Rick Mahorn

Derrick Allen Mahorn (born September 21, 1958) is an American retired National Basketball Association (NBA) player who played power forward and center. He is currently a radio analyst for the Detroit Pistons [1] and works as a co-host/analyst on SiriusXM NBA Radio.

Rick Mahorn

Mahorn in 2007
Personal information
Born	(1958-09-21) September 21, 1958 Hartford, Connecticut
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High school	Weaver (Hartford, Connecticut)
College	Hampton (1976–1980)
NBA draft	1980 / Round: 2 / Pick: 35th overall
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Playing career	1980–1999
Position	Power forward / Center
Number	44, 4
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
2005–2009	Detroit Shock (assistant)
2009	Detroit Shock (interim)
Career highlights and awards
As player: NBA champion (1989) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1990) As assistant coach: 2× WNBA champion (2006, 2008)
Career statistics
Points	7,763 (6.9 ppg)
Rebounds	6,957 (6.2 rpg)
Blocks	1,007 (0.9 bpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Mahorn was dubbed by Piston announcer George Blaha the "Baddest Bad Boy of them all." Mahorn gained a reputation for physical play, which he used to compensate for his relatively limited leaping ability. He served as a team leader of the Detroit Bad Boys teams of the late 1980s, winning his only NBA Championship in 1989 along with captain Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Dennis Rodman among others.

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 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 trade 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 moved to the Italian Serie A for the 1991–92 season.

Mahorn later played for the New Jersey 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. In 2018, Mahorn was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame

Coaching

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 multiple WNBA titles.

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.[2]

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. 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
†	Won an NBA championship

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."[3]

References

1. Pistons Announcers
2. Arritt, Dan. "Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie suspended after WNBA fight". Los Angeles Times. July 25, 2008.
3. Hinds, Julie. "Why Comedy Central's 'Detroiters' had a winning season". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2020-06-11.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com
• WNBA.com profile