HOUSTON, July 16 -- The Houston Rockets joined the NBA's free- agent frenzy Tuesday by signing free agent guard Brent Price, formerly of the Washington Bullets, to a multi-year contract. Houston television station KTRK reported Monday the deal is for $18 million over seven years. 'I'm just elated to be here and I'm looking forward to playing with the caliber of players as Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and the whole Houston Rockets team,' said Price. 'So it's great to be here, and all I can say is I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can to contribute to this team and try to get back to where they want to be, and that's a championship team.' The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Price averaged 10 points, just over five assists and nearly three rebounds in 81 games for the Bullets this past season. He shot 47.2 percent from the field, a strong 46.2 percent from three-point range and 87.4 percent from the free throw line. 'Brent Price is a talented player with the skills and abilities to excel in our system,' Houston vice president of basketball operations Bob Weinhauer said. 'He is an accurate long-range shooter with good ball-handling skills and we believe that he can make a valuable contribution to this team.' Price missed the entire 1994-95 season after suffering a torn ligament in his left knee during a summer league game. He was the Bullets' second-round pick in the 1992 draft, and once scored 56 points in college for Oklahoma after transferring from South Carolina.
In 214 career games in Washington, Price averaged 6.9 points and 3.7 assists, while hitting nearly 40 percent of his three-point attempts. The Rockets also announced that they have renounced the rights to guards Kenny Smith, Melvin Booker and Eldridge Recasner and center Earl Cureton. 'All four players have been significant contributors to making the Houston Rockets a successful franchise,' Weinhauer said. 'It's always tough to renounce players who have been so valuable to the organization, and this situation is no different.' Smith averaged 12.6 points and 5.3 assists over six seasons with the club, and is the franchise's all-time leader in three-point field goal percentage (40.7). Recasner averaged 6.9 points and 2.3 assists in 63 games last season, and made 23 starts. Booker apppeared in 11 games and averaged 4.0 points after originally signing a 10-day contract on March 5. Cureton hadn't played with the team since 1993-94.
