kids encyclopedia robot

Rick Mahorn facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Rick Mahorn
Rick Mahorn.jpg
Mahorn in 2007
Personal information
Born (1958-09-21) September 21, 1958 (age 66)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
High school Weaver (Hartford, Connecticut)
Listed height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
College Hampton (1976–1980)
NBA Draft 1980 / Round: 2 / Pick: 35th overall
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Pro career 1980–1999
Coaching career 1999–2009
Career history
As player:
1980–1985 Washington Bullets
1985–1989 Detroit Pistons
1989–1991 Philadelphia 76ers
1991–1992 Virtus Roma
1992–1996 New Jersey Nets
1996–1998 Detroit Pistons
1999 Philadelphia 76ers
As coach:
1999–2000 Rockford Lightning
2000–2002 Atlanta Hawks (assistant)
2005–2009 Detroit Shock (assistant)
2009 Detroit Shock (interim)
2017-2018 Trilogy
2019 Enemies
2021-present Aliens
Career highlights and awards
As player:
  • NBA champion (1989)
  • FIBA Korać Cup (1992)
  • NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1990)
  • CIAA Player of the Year (1979)
  • 3× NAIA All-American (1977–1980)
  • 3× First-team All-CIAA (1977–1980)

As assistant coach:

As head coach:

  • BIG3 champion (2017)
Career statistics
Points 7,763 (6.9 ppg)
Rebounds 6,957 (6.2 rpg)
Blocks 1,007 (0.9 bpg)

Derrick Allen Mahorn (born September 21, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player who played power forward and center for the Washington Bullets, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, and the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently a radio analyst for the Detroit Pistons, works as a co-host/analyst on SiriusXM NBA Radio, and during the summer is the head coach of the Aliens of the BIG3.

Mahorn had a reputation for physical play, and was a member of the late 1980s Detroit Pistons teams known as "The Bad Boys", and with them won the 1989 NBA Championship. After his playing career, Mahorn would go on to be an assistant coach under Pistons teammate and head coach Bill Laimbeer with the Detroit Shock of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and was part of two WNBA Championship teams (2006, 2008). He would eventually become head coach of the Shock, and later became head coach of Trilogy of the BIG3, leading the team to the inaugural BIG3 Championship in 2017, making Mahorn the only one in history to have won a championship in the NBA, WNBA, and BIG3.

College career

Mahorn played college basketball at Hampton University. He was a three-time NAIA All-American and owned 18 school records. He scored 2,418 points while playing for the Pirates, averaging 20.3 points per game.

Playing career

The turning point of Mahorn's career was perhaps when he was traded by the Washington Bullets to the Detroit Pistons. He was unhappy with the trade initially and, as he claimed in a 2014 ESPN documentary, showed up to training camp overweight and out of shape. After teammate Bill Laimbeer took him aside and spoke with him about what he was brought there for, Mahorn acquiesced and became an integral part of the Pistons’ core. In 1989, Mahorn - dubbed by Piston announcer George Blaha the "Baddest Bad Boy of them all" - won his only NBA championship with the Pistons.

Two days after the Pistons won the championship in 1989, the NBA held an expansion draft for its two newest franchises, the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves. League rules dictated that only eight players on each roster could be protected from being drafted by either team, and the Pistons elected not to extend that protection to Mahorn. As such, he was made the second pick in the expansion draft and the first to be taken by the Timberwolves; the Pistons were conducting their victory celebration in Detroit while the draft was happening and Mahorn was taken aside during the festivities, so he could be told. Pistons general manager Jack McCloskey tried to reacquire Mahorn to no avail, and years later Mahorn was shown to still be bothered by what transpired as the story of the expansion draft brought him to tears during the 2014 ESPN film about the team.

Mahorn, as it turned out, would never play for Minnesota. After refusing to report to the Timberwolves, he ended up being traded instead to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he teamed with superstar Charles Barkley (despite previous rivalries with him) to form the top-rebounding duo of "Thump N' Bump". After two seasons, Mahorn signed a two-year contract with Il Messaggero Roma of the Italian Serie A in 1991. Teaming up with Dino Radja, Mahorn helped Roma win the 1992 FIBA Korać Cup. He started the 1992–1993 season with Roma but was kicked of the team in October after throwing a chair in a heated argument with head coach Paolo Di Fonzo. In November, he returned to the NBA and signed with the New Jersey Nets. He played with the Nets for four seasons, before returning to the Pistons in 1996–97 under coach Doug Collins. He retired after the 1999 season, after a second stint with the 76ers.

Coaching

WNBA

Mahorn then served as a color commentator for Pistons radio broadcasts, and as an assistant coach under former teammate Bill Laimbeer with the WNBA's Detroit Shock. Laimbeer and Mahorn led the Shock to two WNBA titles (2006, 2008).

On July 22, 2008, at a Sparks-Shock game, Mahorn attempted to break up a brawl. When attempting to restrain Lisa Leslie, he put his left hand out and Leslie fell to the ground. Mahorn was suspended for two games.

On June 15, 2009, he became the head coach of the Shock, a position he held until the franchise moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma after the season. Shortly afterward, Mahorn continued his work with Pistons radio, doing color commentary alongside Mark Champion.

BIG3

In 2017, Mahorn became head coach of Trilogy, the eventual champion of the BIG3 basketball league's inaugural season. His team's players included Al Harrington and Kenyon Martin.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1980–81 Washington 52 0 13.4 .507 .000 .675 4.1 0.5 0.4 .8 4.8
1981–82 Washington 80 80 33.3 .507 .000 .632 8.8 1.9 0.7 1.7 12.2
1982–83 Washington 82 82 36.9 .490 .000 .575 9.5 1.4 1.0 1.8 11.0
1983–84 Washington 82 82 32.9 .507 .000 .651 9.0 1.6 0.8 1.5 9.0
1984–85 Washington 77 63 26.9 .499 .000 .653 7.9 1.6 0.8 1.4 6.3
1985–86 Detroit 80 12 18.0 .455 .000 .681 5.2 0.8 0.5 .8 4.9
1986–87 Detroit 63 6 20.3 .477 .000 .821 6.0 0.6 0.5 .8 6.1
1987–88 Detroit 67 64 29.3 .574 .500 .756 8.4 0.9 0.6 .6 10.7
1988–89† Detroit 72 61 24.9 .517 .000 .748 6.9 0.8 0.6 .9 7.3
1989–90 Philadelphia 75 66 30.3 .497 .222 .715 7.6 1.3 0.6 1.4 10.8
1990–91 Philadelphia 80 74 30.5 .467 .000 .788 7.8 1.5 1.0 .7 8.9
1992–93 New Jersey 74 9 14.6 .472 .333 .800 3.8 0.4 0.3 .4 3.9
1993–94 New Jersey 28 0 8.1 .489 .000 .650 1.9 0.2 0.1 .2 2.1
1994–95 New Jersey 58 7 10.9 .523 .333 .796 2.8 0.4 0.2 .2 3.4
1995–96 New Jersey 50 0 9.0 .352 .000 .723 2.2 0.3 0.3 .3 2.4
1996–97 Detroit 22 7 9.9 .370 .000 .727 2.4 0.3 0.2 .1 2.5
1997–98 Detroit 59 0 12.0 .457 .000 .676 3.3 0.3 0.2 .1 2.4
1998–99 Philadelphia 16 0 7.9 .278 .000 .375 1.4 0.1 0.3 .1 0.8
Career 1117 613 23.1 .493 .132 .704 6.2 1.0 0.6 .9 6.9

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1982 Washington 7 7 34.6 .438 .000 .714 8.7 1.9 1.4 .7 10.6
1984 Washington 4 4 38.5 .600 .000 .800 10.8 1.5 0.3 1.5 9.5
1985 Washington 4 1 10.3 .500 .000 1.000 1.8 0.0 0.0 .8 3.0
1986 Detroit 4 0 15.3 .385 .000 1.000 3.0 0.0 0.3 .0 3.0
1987 Detroit 15 15 32.2 .541 .000 .800 9.5 0.3 0.4 .7 9.7
1988 Detroit 23 21 17.8 .344 .000 .684 3.9 0.6 0.2 .4 3.3
1989† Detroit 17 17 21.2 .580 .000 .654 5.1 0.4 0.5 .8 5.7
1990 Philadelphia 10 10 34.2 .430 .000 .769 7.0 1.0 0.7 .8 9.4
1991 Philadelphia 8 8 26.0 .556 .000 .786 5.3 1.8 0.3 .5 6.4
1993 New Jersey 4 2 15.8 .400 .000 .000 3.3 0.8 0.0 .5 2.0
1994 New Jersey 3 0 6.3 .000 .000 .000 1.3 0.0 0.0 .3 0.0
1997 Detroit 2 1 9.0 .000 .000 .000 0.5 0.0 0.0 .0 0.0
1999 Philadelphia 5 0 5.8 .333 .000 .500 1.6 0.2 0.2 .0 1.6
Career 106 86 22.9 .427 .000 .750 5.5 0.7 0.4 .6 5.8

Personal life

Mahorn played himself in a 2017 episode of Detroiters titled "Quick Rick Mahorn of Dearborn."

Awards and honors

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Rick Mahorn para niños

  • List of NBA career personal fouls leaders
kids search engine
Rick Mahorn Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.