Matt Maloney Resigns with Houston

Its official, as of August 15, 1997 Matt Maloney was resigned as a Rocket. After last season ended I had been eagerly anticipating this news and was thrilled when it came. "This is the best place for me," said Maloney. "That's one of the main reasons I came back. I could have gotten a little more money with some of the offers I got, but once my family and I started talking about it, I just decided this was the place." Couldn't have said it any better myself Matt. Its great to have you back and in a Houston Rockets uniform! Matt Maloney Re-Signs With Houston Rockets CBS Sportsline reports Houston's resigning of Matt Maloney! Houston re-signs Maloney for one year NandoNet's Sportserver's reports on the resigning of Matt Maloney!

Matt Maloney resigned with the Rockets on Aug. 15, 1997. I gave a sigh of relief at this news, I didn't really know if he would return and I waited impatiently over the summer to see if he would be back in a Rockets uniform. Let me just say that I'm exstatic that Matt decided to stay. Now he has the oppurtunity to prove that his remarkable rookie season was no fluke. Maloney signed a one-year contract and although the league's salary cap this year went up to around $26.5 million, the Rockets were over that limit, which meant that the Rockets could only offer Matt the minimum salary of $327,000 for veterans. Matt resigned in Houston although he was offered more lucrative contracts by other teams in the NBA but Matt felt that the best place for him was to remain with the Rockets. This means that most of the Rockets from last year have returned with a few exceptions. Most importantly though is the starting line-up from last year are all back and ready to RUMBLE!!!! Matt said that the ability of the Rockets to keep their main players was one of the factors in his decision to resign. During most of the last regular season, Maloney was consistent at the point averaging 9.4 points and 3.7 assists a game. In the play-offs he averaged 11.2 points and 3.1 assists a game. His shooting percentage during the play-offs dropped to .399 from his .441 shooting percentage during the regular season. During the Utah series in the play-offs, Matt shot just 27 percent. Hopefully Matt can prove in the upcoming season that this was just some bad luck. Matt went into traing camp which began Oct.3, 1997 as the #1 point guard. In the past the point seemed to be the weakest link in the Rockets chain but this season both Brent Price and Emanuel Davis are returning from major knee surgery. It will be interesting to see how Rudy T handles this point-guard traffic jam. I'm confident though that Matt will compete hard and maintain his starting position. He reportedly came into training camp with added bulk to his arms and upper body that he attained through a work-out program through the off-season, which he did mainly to just keep in top shape. This should serve him well in the new season. We're rooting for you Matt as well as the rest of our guys in blue!

To go see a recap of all the pre-season games
and Matt's performance in each, click the link below.