Once the big man on campus, former Virginia basketball standout Roger Mason Jr. has taken his game to the next level with the NBA's Chicago Bulls. The Lawn, Little Johns and finals have been replaced with the Sears Tower, meal money and the pressure to prove that he belongs.
"It's a big adjustment to life in the NBA," Mason said. "It's a whole different ballgame. I'm enjoying it, I'm living my dream, I'm happy."
The latest chapter in Mason's dream took him to the Rocky Mountain Revue earlier this month. The Revue, one of the NBA's several summer leagues, allows players to showcase their skills to their respective teams. Mason and the Bulls won the revue with a 5-1 record over the week-long span. The 6-5 guard finished the revue averaging 9.2 points, 3 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game; numbers slightly better than those put up by highly touted draft pick Krik Hinrich out of Kansas.
"I think it went really well," Mason said. "I didn't shoot as well as I wanted to shoot. But I played really well. The team knows that I'm a great shooter."
Mason certainly proved that fact in a game against the Phoenix Suns. With the game knotted at 68 apiece, the Bulls ran their final play for Mason. The Silver-Spring native rose to the challenge, drilling a 27-foot three pointer for the win. Offensive exploits aside, Mason has been making a name for himself on the other end of the court as well, holding Joe Johnson, the Suns' regular season backup guard, to just 3-13 shooting. However, Mason's biggest accomplishment may have been just being able to be on the court. The Revue represented the first time Mason took the court without any pain since his days in orange and blue.
"It was good to finally be out on the court and be healthy, and get the shoulder injury behind me," Mason said.
Mason's shoulder problems began his junior year with the Cavaliers when he took a bad fall in a home game against Wake Forest. Although Mason returned to action in the game, the dislocated shoulder he suffered loomed over his career. Question marks about his shoulder caused his draft stock to fall to the second round, where he was taken by the Bulls with the 31st pick of the 2002 NBA Draft. During a workout last summer in Chicago, Mason aggravated the shoulder to the point where it needed surgery. The surgery ensured that Mason would be spending the bulk of his rookie season watching from the sidelines.
"That was one of the toughest things that I've ever had to deal with," Mason said. "To be living my dream but be hurt and have to watch was really tough. But I learned a lot and I had good people teaching me while I was on the sidelines and I turned a negative into a positive."
The former Cavalier standout is doing just that. Applying the knowledge learned from sidelines in hopes of cracking the Bulls rotation.
"The challenge is there," Mason said. "I just need to outplay guys and compete. When I came to Virginia nothing was given to me and I had to earn my position."
Mason did just that. Rising to All-ACC Second Team his junior season, averaging 18.6 points and 4.1 assists per game his senior season. A resume that once may have earned him a first round draft spot, Mason is hungry to show critics what he can do on the basketball court.
"I definitely have something to prove. I have a chip on my shoulder for a lot of different reasons," Mason said. "I got injured and slipped to the 31st pick and that was really tough to deal with. I'm just going to prove that I belong and that I can be a good player in this league."
Mason is eager to show that his game has grown since his run-and-gun days at U-Hall.
"I think my game has matured, especially at the point guard position," Mason explained. "I'm learning to be more patient, and listen to what Coach Cartwright and the rest of the coaches want me to do."
The work is paying off as Bulls coach Bill Cartwright has high expectations for his second year guard.
"The thing I like about Roger is that people don't know him. They don't know that he's a good shooter, he's tough, he's a defender first, he's smart and he's another kid whose best basketball we haven't seen," Cartwright said to Bulls.com. "Obviously, he was hurt to start the year and couldn't play at all. But this kid's potential is pretty darn good."
While Mason looks to brighter days ahead, thoughts of what he left behind remain with him. He has made recent trips to Charlottesville to go over his academic progress with his teachers as well as to see his classmates, Travis Watson, Majestic Mapp and Jason Rogers, graduate.
"Looking back at my career at Virginia I wish we could have gone further in the tournament," Mason admitted. "When you're done with school, that's it. It really doesn't sink in until you leave. That's the one thing that I really regret."
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