Video: Clyde, Rick Adelman, Vernon Maxwell and Seinfeld

you know what's funny Brandon? the haters didn't even watch Maxwell. they had to go to the wiki pedia thing to find out (there's an infamous post I put out on it way before PopRocks even knew this board existed).

what they didn't know is most of the brushes with the law were really blown out of proportion. For example, he was booked for carry 1 gram of chronic. yes, ONE GRAM.

maxwell carried a firearm. big freaking deal, this is texas. he didn't shoot anyone (poprocks can wikipedia that too).

unlike inferior fans here, i dig deeper into the great stories of our great players. I read this book, and I suggest you pick it up too. its cheap and its got lots of good stories. You should read it Brandon cause you are a REAL FAN, unlike the wikipedia cut and pasters. your stories come from the heart.

http://www.amazon.com/Keepin-Real-T...=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201108477&sr=1-9
Keepin' It Real:: A Turbulent Season At The Crossroads With The Nba (Hardcover)
by Larry Platt (Author)

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The image-conscious gentlemen who run the NBA will not be pleased by Platt's revealing look at the league. A Philadelphia magazine senior writer, he has crafted an intense behind-the-scenes account of the 1997-98 NBA season by following five playersACharles Barkley, Matt Maloney, Jerry Stackhouse, Chris Webber and Vernon "Mad Max" Maxwell. Having been granted intimate access to the five players, Platt offers a first-hand look at how they handle the temptationsAwomen, drugs, the wrong friendsAof their elite position and negotiate a delicate balance between team and individual responsibilitiesAand sometimes fail. Race is an inescapable subtext of the book as Platt dwells on the difference between "'90s gangsta" players like Maxwell and stars like Michael Jordan and Grant Hill, "crossover" figures who appeal to white America and thus to corporations looking for endorsement pitchmen. Platt, who calls himself "a short, bald, white Jew who was always asking annoying questions," clearly sympathizes with the players against the "suits." He often adopts hip-hop lingo (as in the title) and argues that the conservative mindset of league executives fails to respect the street sensibility of today's young stars. He also has unkind words for most white sportswriters, believing that they are simply jealous of rich, young black men, a phenomenon he calls "playa hating." Some readers will surely think Platt too indulgent of NBA players, but there's no doubt that he presents a picture of these athletes that looks beyond the common caricatures of the role model and the gangsta.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This is the best basketball book published in some time. Platt, a writer at Philadelphia magazine, traces the 1997-98 NBA season through the eyes of five players: the constantly outrageous old pro Charles Barkley, who spends the year with the Houston Rockets trying to win his first championship; Jerry Stackhouse, a young player with the '76ers and Pistons who, along with two of the other major players in the book, represents what many dislike about the NBA; Matt Maloney, a borderline Rockets pro; Vernon Maxwell, a mercurial player whose year ends in a Houston jail; and Chris Webber, one of the Michigan "Fab Five," who spends a disquieting year trying to lead his Washington Wizards to the playoffs. Those who stereotype NBA players as thugs and drug users will see these ideas confirmed here. However, a more compassionate reader will find much good in young men given too much too soon. This is not great literature, but it is a book with real appeal. Highly recommended.AWilliam O. Scheeren, Hempfield Area H.S. Lib., Greensburg, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Philadelphia journalist Platt spent the 1997^-98 National Basketball Association season hanging out with five players at various stages of their careers: aging superstar Charles Barkley, on a quest for a championship; reserve Matt Maloney, simply happy to be in the league; potential superstars Jerry Stackhouse and Chris Webber; and troubled veteran Vernon "Mad Max" Maxwell, the original "gangsta" hoopster. The dominant image throughout is of immensely wealthy young men on the prowl late at night, slamming shots of Remy Martin with beautiful young female "acquaintances" at their side. Their conversations are a jarring mix of high finance, league gossip, smug posturing, and ghetto slang. Despite their often excessive behavior, the players themselves are portrayed sympathetically, as men whose attempts to deal with the typical fears and doubts of the young are complicated, sometimes tragically, by fame and money. An insightful look inside the real NBA. Wes Lukowsky

From Kirkus Reviews
The travails of five high-profiled basketball players during the 199798 season are documented in this unsentimental look at the National Basketball Association's current state of affairs. Platt, a senior writer for Philadelphia magazine, focuses on five players during the season before the lockout: Charles Barkley, Matt Maloney, Vernon Maxwell, Jerry Stackhouse, and Chris Webber. The men, with different backgrounds and at different stages of their careers, are seen as trying to retain personal integrity in an image-conscious, unforgiving sport and role- model-hungry society. Issues facing the NBA players today include run-ins with the law, mar1juana use (by 70 percent of players, as estimated by The New York Times), coach harassment, fan abuse, female pursuers and other hangers-on, media and promoter demands. Offering no solutions to the problems and acknowledging that sometimes the players cause their own dilemmas, Platt is mostly sympathetic to the players, railing against what he perceives to be unfair treatment, particularly by the media, owners, police, and the public. Use of the players' own raw language (of concern, perhaps, for young readers) lends credibility and gives a sense of each man's voice, especially Barkley's, but the constant shifting of players' stories often gets confusing. While the book is written chronologicallyfrom the start of the season to the playoffsthere is no tension regarding the outcome, and no new insight to team play or the game play itself. Keepin' It Real is a disquieting look at the future of basketball, mainly because the five poor-little-rich-boy stories offer minimal joy or hope. What stays with the reader is ultimately a frustrated statement by Webber: ``If this is what it takes to be a star, I don't want it. I reached my dream and made it to the NBA and if I can't have this and be happy, I don't want it.'' -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
The Jordan Era is all but over, and for the first time in decades the NBA finds itself deeply troubled. The powers-that-be see a new generation of gangsta players tearing up the hardwood and tearing down the most honored NBA traditions: hard work, teamwork, and respect for the game. Bloodied veterans have to struggle twice as hard to keep up with even younger, ever swifter opponents. And the headlines touting exploits on the court are slowly being boxed out by headlines condemning exploits off the court: drug busts, sex abuse charges, back room manipulations and organizations out of control. This is the NBA today, a league in search of a savior, a league at war with itself -- a league where only the strong survive. But can the NBA itself survive?

Larry Platt answers this and many other questions about the state of the NBA as he recounts from behind-the-scenes the remarkable 1997-98 season through the trials and triumphs of five high-profile players. There's Charles Barkley, bad boy turned old-guard statesman who wants one last shot at the ring. There's Chris Webber, the immensely talented superstar-to-be, who has spent four years fighting his reputation as a prima donna. Matt Maloney is the throwback; Jerry Stackhouse, the crossover star: each will go through a lifetimes's worth of changes, betrayals and morale checks for who they are and the choices they've made. Finally, there's Vernon Maxwell, the original GANGSTA hoopster, who can ball up as well as anyone, but whose career is threatened by his impulse to court danger.

An extraordinary look deep inside the game, Keepin'It Real is also a very American story of ability, achievement, and destructive temptation, a portrait of five athletes who compete mightily with all their heart and soul, not just for minutes and a multimillion-dollar payday, but for dignity and pride, and a lasting place in a brutal league that has offered them the world-at a price that just might destroy them and the league itself.

About the Author
A resident of Philadelphia, LARRY PLATT has been a senior writer at Philadelphia magazine for five years, where he's written often about sports. He's been a frequent contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer's "'Commentary" page, and has written for GQ, Details, Spy, and Sport magazines. His own basketball game consists of an uncanny two-handed set shot he has yet to get off in a pickup game.

 

you should read the book too then. Everything was blown out of proportion except for the fan hitting incident. Sure he fought with teammates but that was 'tough love'. His main problem is that he never likes to show up at court. which in the early days screwed him over. he was ticketed for having 1 gram of chronic (that's right, ONE FREAKING GRAM) and he said 'F$$$ That' I'm not showing up for that. Of course that was not a good idea.

the book also showed the deepest regret was leaving the Rockets. but of course he's made amends with all the players and coaches . for some people here, they think he hasn't.

 

When the other team
double and tripled hakeem
he passed it out
and without a doubt
Mad Max would hit the three
another win in clutch city

The next day in school
we tried to repeat the scene
at the basketball court i'll be max and you Dream
swish! the shot was clean
only thing missing is Calvin and Bill on the screen

The Summit was the place for the show
we'd buy the cheap seats then sneak down the row
nothing like seen the Rockets with your friend
and listen to songs from Boyz II Men
and watching the awesome moves from Turbo
with the music pumping - Poison - Bel Biv Devoe

These Rockets will never be duplicated again
they were the best ever like Seinfeld, Cosby, and Friends
and Threes Company, McGyver and the Fall Guy
Clutch City - the original - will never die

 

i guess they removed it. youtube cops