose was basically an energy guy, a rebounder/defender with a decent jumpshot. In the right matchup the Spurs could get two or three buckets out of him on post feeds. Tim Duncan once said that Malik Rose was "huge" for the Spurs when opponents went small; he was also able to defend some bigs effectively by using his strength and low center of gravity to muscle them away from the paint. It was not uncommon, in a Spurs-Lakers game, for Rose to play Shaquille O'Neal straight up for a few minutes and not get completely abused.

3) What were his career high points?

Strangely, Malik Rose's best game in virtually any season looks like his best game in any other. His best game according to Game Score in the 2000-01 season came in a 12-point win over the Golden State Warriors. He scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. In the next season, Malik's best game came in a blowout win over the Memphis Grizzlies; he had 26 points and 11 rebounds. In an 8-point loss against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2003-04, Rose scored 26 and grabbed 11 boards. True, Malik's very best regular season effort was even better than any of those games: in a 3-point road win against the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2002-03 season, Rose scored 34 points and grabbed 9 boards.

But who cares about the regular season? Malik Rose's best game was undoubtedly game two of the 2003 Western Conference Finals. The stakes were high: the Spurs were down 0-1 to the Dallas Mavericks, who had had as big a year as the Spurs to that point. Both teams led the NBA with a 60-22 record during the season, although the Spurs won the tiebreak for the #1 overall seed. Rose helped the Spurs even the series with 25 points and 6 rebounds. Included in that point total was a remarkable 15-18 tally from the free throw line, which illustrates how Rose was able to frustrate Dallas' front line.

As seasons go, 2002-03 was Rose's best. Although Rose would play for six more seasons, he established career highs in, among other categories, Minutes Played, Points, Rebounds, and Assists. And that season ended in a championship.

4) Why did he leave?

He was traded during the 2004-05 season. It's not easy to see what was taking place inside the locker room, but from the outside it appeared that Malik wasn't a good fit on the post-Admiral Spurs. In David Robinson's last two seasons, Rose had value as a post defender who could relieve the former MVP. Thanks to back and knee troubles, Robinson just wasn't able to play big minutes toward the end. On the other hand, Robert Horry, also a power forward, had more size than Rose and was also capable of hitting the three-point shot. With Horry's arrival in 2003-04, Rose saw his minutes cut by nearly 700. What's more, Rose was as bad during the 2004 playoffs as he had been good during the championship run of 2003. Midway through the following season, Rose was traded for 6-10 center Nazr Mohammed, who is still an active player today.

5) Was San Antonio his last stop?

No. He played the rest of that season, plus three and a half more, for the New York Knicks. During that time, Rose played for Larry Brown, who, among his many distinctions, was the only man to coach both Drexel University alums to play in the NBA. Rose played the second half of his final NBA season in 2008-09, after a trade to Oklahoma City.

6) Did he ever turn up on SportsCenter's Top Plays?

Hell yes.

7) What is the last word on his Spurs legacy?

One of the best reserves in club history after Manu Ginobili, Boris Diaw, and Robert Horry. Helped hang two banners in the AT&T Center.

8) What's he doing these days?

Malik Rose has been in broadcasting since the end of his playing career, including occasional fill-in stints for Sean Elliott on Fox Sports Southwest. He is currently the color commentator for his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers.

9) Anything else worth mentioning?

Game four, round one, 2002 Western Conference Playoffs. The Spurs lead the Seattle Sonics 2-1 but, due to the death of Tim Duncan's father William, the Spurs will have to try to close out the Sonics without the league MVP. Malik Rose started in place of Duncan and, in a tribute to Tim and his grieving family, cradled the ball close to his body just before tipoff, keeping the tradition going in Tim's absence. Although the Spurs lost game four on the road by twelve, Rose's stat line was a good imitation of Duncan's: 38 minutes, 8-16 FG, 12-13 FT, 28 points, 13 rbs, and 3 assists.

One anagram of "Malik Rose" is "soil maker".

He's got one kidney.

10) Who plays like him in today's game?

Draymond Green is more skilled and perimeter-oriented, but has the same type of tenacity. Zach Randolph is the rich man's - make it the Carlos Slim's - version of Malik Rose. If Patrick Beverly were a thick-bodied forward, he'd be close.

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