Three Penn grads making best of NBA shots

Although the Penn basketball team has been at or near the top of the Ivy League in recent years, the Quakers are not traditionally known for regularly producing NBA-caliber players. But right now, three alumni are getting playing time in the NBA preseason. Guards Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen -- who led Penn to three straight Ivy championships and NCAA tournament appearances from 1993 through 1995 -- each signed one-year contracts with the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers, respectively, while guard Ira Bowman is on the Pacers preseason roster and hopes to make the final cut. The NBA regular season officially begins November 1, one week from tomorrow. Maloney, the 1995 Ivy Player of the Year, has seen the most action so far, starting four out of the Rockets' six preseason games. He has averaged 25.3 minutes and 6.8 points per game, hitting 42.9 percent of his shots from behind the arc while dishing out 3.2 assists per game. "I think I'm playing well," the 6-foot-3 point guard said. "I'm getting along with the players well on and off the court." As for whether or not he will start when the regular season begins, Maloney said the decision is between him and Brent Price, the younger brother of former All-Star guard Mark Price. "It's something that the coach is going to decide," Maloney said. "I just want to get a chance to play." Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich called Maloney "a well-rounded player who is very fundamentally sound." "We'll look at Matt to be one of our floor generals, a distributor of the ball," Tomjanovich said. "He's a solid spot-up shooter that works well when teams double [center] Hakeem [Olajuwon] and [forward] Charles [Barkley]." Allen and Bowman, the 1994 and 1996 Ivy Players of the Year, on the other hand, have not had much success so far with Indiana. After seeing little action with the Minnesota Timberwolves as a rookie last season, the 6-foot-4 Allen has been relegated to the Indiana bench for now. He has played in all five preseason games but has averaged just 9.4 minutes and is 2-for-12 in overall field goals. The 6-foot-5 Bowman is also spending most of his time off the court, averaging 8.7 minutes and 1.7 points per game for the Pacers. He played in Australia's National Basketball League over the summer, where he averaged a comparably large 24.5 points in 11 games with the Gold Coast Rollers. "It was being able to play in that league for three months or so that really helped me stay in shape and get me prepared for this," Bowman said. He said the Pacers will decide by next Friday whether or not to sign him. For Maloney, who made it to the final round of cuts with the Golden State Warriors last year and spent last season with the CBA's Grand Rapids Mackers, a second chance at the NBA is a welcome opportunity. "I'm enjoying every minute and pretty much getting acclimated to my teammates and looking forward to this year," Maloney said. Maloney added that working with Barkley, a former league MVP and outspoken personality, is "fun" and "unpredictable." He said future Hall of Famer Olajuwon "is not as outgoing, but he's definitely one of the best players to play the game." Bowman added that he is having "a lot of fun" playing with his former teammate Allen and has learned a great deal from Indiana coach Larry Brown. "He's one of the few coaches in the NBA who really still likes to teach the game," Bowman said. Maloney impressed the Rockets this past summer at the Rocky Mountain Revue, a rookie and free-agent camp for several NBA teams, where he averaged 10.8 points and five assists per game. Allen, a three-time all-Ivy selection, is Penn's all-time leader in assists and steals. The Timberwolves selected him in the second round of the 1995 NBA draft.