NICKNAME/S: The Mailman

BIO: Paul Maley was born in Los Alamos, New México (USA).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Paul Maley made his NBL debut with the Westside Melbourne Saints at 23 years of age. He scored 40 points in his first game.

1990
In 1990, Maley averaged 25.8 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists as the Saints finished with a record of 3-23 during the regular season.

1991

When the North Melbourne Giants still looking to find a suitable replacement for star forward Tim Dillon who had left the team after their 1989 championship, the Giants signed Maley and paired him with Scott Fisher for the 1991 season.

Maley saw his productivity jump from a healthy 25.8 points with the Saints to a 27.6 points per game tally in his first year with the Giants.

After finished second in the regular season the team were defeated in the semifinals by rival club Eastside Magic.

Maley (21.9 points and 9.9 rebounds) and Fisher 27.1 points and 11.3 rebounds) would again led the Giants to a semi-final appearance in 1992 but were again outed by the Magic. At the end of the season Fisher would leave Melbourne and sign a deal with the Perth Wildcats.

In 1993, under new head coach Brett Brown, the Giants replaced Fisher with Jason Reese who seemed the perfect replacement for Fisher on paper after averaging 26.5 points and 12.3 rebounds with Canberra the previous season. For some reason the combination never quite gelled and the Giants would lose to Fisher’s Perth Wildcats squad in the quarter finals.

1992
In 1992, Maley would average 21.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists alongside fellow import Scott Fisher (27.1 points and 11.3 rebounds) and together, they would again lead the Giants to the postseason with a fourth place finish (14 wins, 10 losses). The Giants would then eliminate the Illawarra Hawks in the Quarterfinals before being outed by the South East Melbourne Magic, who had re-branded from the Spectres at the start of the season, in their semi-final matchup.

1993
In 1993, the Giants chose not to re-sign long term head coach Bruce Palmer who since taking over in 1987 had led them to the semi finals five of six years and to the 1989 championship. His successor would be found in young Melbourne Tigers assistant Brett Brown whose appointment was deemed a cash saving move by a team beginning to face years of financial uncertainty. Another sign of the Giant’s financial struggles became evident when they lost star import Scott Fisher to the ‘deeper pockets’ of the Perth Wildcats.

Brown began his search for Fisher’s replacement first with import Chuckie White, who failed to cut it during pre-season, before settling on Jason Reese. Reese was known around the league as ‘workhorse’ and dominant inside scorer that had spent the past two seasons with Hobart (1991) and Canberra (1992) and Mark Leader, who had became a naturalised Australian in 1993, replaced Fisher as team captain.

Reese went on to lead the team in scoring (26.4 ppg and 8.9 rpg), fellow import Paul Maley led the team in rebounding (22.5 ppg and 9.1 rpg) and Maley also contributed 22.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2 assists per game.

North Melbourne finished the season (13-13) sneaking into the final playoff spot. There, they would face familiar foes, Scott Fisher and the Perth Wildcats who had finished the season in first place (21-5). Despite winning game one at home (105-101), the Giants would lose games two (98-108) and three (104-117) to Perth to put a end to their season.

1994 – ONE GIANT LEAP
North Melbourne’s financial struggles publicly came to light after 1993, but the team was saved at the eleventh hour from its burgeoning financial woes by a group of new investors. The new ownership made a number of changes, including a uniform design change, tossing away the team’s maroon uniforms and switching to the colours of the NBA’s most marketable outfit, the Charlotte Hornets.

The Giants roster had aged considerably in the years between its 1989 championship and 1994, with its roster now being the oldest roster in the league. When the team added a 30-year-old point import guard Darryl McDonald to the roster, the media and betting agencies alike tipped the Giants to finish bottom of the ladder. The pundits couldn’t be more inaccurate, however, with the team McDonald leading the league in steals and assists and finishing second in both the NBL MVP (behind Andrew Gaze) and Best Defensive Player (Darren Lucas) awards.

Giants fans began to get excited when the Giants came home undefeated after the ‘Doomsday Double’, first avenging a home loss to Perth then holding off Adelaide at the Clipsal Powerhouse, a feat which hadn’t been achieved since 1986. The new look outfit would go on to win 19 of their 26 games and finish the year in second place. with Pat Reidy (19.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 3.4) and Paul Maley (19.4 ppg and 6.7 rpg) carrying most of the offensive load.

Once into the NBL playoffs, the Giants faced the Sydney Kings, who opened the Quarterfinalswith a absolute blitz of the Giants (131–109) before falling in three games. On the other side of the bracket, South East Melbourne swept Perth before being swept in a similar fashion by the Giants after a Adonis Jordan three-point heave (he could have found a open David Graham for a better shot but missed him) in the game’s closing moments missed its mark and the chance to force a third game.

Game one of the Grand Final series was held at the Clipsal Powerhouse in Adelaide and after Robert Rose had dragged the Sixers back into the match when they still had trailed by 14 inside the last six minutes of regulation the ball ended up in McDonald’s hands before he nailed the game-winning shot in overtime, delivering a 95–93 win.

As the series moved to the Glasshouse in Melbourne for game two Rose would come out firing, his 31 point effort would see him finish as the game’s high scoring, but a balanced attack from North Melbourne proved too strong for the 36ers. The Giants would control the first half, the scoreboard reading 51-41 at halftime and with 36ers forward Mark Davis in serious pain, the Giants were able to put the foot down in the third quarter and then closed out the game with a 117-97 victory.

Paul Rees, who benefitted greatly from McDonald’s passing all series, finished up earning the Finals MVP award after delivering 17 points and 5 rebounds in game one and 20 points (making all seven of his shots) and 7 rebounds in game two.

The 1994 NBL season made history bypassed the one-million spectator mark during the regular season for the first time.

1995
Maley missed the opportunity to attempt back-to-back titles with the Giants suffering a back injury which saw him sit out the entire 1995 season and impact his mobility for the rest of his career.

1996
The Giants would return almost their entire roster in 1996 as the team looked to go one step further after finishing runners-up in 1995. The only roster changes being the addition of Tonny Jensen, a member of the Australian Boomers, who would replace the retiring Mark Leader and a returning Paul Maley would replace import Chris Jent after he delivered one of the greatest one and done seasons in NBL history.

Maley returned to the court for the 1996 season where he was able to play in 24 of the team’s 28 games, averaging 17.3 points, 7 rebounds, and 1.1 assist while Pat Reidy would lead the team in scoring, averaging 20.8 points as well as 6.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists and McDonald delivered another stellar season, putting up 17.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and a league leading 10 assists per game. In what was a extremely close season, where only two games seperated third place and eight place. The Giants finished with a 15-11 record and in seventh place finish on the NBL ladder.

North Melbourne would face crosstown rivals South East Melbourne who would make quick work of the Giants in the quarterfinals, thanks to a season high 19 points from Andrew Parkinson in game one, a 82-96 loss and a 25 point effort from Tony Ronaldson in game two, which resulted in a 77-87 defeat and the end to the Giants season.

1997
Maley would again miss the entire 1997 season with a back injury.

1998
With the Giants again facing financial difficulties, the team struggled to remain competitive in 1998 and after finishing the season with a record of 9 wins and 21 losses, North Melbourne merged with the South East Melbourne Magic. Maley would average 12.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists during his last season as a Giant.

VICTORIA TITANS
1998/99
In 1998, the North Melbourne Giants merged with the South East Melbourne Magic and became the Victoria Titans. Only two Giants players were retained in the merger, Maley and Darryl McDonald.

The naturalised American-born forward, Maley was been buried on the Titans’ bench (he averaged 7.2 points in 16 minutes per game) and the following season signed with the Adelaide 36ers in the hopes of more court time and greater opportunities.

ADELAIDE 36ERS
1999/00
Maley spent the 1999/00 season drifting in-and-out of the 36ers lineup, his back injury having flared up again and there was also some turmoil behind closed doors over his contract. The Mailman was convinced he had a three year deal – which meant a season to go beyond the end of this one. The 36ers maintained he was on a two-year deal, its uncertain which party was at fault as both parties had contracts to substantiate their claims. Maley had played just 19 of Adelaide’s 31 games in the 2000 season and the 36ers were clearly concerned about his longevity and how keeping him on the roster would impact their long-and-short term goals. While conversations about his future were kept behind closed doors, Maley’s great popularity within the team polarised opinion as to whether the club’s stance was right.

2000/01
In 2000-01 Maley’s back injury forced him to register career lows in every statistical category. He would retire due to injury at the end of the season.

Paul Maley played ten seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Westside Melbourne Saints, North Melbourne Giants, Victoria Titans and Adelaide 36ers. He averaged 17.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 270 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (817 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.