Mullins Lives His Pro Basketball Dream Overseas

Bryan Mullins has spent most of his life chasing his dream of playing basketball at the highest level.

That quest has taken the former Downers Grove South and Southern Illinois star from the playgrounds of Downers Grove to some of the biggest arenas in a land 4,000 miles from home.

Mullins, a 6-foot 1-inch, 190-pound point guard, leaves town Aug. 7 for France, where he will begin training for his third season in the French Pro B League, the lower division of French professional basketball.

The 2011-12 season, which begins with two months of preseason workouts before the regular season starts in October, will be Mullins’ second playing for Chalons-Reims, a team located in Reims, about an hour northeast of Paris. It is not a place Mullins thought he’d be in when he was growing up, but then neither did he truly believe he would ever be paid to play the sport he loves.

“In high school, of course, everyone wants to play in the NBA but it’s not like you’re realistically looking at it,” Mullins said. “But you have that dream, so I always wanted to play as long as I could.

“[I didn’t foresee a pro career] until I got to college. Then when I got to college I kept working hard and I kind of figured that if I’m going to put all this work into it I kind of want to see a payoff after college, so especially toward my junior/senior year in college I started thinking [about] what do I want to do next.”

College standout

After leading Downers South to a 81-16 record during his three-year varsity career that ended in 2005, Mullins earned a full scholarship to SIU, where he was a four-year starting point guard.

With Mullins running the show, the Salukis twice qualified for the NCAA tournament, including a run to the Sweet 16 in 2007 that ended with a three-point loss to Kansas.

He began his career with a solid freshman campaign that saw the Salukis win their first Missouri Valley Conference title since 1998. Mullins set a school single-season record with 94 steals, including a MVC-record eight against Creighton, and earned MVC Freshman of the Year and MVC All-Defensive team honors.

As a sophomore, Mullins was named to the MVC All-Defensive and All-Academic teams and helped the Salukis win 29 games, including two in the NCAA tournament.

In 122 career games in Carbondale, Mullins averaged 7.7 points, 4.2 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals and graduated as the school’s all-time assist leader and one of just two players in Missouri Valley Conference players with 500 assists and 250 steals.

Despite being hobbled by injuries, including a stress fracture in his shin, his junior and senior years, Mullins was named MVC Defensive Player of the Year both seasons.

In his 122-game collegiate career, Mullins averaged 7.7 points, 4.2 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals and graduated as the school’s all-time assist leader and one of just two players in MVC history with 500 assists and 250 steals.

“It was an unbelievable career,” said Mullins, who was an Academic All-American as a senior. “I got a lot of personal and team awards. It was a great four years. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

A summer to remember

But more was to come. After graduating with a degree in finance, Mullins worked out for the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics, who considered using their second-round pick on him before opting for Lester Hudson from Tennesse-Martin.

“It was awesome. I was working out at Attack [Athletics], Tim Grover’s gym [in Chicago], with first-round picks the whole summer,” Mullins said. “I worked out with the Bulls and the Celtics and played in the NBA summer league with the Bulls and the Celtics. It was just a great experience playing with those guys and knowing that I’m right there.

“Some guys may be more athletic and can do things different, but it’s not like I was getting blown away. I had a really good workout with the Celtics and I think I was maybe their second choice behind the guy they took.”

At the end of the summer, Mullins was chosen to play for Ireland in the qualifying round of the European Championships. Because his paternal grandparents were born in Ireland, Mullins was able to get an Irish passport. He appeared in all four of Ireland’s games, averaging 35.5 minutes, 16.3 points, 4.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in home games against Sweden and Luxembourg and road contests at Georgia and Slovakia.

The trip was Mullins’ first to Ireland.

“I was over there for 3½ weeks,” Mullins said. “The group of guys I was with were great. It was just a great experience. Basketball is not the highest level in Ireland but everyone was playing hard and had good chemistry.”

New horizons

Mullins was unable to land a job with an NBA team, but his agent got him an offer from the French club Bourg in Brest, a 45-minute drive from Lyon, France’s second largest city.

Despite having never been to France, Mullins jumped at the chance to further his career. He didn’t realize that most European countries have a pro basketball league and that more Americans play for European teams than play in the NBA.

“When I first got over there I didn’t expect every country to have its own league and Americans to be in every single country out there,” Mullins said. “There’s a lot of good players in the world. It’s a big world so you find that pretty quickly when you go over and everyone can play somewhere.

“I kind of went there blind not knowing what to expect. It was a little bit of a wakeup. The first year was definitely some moments where like what am I doing here?”

Although he held his own on the court, the biggest adjustment for Mullins was the culture shock. The team provides a free apartment and a car but the language barrier can be intimidating.

“When you’re doing basketball it’s fine but when you’re outside of basketball trying to live in the culture, just going grocery shopping or ordering something from a restaurant, getting gas there for the first time, nothing is in English, there’s no one around to ask, so it was different,” Mullins said.

“I had my American teammates helping me out a lot and some of the French guys that spoke English would help you out, so it’s been good that I’ve had good teammates.”

Mullins, 24, doesn’t speak French well enough to carry a conversation but says he knows enough words to get by and has become confident enough to visit cities like Paris and Geneva, Switzerland. He also has been to Belgium and Italy, where he did a basketball camp.

“The first thing I got down was the food and the grocery shopping, at least say hi, how are you,” he said. “But the people have been nice. If they see that you can’t speak French they try to help you out.”

Making adjustments

Mullins averaged 9.1 points, 5.7 assists and 2.1 steals for Bourg in 2009-10, good enough to draw interest from other French teams, and he signed with Reims for the 2010-11 season.

In his rookie year, Mullins had to adjust to the length of the French season, which starts in October and runs through May, with playoffs stretching into June, as well as more seasoned opponents.

The French teams play 35 games, about the same number as American college teams, but they play only once a week, typically on Friday nights or Saturdays. The players get the following day off, but spend the other five days practicing twice a day, two hours at a time.

“Especially my first year, it was tough playing one game a week for eight to nine months, compared to college where you’ve got two or three games a week and it’s a six-month season,” Mullins said.

“So it’s like if you have a good game or even a bad game, you don’t have any momentum. You can’t get right back on the court and play and get it off your mind so, mentally, it’s a big challenge because you’ve got to be balanced. You try to forget about it and go prepare for the next one. That was probably the biggest challenge is leaving one game behind and moving on to the next one.”

Another challenge was adjusting to the 24-second shot clock, which is especially important for a point guard. There is no shot clock in American high school basketball and a 35-second clock in the college game.

“The advantage that a lot of players over in Europe have is they play with the 24-second shot clock their whole life,” Mullins noted. “They kind of learn to be professionals as a young kid, so a lot of kids are playing with pro teams when they’re 18 years old, so they get that experience whereas we go through the high school and college system.”

Mullins has acclimated well to the pro game. In 34 games for Reims last season he averaged 9.1 points, 5 assists, 2.2 steals and 2.1 rebounds. He shot 42 percent from the floor and 68.4 percent from the free-throw line while enhancing his reputation for a pass-first mentality and hard-nosed defensive approach.

While he acknowledges he is still trying to improve his outside shooting, Mullins said the more important aspect of his improvement is becoming a more vocal leader.

“With the 24-second shot clock, as a point guard you have to get something called, you have to be vocal every single play because once you get a set called and you make a pass or two it’s down to seven seconds, so you’ve got to make sure you know what everyone’s doing right away,” Mullins said.

“There are a lot more pick-and-rolls and transition game so I’ve got to work on being more vocal, because you’re playing against guys who have played professionally for eight, nine years and you’ve still got to be the strongest voice on your team. And, obviously, you’ve got to be a threat to score and get good stats if you want to keep playing over there.”

All indications are Mullins will be able to continue playing in France.

“I think they still appreciate that I’m one of the hardest workers,” Mullins said. “Everyone knows I’m going to get them the ball if they’re open. I’m definitely not a selfish player, so my coaches and teammates have all been great with me and had a lot of positive things to say.”

Enjoying the atmosphere

Although soccer is the No. 1 sport in Europe, interest in basketball is growing each year. The top teams pack arenas that seat up to 15,000, while most of the teams Reims play against draw crowds of 3,000 to 5,000 fans, who make a lot of noise by playing drums and horns throughout the game.

“It’s a good atmosphere,” Mullins said. “Fans are into. It’s different but it’s fun.”

Although basketball is now his job, the sport remains fun for Mullins.

“I still love playing the game,” he said. “It’s a different experience over there but when you’re playing on the court it doesn’t matter if you’re in Downers Grove or in France. You’re competing and you get the same emotion and adrenaline when you’re in the game, so it’s great.”

Mullins hasn’t given up hope of playing in the NBA and says he wants to play several more years. Although the pay in Europe is nowhere near what NBA players make, the top players can earn six-figure salaries while others make from $30,000 to $75,000, depending on the league.

“If you play well you’re going to make a real good living over there,” Mullins said. “It’s a lot better than I think people think it is. They don’t have a lot of other sports, so they’re willing to pay.

“Obviously, I want to save as much money as I can so I try not to spend too much and with the apartment and car paid for it helps a lot.”

While Mullins has grown accustomed to living overseas, he knows his playing career won’t last forever, so he wants to make an impact this winter.

“It’s a big season for me. I want to do well and see how far I can go with this and, hopefully, move up, either in Europe or maybe get a shot to come back home,” Mullins said. “I’m going to take it year by year in terms of how long I’m going to keep doing this.

"As long as I love playing still and my body holds up, I’ll do it until I can’t do it anymore or something better comes up around here.”

If he doesn’t put his finance degree to work, Mullins would like to go into coaching. His older brother Brendan, a 2003 Downers South grad who played collegiately at St. Michael’s College in Vermont, has held several assistant coaching positions at the college level and is currently director of basketball operations at Wright State in Dayton, Ohio.

His father, Mike, is well-known in basketball circles as the coach of the Illinois Wolves AAU program.

“I’ve been leaning toward [coaching],” Mullins said. “My dad’s coached me my whole life. Basketball is kind of in my blood. I definitely like helping kids learn the game and studying it. I think it would be an easy transition.”

High school memories

Playing in the same backcourt with Brendan in 2002-03, Mullins helped Downers South advance to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 1980. The Mustangs upset West Aurora in the sectional semifinals that year, then beat Naperville North and Batavia to go Downstate, where they lost to Thornwood 46-44 on a jumper with three seconds left.

“My sophomore year playing with Brendan was one of the best years for me and for our family,” Mullins said. “We were kind of up and down that year but we were able to get it together at the end and being able to beat West Aurora was a highlight and going to state for the first time in a while was great.”

Mullins averaged 12 points and seven assists and was a third team All-State pick his junior year, which ended with a 40-36 loss to West Aurora in the supersectional. He really blossomed as a senior in 2004-05, earning first team All-State honors by averaging 16.6 points, 5.6 assists, 5.3 steals and 3.5 rebounds as the Mustangs enjoyed their best season ever, going 30-4 and earning their first – and still only – state trophy.

Downers South stunned top-ranked Thornton 39-37 in the state quarterfinals that year. Mullins scored a team-high 15 points, including a game-tying three-pointer with 1:37 left before Brad Riegler hit the go-ahead trey with 10 seconds remaining.

The Mustangs lost to Carbondale 53-42 in the semifinals but rebounded to beat Rockford Jefferson 57-44 in the third-place game behind Mullins’ 19 points, eight assists and six steals.

“[They are] still some of my best basketball memories,” Mullins said. “It was awesome just playing with all my friends that I’d played with my whole life. We just played hard and played together. Having the highest finish in South history is something I think everyone is still proud about.

“[Now-retired] Coach [Paul] Runyon, I’m still great friends with him. We made a lot of friends for life at South so it was fun.”

Even though he is one of the few pro athletes who call Downers Grove home, Mullins said he is a “typical Downers Grove person.” His success, he hopes, will set a good example for other aspiring athletes. Passion and work ethic are keys.

“I always loved to play the game,” Mullins said. “I played sports all my life - baseball, soccer, basketball. I was real serious about soccer all my life and I chose basketball after my freshman year and kind of just had a goal that I wanted to play college basketball.

“It’s a lot of hard work. You’ve got to have some discipline and you have to miss out on some things but the reward is a lot better. It wasn’t just about basketball. It was school and getting a free education. My parents really pushed academics first.

“If you want something, if you put the work into it and be realistic about it, I think you’ll definitely achieve what you put your mind to.”