Former Rocket Dirk Minniefield Finds A New Way To Get In Trouble
Dirk Minniefield, the former Houston Rocket whose drug-addled life was turned around with the help of John Lucas, is in trouble again.The Associated Press reports that he's been arrested for a mortgage-fraud scheme centered in the Houston area:
The indictment alleges Minniefield was a real estate agent in fraudulent home loans designed to secure payments for expensive upgrades that were never performed. The indictment claims he represented buyers even though he never met them and they never visited the properties they were supposedly buying.Minniefield was a star at the University of Kentucky, but his pro career was hampered by his love of weed.
His UK career might be most famous for a 1983 game against arch-rival Louisville. Minniefield, an artictic dunker, been smoking a lot of dope the night before; in crunch time he had a chance for a game-winning dunk but instead tried a feeble lay-up that got blocked. He blamed marijuana, kids.
He played a year with the Rockets in 1986-87, a year after they were beaten by Larry Bird's Celtics in the NBA Finals.
He later got a job as a drug counselor with the NBA. And, apparently, as a crooked mortgage guy.
-- Richard Connelly
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