Former McDonald's prep all-American and Mississippi State star Mario Austin has been playing basketball at Life Time Fitness in Woodbury while visiting his girlfriend in Minnesota.
The 6-9, 260-pounder, who was the 36th overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 2003 NBA draft, plans to play in the Bulls' summer league and also might play in the Howard Pulley pro-am league that begins next month at the Salvation Army gym in St. Paul.
Since being drafted by the Bulls, Austin has had numerous opportunities to join the Bulls, but he has turned them down in favour of a profitable European career. Austin played on the Bulls summer league teams in each of the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons, yet he didn't play especially well in any of them. In summer league 2003, Austin averaged 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds, solid numbers comfortably outshone by Lonny Baxter's 18.5 ppg average. Those numbers dropped to 9.0 ppg and 4.3 rpg in 2004, and dropped even further to 7.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in 2005. After that, he stopped coming.
In that time, though, Austin has built himself a solid career in a better continent. It didn't start well, after Austin's first contract with the Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscowended badly in a swarm of lawsuits, tears and breathing tubes (the straight-to-DVD sequel to 'Sex, Lies And Videotape'). But after that, Austin established himself as an elite big man in Europe, being named the ULEB Cup regular season MVP in 2006, averaging 19 points and 8 rebounds a game, and being the best player on a Hapoel Jerusalem team that finished as runners-up in the Israeli league for two straight seasons. The money improved, too, and Mario earned more per year in Europe than he would in the NBA, unless he were to sign for a decent sized chunk of the mid level exception. And that wasn't going to happen. By that time, he had no reason to make the switch.
After leaving Hapoel in 2007, Austin signed with Benetton Treviso in Italy, where he averaged 13.6 points and 7.6 rebounds. He left Benetton after one year, and spent last season in China, averaging 19.8 points and 8.5 rebounds for Fujian. (It's worth mentioning, though, that Chinese Basketball Association statistics are amusingly huge. Former Orlando Magic centre Olumide Oyedeji averaged 20.3 points and 19.8 rebounds there last season, and the recently sectioned Kirk Snyder averaged 33.6 points and 9.9 rebounds. That's pretty good going when you're mentally incompetent.)
A big man that can score from inside and out, Austin is now 27, and can probably sense that his NBA window is nearly shut. If he plays well in the summer and if he is willing to play for the minimum salary, there's a chance that he could find a place on the Bulls inactive list for the next season. Then again, Jerome James is probably in his way. (Insert weight joke.)
Incidentally, the Bulls other 2003 second round pick - former Arizona State big man Tommy Smith - was arrested and charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault back in January, after punching his girlfriend in the nose after they left a party, driving her to a lake, taking her cell phone off of her and forcing her out of the car. Smith later came back and picked her up, taking her to a hospital for treatment, but apparently that wasn't enough for absolute redemption and he was arrested. So that pick wasn't quite as good.
:buttrock: 
:smoke: :beerbang: :crazydance: 
:woot: :bulls: 
