Thinking about it 27 years later it's insane to me that the Rockets had 3 aged, yet still near-peak 50 greatest of all time superstars and rolled into an entire season with....Matt Maloney starting at point guard - literally an undrafted FA out of Penn-Grand Rapids Meackers of the CBA. In fairness, he fulfilled his role which was to hit 3 pointers and made all-rookie team that year, but - lol, talk about something is wrong with this picture Hakeem - 50 greatest Barkley - 50 greatest Drexler = 50 greatest Elie - 7 year vet, battled tested NBA champ 3&D player Matt Maloney (UFA rookie out of penn who would be out of the league in 5 years). Like i said, in fairness he capitalized and pretty much had his career season that one year, 9 & 5, hitting 44-40-76. But lol, it's just so odd to think about in retrospect. It's llike if LeBron, Anthony Davis and JImmy Butler team up next season and they put Scottie Pippen Jr. in the starting lineup It just wouldn't happen anymore, I can't imagine it happening. Can you? I can't.
I remember the arrogance well. the team felt it only needed someone to bring the ball up the court and hit three pointer on kick outs. they thought wrong.
Brent Price was supposed to be the starter, but he got hurt right out of the gate. IIRC the team didn’t really have many assets to acquire another good PG. Plus, Maloney was good at shooting the 3 from that shortened line, and Barkley, Dream, and Clyde didn’t have to worry about sharing the ball with him. His weakness really hurt the team in the playoffs, unfortunately.
Yeah, I remember something about his contract being stretched. Maybe we only stopped paying him a couple of years ago? Anyway, he was a electo-rocker for a while. Matt Maloney brings his passion for basketball into his music | Where are they now? (inquirer.com)
Sadly he was playing NBA before the stretch provision existed I recall we signed him for 7 years, between 2 and 3 mill per year, and he got cut in year 1 of that contract..... To be fair: he was outstanding in his rookie season, but all the faults and flaws were magnified after that, and we all saw why he wasn't drafted!!! (My memory may be faulty)
I think he still lives in Houston and follows the Rockets. Go ahead Matt Maloney, 17 million I'm not mad at you. Just wish we could have pulled off another ring, but all that's in the past.
This. Price actually came back later in the year and played well enough to re-gain the starting job. Then he blew out the other knee and his Rockets career was essentially done. Price was damn good when healthy… he dominated the Rockets in a game the year before. That’s probably what convinced them to go after him.
[ I know people liked to complain about Moreyball but the era that preceded of "hey this guy had a good game against us so let's sign him to a 7 year deal even though he's a severe injury risk" was a very pre-analytics era move that was very in character for that Rockets front office to make then
Lol… now you made me go do a deep dive into Brent Price. Looks like he did come on strong at the end of the 96 season before he was a FA. Can’t blame them for thinking he’d be ideal as they just wanted a good 3 point shooter at the position. Then again, almost every draft pick was Rudy trying to find the next Rudy…
The Rockets would have been MUCH better off if he had done those things but also was as talented as KPJ.
All you need to know about the current status of the rockets: A Matt Maloney thread is at the top of it's biggest fan site.
are you being sarcastic or is your mind really this small? are you still offended by an incident that didn't involve you, so much that we can't even have a matt maloney thread without random weird shots at KPJ, FFS? literally everyone involved in the situation has moved on. except some nobodies on the internet that continue to treat it like Caesar crossing the g.d. Rubicon. i'm certainly no KPJ stan but I'm also not impressed by the pettiness and polluting the forum with tired ass nonsense so please, tell me you're being sarcastic because I can't tell anymore
