The baddest of Detroit Piston Bad Boys gives these Utah Jazz icons high praise

Detroit Pistons legend, Isaiah Thomas, gives praise to Utah Jazz legends Jerry Sloan, John Stockton, and Karl Malone.

The Utah Jazz have been a consistently good team for almost 40 years. While championships have evaded the franchise, you can’t deny that the team usually has a competitive roster they can roll out for fans to enjoy. It hasn’t always been this good, and some years aren’t as fun as others, but since the early days of Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Jerry Sloan, the Jazz have routinely been better than not.

Those three really set the Jazz up for success and established an expectation that fans of the team continue to hold the franchise to, even decades later. Their work ethic as a trio helped propel the franchise to untold levels of success across three decades.

They were so respected, that even Isiah Thomas sees their value. Thomas, a member of the “Bad Boys” era of Detroit Pistons, recently spoke with Karl Malone on a now-viral clip (via the Basketball Network), where the two men spoke about the importance of Stockton to the success of the Malone-era Jazz.

During the sit-down, Malone gushed about his former point guard, before it was revealed that Thomas and Stockton had actually grown up together.

Due to that long-established history, it seems Thomas holds him and the Jazz’s most famous trio in high regard, describing Malone, Stockton, and Malone as the definition of hard work;

"The way John played, he ran the point guard position like none other. And it was always perfect. There are no two players that epitomize hard work, I’m gonna say three players; you (Malone), John Stockton, and your coach Jerry Sloan, that’s the Mount Rushmore of hard work"

While some may have different opinions on Malone and Stockon as non-players due to their recent controversial opinions and in Malone’s case, a problematic past, you can’t deny that three men were among the hardest workers that the NBA had ever seen, proof highlighted by how long they were able to be among the best in the NBA.