Quote:
There’s no maybe anymore that power forward Byron Mullens has bought into defense. Look at his numbers Wednesday: 15 rebounds and four blocks to go with 12 points. Dunlap had a funny line about changing Mullens’ mindset: “We found out a long time ago with Byron that threats work.’’
Yes, that was intended to be funny, but I can tell you Mullens is intensely concerned with not letting down Dunlap. He told me as much a week ago. I asked Dunlap in the post-game about Mullens trying so hard to please. Dunlap replied that bond was established firmly in the off-season.
“Byron and I worked out all summer,’’ Dunlap said. “That relationship is more than player-coach. He’s very young and I’m used to coaching those guys (from his college experience). We buy into each other.’’
By the way, Mullens had an X-ray on a sore ankle after the game. No fracture detected.
Mully is really starting to come around. Yeah we all hate him jacking up 3s when he's continually missing them, but before our eyes he's starting to add other facets to his game.