Former Penn guard Matt Maloney realized the dream of many college basketball players Tuesday when he inked a contract with the NBA's Houston Rockets. According to yesterday's Philadelphia Daily News, the 1995 Penn graduate signed a one-year, guaranteed contract was for the minimum NBA rookie salary of $220,000. The signing was not unexpected. Maloney told The Daily Pennsylvanian in early September that Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich had promised him a contract for the 1996-97 season. Maloney will begin training with the Rockets at their Galveston, Texas, camp this Friday. The 1995 Ivy League Player of the Year and Penn's all-time leader in three-pointers impressed the Rockets at the Rocky Mountain Revue, a Salt Lake City summer rookie and free-agent camp for several NBA teams. Maloney, nicknamed "Money" for his long-range shooting accuracy, joins his former teammate and backcourt mate Jerome Allen -- who signed a one-year deal with the Indiana Pacers on Aug. 16 -- as the only two Penn graduates currently in the NBA. "I think he'll take the opportunity and run with it," Penn coach Dunphy said last month, adding Maloney and Allen "worked extremely hard in their careers at Penn." Tomjanovich told The Daily News that Maloney compares favorably to Steve Nash, a rookie guard from Santa Clara who was drafted 15th overall by the Phoenix Suns. "[Maloney's] bigger and maybe stronger and can do a lot of things," Tomjanovich said. After being the last guard cut by the Golden State Warriors last season, Maloney played for the CBA's Grand Rapids Mackers, where he averaged 12.1 points per game and led the team with 5.5 assists per game -- 11th best in the league. Maloney struck paydirt at the camp this past summer, averaging 10.8 points and five assists per game. Quakers fans can mark their calendars for November 14, when Maloney and Allen are reunited for the Pacers-Rockets contest at Houston's Summit. Maloney will make his return to Philadelphia when the Rockets play the 76ers at the CoreStates Center on January 10.
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