[chron] “Legends” treat fans to trip down memory lane (Mad Max)

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Vernon Maxwell, who helped the Rockets win NBA championships in 1994 and ’95, is 49 years old now, and his routine as a retiree sounds rather ordinary.

Certainly not the doings of a madman.

“I train kids and try to keep my golf ball in the middle of the fairway,” said Maxwell, who lives in Charlotte, N.C. “That’s about it.”

And yet he’s still “Mad Max” when he steps on the court.

Maxwell first earned the nickname for his clutch 3-point shooting, and some of his off-the-court antics made it stick. And everywhere he turned Saturday at the Legends Game, it’s all people shouted.

“Mad Max! Over here!” “Mad Max! Sign my ball!”

“It goes with the territory,” Maxwell said with a grin. “That’s what a lot of people know me by. Instead of Vernon, they’ll call me Mad Max.”


Maxwell was one of nearly two dozen former NBA players who descended on Hofheinz Pavilion for a pick-up game and the chance to reconnect with the fans who still remember them fondly.

“We don’t want the fans to forget,” said Maxwell, who helped put the first event together two years ago during the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles, along with NBA journeyman Anthony Avent.

“Fans still think about the legends, the past guys, (and) they want to see us out here.”

Maxwell’s Red team, which included Shawn Kemp — who showed up at halftime — and Christian Laettner, lost 129-110 to the White team, which featured Sam Cassell, Antoine Walker and Cuttino Mobley.

Cassell and Mobley, former Rockets who played together with the L.A. Clippers, got the White team started, and they led most of the way.

“I love it,” Mobley said. “I just love the camaraderie, all these guys, not seeing them for a long time, and then being able to see them, it was fun.”

Mobley played with the Rockets for six seasons from 1998 to 2004, when he was traded to the Orlando Magic along with Steve Francis — who didn’t play in the Legends Game — for Tracy McGrady.

Mobley, who still makes his home in Houston, said it was hard to leave.

“It was tough because when you’re younger like that you don’t understand the business, so it hurt a little bit, but after a while, the more you grow, the more you understand that it is business,” he said.

Even harder than leaving the Rockets was leaving the NBA in 2008 because of a heart condition. But Mobley said Friday that he did not retire and, in fact, is pursuing a path back to the league.

“I’m trying to get back in now,” he said.

The game also featured former Rockets Sleepy Floyd (1988-93) and James Posey (2002-03) on the White team and Bonzi Wells (2006-08), Sam Mack (1995-97, 1999) and Tracy Murray (1995) on the Red team.

The most recent NBA players included Darrell Armstrong (2008 New Jersey Nets), Damon Jones (2009 Milwaukee Bucks), Derek Anderson (2008 Charlotte Bobcats) and Theo Ratliff (2011 Lakers).

“It’s always fun to come back to Houston,” Maxwell said.

“I always remember the championships, and just the teammates I had, (and) the camaraderie we had together. Sam, Robert (Horry), Kenny (Smith), Mario (Elie), Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon), Otis (Thorpe) – the friendships we built up and the relationships that I had with them, that’s what I miss the most.”

 

Maxwell looks like he can whip Steve Francis one on one.

 

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