"Regardless of the situation or the hype, if you're a basketball player, it's all the same between the lines." - Matt Maloney (April 23, 1997) -

Matt Maloney was born December 6, 1971 in Silver Springs Maryland to Jim and Barbara Maloney. He is now currently 26 years old and has 3 brothers and one sister. Eventually the family moved to Haddonfield, New Jersey where Matt graduated from Haddonfield High School. He then attended Vanderbilt University but decided to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania, where he played for 3 seasons, and so he could be closer to his family. Matt was born into a basketball environment. His father, Jim Maloney, coached basketball and was Matts biggest mentor and frequently practiced, going over drills with his father. He was constantly learning from and trying to perfect his game with him. It was his father who would break down Matt's high school and college games, pointing out what went wrong and what Matt could do to correct the mistake before the next game. "Everytime I'd have a bad shooting game, it would be a situation where we'd look at it, analyze it, and then forget about it," Matt said. "That's one of the reasons I transferred back to Penn (from Vanderbilt), so he could watch me play. We did that, which really helped me going into the next game." After Matt graduated from Penn he spent one year in the CBA playing for the Grand Rapid Mackers. Matt's father believed that his son had a future in the NBA though, and after studying Matt's biggest moments from his season with the Mackers on video, Matt's father declared that he thought Matt was ready for the big league. He encouraged Matt to go after his NBA dream with everything he could muster. Sadly, Matt's father passed away from a heart attack before Matt signed a Rockets contract. Maloney went on to win over the Rockets' skeptical staff in the Midwest Rookie Review and eventually became the starting point guard for the Rockets after Brent Price's pre-season arm injury. Matt went on to help the Rockets to an impressive 57-win season and a trip to the Western Conference Finals. I'm sure Matt's father knows that his dream was fulfilled to have his son play in the NBA and would extremely proud of his sons accomplishments in his amazing rookie year.

ESPN SportsZone writes a great article about Matt's career, his arrival into the NBA, and the trajedies he has had to overcome in the midst of it all. Triumph, Trajedy part of Maloney's journey Eddie Sefko from the Houston Chronicle writes a must read on how Maloney's many accomplishment's in his rookie year and makes his family proud. Rocket goes home an NBA success Maloney's Dad would be proud

Matt says it has been his favorite number since he was a child. Also his father who was his biggest mentor and was an assistant coach at Temple, passed away recently. Matt said that it was the last number his father last saw him play in and he will wear the number 12 for the rest of his career if at all possible.