This is how you do it: you admit your mistakes you look back at the good times you say great things about your teammates you say great things about the city you appreciate the fans http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_1326988 Nobody tried to slip a ring onto Maxwell's finger. ""That's all right," he said. ""I don't need one. I don't really want one. Those other guys were part of it all. I wasn't. I was there during the regular season. But I wasn't there during the playoffs, and that's when they won that championship. ""No problem. I don't mind. I've got my ring from the first year and, to tell you the truth, it's more rings than a lot of people around this league ever thought that I'd get." ""I think about that game, that shot, that couple of seconds from time to time," he said. ""When I walked back in here today and out onto the floor, I couldn't help but think about it for a little bit. A lot of good things did happen to me here. I had seven years that were the best of my basketball career. ""I made some real good friends in Houston. I had some real good times in Houston. But now that's all over. This game is over, and tomorrow I'm not going to be in Houston. It's all about helping the Sixers now." ""My boys Sam (Cassell) and Mario (Elie) will come back, and the Rockets will still be tough in the playoffs," Max said. ""I'm all right. I'm showing people I can play again. I liked the reaction from the crowd tonight. They remember me." http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_1326831 ""I don't think too much about Houston," he said. ""I watch them play all the time. Those guys are still my friends. But I don't think about playing in Houston or that they're winning and I'm losing. I don't think about that at all." And then, he added: ""With Clyde (Drexler out with a knee injury), they could use me now. But they'll be OK." ""Dream was someone I looked up to," Maxwell said. ""I really respected him a lot for the way he changed his life with his religious beliefs. I'm sure it's hard for people to believe, but we were really good friends. I felt like he genuinely cared about me as a person, not just a basketball player. ""He knew that I was one of the guys who was going to play hard every night. But Mario, Sam and Kenny are my boys, too. Kenny and I are so close that my kids call him Uncle Kenny. So it's going to be great to spend some time with all of those guys." But the losing has been tough. It's a lot tougher at the end of the game when you don't have Dream (Olajuwon) to throw it in to. I'm having to create a lot more shots at the end of games." ""I felt like a lot of the people who didn't even know me were unfair," he said. ""But there were a lot of people in Houston who really liked me, too. I like Philly. It's a blue-collar town, and the people are very friendly - very genuine. They don't judge you for situations you've been through in the past. After all, it's the City of Brotherly Love. People who sit down and get to know me realize I'm not this bad person everyone thinks I am. I'm not a lunatic. I'm not going to go out and murder someone. I'm just Vernon."
Nice find. I'd be interested in more old Chron articles that anyone digs up that has some meat to it.
that's awesome, you'll get alot of props at the games for the that. When I was in Houston for one of the games, someone had an Otis Thrope jersey, I was amongst the real fans. I wore my Maxwell jersey one year at ACL fest and I had so many random people give me high fives and say "Mad Max! I remember him!" or "Clutch City!"
too bad I usually only wear the same thing to Rockets games- my spacesuit- I've got rockets apparel near 150 items though I never get to wear to games. I wore a thorpe jersey to open practice, that was a hit. Btw, in the past few days, I've tried to rep you on 3 different occasions including this thread but I have to spread rep around. lol.
lol, i can't give you more rep either, I got to spread it around, I'll avoid the tmac fans and give it to some more deserving fans. wow, an otis thorpe jersey? nobody will ever question your dedication to the Rockets. I met OT a long time ago and I thanked him for winning a championship for us. He was so genuinely proud of winning a championship for the Houston Rockets. I vowed to myself to never let anyone disgrace our championships. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=101773
Great quote: And "just Vernon" helped us win a championship. Suck it Phoenix. (Note the shot on the scoreboard.)
I still remember watching him play when I was a kid. I'd hold my breath every time Hakeem kicked it out to him. lol, I also remember when he got suspended for accidentally spitting on a fan. Oh man, those really were the good ol' days.
I see what you did there. Or rather, I see what your doing there. I want to see what Tracey says in his return tonight.
I think that's Pete Chilcutt. Danny Schayes (pictured on the right) only played for the Suns for one season (1994-95) -- Bull didn't play for the Rockets that year (plus his jersey number was #50). Schayes only played one game at the Summit that season, and that was on March 7, 1995. http://www.clutchfans.net/game_boxscore.cfm?GameID=2487 Had to be Chilcutt. BTW, Dream had 40 and 13 that game. It was one of only 20 games where both Clyde Drexler and Vernon Maxwell played for the Rockets. Team was 9-11 in those games and Vernon struggled, under 35% from the field and under 31% from three.
Great eye Clutch. I remember that was a tough regular season, Dream and Vernon being injured all the time. Getting Clyde and having him fit in. Who would have guessed that playoff run would happen? I wonder if Vernon stayed, would he and Clyde get along better than Charles and Clyde?
GREAT MEMORIES. Clutch City is alive. DREAM is in the background (note the knee pads) on that photo. I remember saying I was like MadMax because I liked jumping off the wrong leg sometimes, too, when I drove to the basket. He was never called for a traveling violation, but it looked weird how he picked up the dribble in mid steps and jumped off his right leg (he seems to be doing this in the photo above). I always remember his under-the-hoop reversals and his few blocks every year. He was a tenacious defender. Please don't compare McGrady to Vernon Maxwell. The two are different types of warriors. One of them stands up to Michael Jordan and says "what's up, b*tch?" and the other says "I realize I'm no Jordan. I'll just sit here and b*tch."
hahaha, Swoly. I just wanted to give an example and maybe let some fans know that Maxwell was regretful on how he left the Rockets. He mentioned that he wasn't there for the team in the playoffs and didn't deserve a ring and mentioned that he could have helped the team now since Clyde was hurt. He was happy that the crowd remembered him and he was happy to see his teammates and paid homage to Dream. you know he was regretful cause he said he was still watching the rockets play. we all know that none of this crap would have happened if the Rockets gave him an extension at the beginning of the year. Also comparing Tmac to him is wrong because Tmac was getting paid $25 million/year and was complaining. Vernon Maxwell would not complain if the Rockets paid him $25 million dollars, he would have some better drinks than just beer in the trunk of his car if he made that much cash.
