Official: Chronicle report Taylor OK's Rocket contract

<a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/645457">Free agent Taylor OKs contract with Rockets</a>


For the second consecutive year, the Rockets won a free-agent race Thursday by moving slowly.

Forward Maurice Taylor told Rockets officials Thursday that he would accept their offer to sign a free-agent contract with the team, according to sources involved in the talks. Taylor, sources said, agreed to sign a one-year, $2.25 million contract.

As they did with Shandon Anderson last year, the Rockets landed their free-agent target to a contract far below the expected market value by waiting out Taylor's other options, ultimately including the collapsed four-team, 13-player deal that would have led him to Seattle to replace Vin Baker.

Taylor also told SuperSonics vice president Wally Walker of his decision Thursday and made plans to fly from Washington, D.C., to Detroit and on to Houston on Thursday night.

Taylor was unsure whether he would be able to complete personal business in Detroit in time to make his late flight to Houston, but had made his intentions clear.

Rockets officials were unavailable for comment Thursday.

The Rockets had been pursuing Taylor since July, but their recruiting efforts picked up dramatically after he turned down a three-year, $17.5 million offer from the Toronto Raptors.

Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich met with Taylor in Chicago on Aug. 7. The team has been in daily contact with Taylor since, with talks picking up with his agent, David Falk, this week.

Though Taylor had told the Rockets throughout the week that he was undecided, he seemed bound for Seattle when the SuperSonics put together the trade that would have been the largest in NBA history.

In that deal, Baker would have moved to the Knicks -- opening a starting power forward spot for Taylor -- in exchange for Knicks center Patrick Ewing, also a Falk client.

Lakers free-agent forward Glen Rice, also a Falk client, also would have moved to the Knicks.

But when Detroit backed out of the original deal, the Knicks and Sonics could not find a team willing and able to accept the contracts the Sonics needed to move to balance Ewing's contract.

The Knicks, sources said, tried to include Seattle forward Horace Grant in the deal to move Grant to the Lakers for Rice. But the Sonics balked, not wanting to sacrifice a valuable backup to Ewing, 38, or to so greatly help the Lakers.

With Taylor ready to take the Rockets' far more clear-cut option, the teams continued to work to revive the deal Thursday before it was ultimately declared dead.

Taylor would give the Rockets a low-post scoring threat at forward with the shooting touch to also work with the Rockets guards to catch and shoot.

A three-year veteran, he will be 24 years old when the season begins, young enough to grow with the Rockets' young nucleus.

Taylor, the 14th player taken in the 1997 NBA draft, has averaged 14.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in his three seasons out of Michigan.

He averaged 17.1 points and 6.5 rebounds last season. Taylor made 46.4 percent of his shots and 71.1 percent of his free throws, but played the season under a cloud after proclaiming his intention to leave the Clippers after the season.

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