Matthew Gordon Bullard (born June 5, 1967) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

and former color analyst for the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

AT&T SportsNet Southwest AT&T SportsNet Southwest is an American regional sports network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks. It is the only AT&T SportsNet regional network that does not maintain a prog ...

. Bullard played 12 years professionally and 11 years in the NBA, most notably with the

from 1990 to 1994, and then again from 1996 to 2001. Other teams he played for include the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

, and PAOK in Greece.

Early life

Matt Bullard went to Valley High School in

West Des Moines West Des Moines is a city in Polk, Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. He went

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

after graduating from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in 1990.

Professional career

Bullard played nine seasons with the

(1990–94, 1996–2001) and one season each with both the

(1995–96) and the

(2001–02). He also played in the 1994–95 season for the Greek League power PAOK. He has career averages of 5.3 points and two rebounds per game. He was known affectionately in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

as "Air Bullard" in part for his ability to get extreme height on his three-point shots (due to his height at 2.08 m, 6 ft 10 in) and partly as good-natured ribbing about his poor vertical jump, but Bullard was also a fan favorite and an essential part to Houston's first championship in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Post–basketball life

In 2004, Bullard lost to Dee Brown on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

program ''

Dream Job ''Dream Job'' is an American reality television show made by ESPN, which began on February 22, 2004. It was the network's second reality show, with two editions of '' Beg, Borrow & Deal'' having previously aired. However, this was the first reali ...

'' in the finals as they competed for a coveted sports analyst position on the sports network. When asked about losing to Dee Brown, Bullard remarked "at least it wasn't

Pete Chilcutt Peter Shawn Chilcutt (born September 14, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in Sumter, South Carolina, Chilcutt attended Tuscaloosa Academy in Tuscaloosa, Al ...

". He and

Clyde Drexler Clyde Austin Drexler (born June 22, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player and the commissioner of the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league. Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide", he played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association ...

shared color commentating duties for local Houston Rockets game telecasts alongside long-time play-by-play man Bill Worrell. On June 2, 2021, Bullard announced that his tenure with

was done and he would not be part of its broadcast lineup for the 2021-22 NBA season.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

, - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 18 , , 0 , , 3.5 , , .452 , , .000 , , .647 , , .8 , , .1 , , .2 , , .0 , , 2.2 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 80 , , 7 , , 16.0 , , .459 , , .386 , , .760 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , .3 , , .3 , , 6.4 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 79 , , 4 , , 17.2 , , .431 , , .374 , , .784 , , 2.8 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .1 , , 7.3 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", † , align="left" ,

, 65 , , 0 , , 11.2 , , .345 , , .325 , , .769 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , .1 , , 3.5 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 46 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .407 , , .361 , , .800 , , 1.3 , , .4 , , .4 , , .2 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 71 , , 12 , , 14.4 , , .401 , , .366 , , .735 , , 1.6 , , .9 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.5 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 67 , , 24 , , 17.8 , , .450 , , .416 , , .741 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , .5 , , .4 , , 7.0 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 41 , , 0 , , 10.1 , , .377 , , .387 , , .700 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.9 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 56 , , 27 , , 18.3 , , .409 , , .446 , , .833 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .2 , , 6.8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 61 , , 5 , , 16.4 , , .423 , , .404 , , .714 , , 2.1 , , .7 , , .2 , , .1 , , 5.8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, 31 , , 0 , , 11.3 , , .339 , , .281 , , .917 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .1 , , .1 , , 3.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 615 , , 79 , , 14.4 , , .418 , , .384 , , .768 , , 2.0 , , .9 , , .3 , , .2 , , 5.3

Playoffs

, - , align="left" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, align="left" ,

, 12 , , 0 , , 14.1 , , .476 , , .536 , , 1.000 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .4 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" ,

† , align="left" ,

, 10 , , 0 , , 5.5 , , .214 , , .200 , , .750 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .1 , , .2 , , 1.6 , - , align="left" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, align="left" ,

, 4 , , 0 , , 12.8 , , .333 , , .500 , , .500 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , .0 , , .5 , , 3.5 , - , align="left" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, align="left" ,

, 2 , , 0 , , 3.5 , , 1.000 , , 1.000 , , – , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, align="left" ,

, 5 , , 4 , , 14.0 , , .333 , , .300 , , 1.000 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.4 , - , align="left" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, align="left" ,

, 2 , , 0 , , 4.0 , , 1.000 , , 1.000 , , 1.000 , , .0 , , .5 , , .0 , , .0 , , 3.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 35 , , 4 , , 10.3 , , .400 , , .458 , , .818 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , .2 , , .3 , , 3.5

References

External links

Matt Bullard - Hawkeye Sports NewsMatt Bullard
at the Houston Rockets Fan Site
Matt Bullard Basketball Camp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullard, Matt 1967 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Greece American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Des Moines, Iowa Charlotte Hornets players Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball players Greek Basket League players Houston Rockets players Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players P.A.O.K. BC players Participants in American reality television series Undrafted National Basketball Association players United States men's national basketball team players Universiade medalists in basketball Universiade gold medalists for the United States Universiade silver medalists for the United States Forwards (basketball) Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade