Get to Know Mark Bryant

Bryant

Today, get to know….
Nuggets forward Mark Bryant

Acquired in a trade from Philadelphia on Dec. 18, Mark Bryant is both one of the newest and the oldest Nugget. On a team with six players 22 years or younger, the 37-year-old 15-year NBA veteran has quickly established himself as a leader in the locker room filled with players nearly half his age. The Nuggets are the 6-9, 250-pound forward's eighth different team since coming into the league with Portland. Drafted in the first round of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Blazers, Bryant spent his first seven seasons in Rip City and played in the 1990 and 1992 NBA Finals before moving on to Houston, Phoenix, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, San Antonio, Philadelphia and finally Denver. He has career averages of 5.4 ppg and 3.8 rpg and has appeared in 78 career playoff games.

JG: “You grew up in New Jersey, where you a Knicks fan? Nets fan?”
BRYANT: “I think I was a Knicks fan. I think I was more of a Knicks fan. I used to love watching Bernard King. I just loved watching Bernard King play.”
JG: “King did play for both teams.”
BRYANT: “Yeah, but the Knicks mostly. I used to practice with him when I was in college and I’ve just always liked him.”

JG: You are obviously a bigger guy (King was 6-7, 205), but was he your role model as a kid or who you hoped to become?”
BRYANT: “No, because I wasn’t in to basketball. When I was younger it was football. I loved watching football. I loved playing football. It was definitely just football, so I wouldn’t really say he was my role model.”

JG: “With your size you could play a mean tight end. How did you make the switch to basketball?
BRYANT: “During high school, in one summer, I grew three or four inches, and I was like ‘That’s enough.’ Big guys going at your knees, ‘That’s enough for me.’”

JG: “You’ve been in the league for a long time now. What is your best memory?”
BRYANT: “I have quite a few great memories. Definitely Portland going to the Finals (1990, ’92), going to Houston because Rudy T(omjanovich) really let me play and really let me expand my game. That was real good for me. That’s really it as far as what stands out to me as far as basketball wise.”

JG: “You’ve also played with a lot of great players - Drexler, Duncan, Hakeem, a lot of those guys - who is the best player you’ve played with?”
BRYANT: “I’d say the best player I used to watch all the time, I’m not saying he’s the best player, but somebody I modeled my game after was Buck Williams. Buck Williams, I used to watch him a lot. I don’t even think he knew how much I used to watched. I used to really admire the way he handled himself on and off the court.”

JG: “As your career begins to wind down, do you know what you want to do when your playing years are behind you?
BRYANT: “I’m hoping I got a year or two left in the NBA, and then I would like to coach somewhere. First of all I think I’d like to just scout somewhere. I don’t think I want to go straight back into the grind of traveling again. I’d like to scout somewhere and help be a mentor to some of the young guys and just basically raise my kids and be with my wife (Shelley). I have two boys (Taige – 5, Poe-4).”

JG: “So you definitely want to stay involved in the game though?”
BRYANT: “Yeah, I would like to stay in the game. I don’t think I want to be a head coach right now, just wait for a while and ease into it.”

JG: “What is your favorite place you have played, or where you have enjoyed it the most?”
BRYANT: “I think it was Houston.”
JG: “Is that because you really got a chance to play and show them what you could do? BRYANT: “No, I got a chance to show myself mostly every place I’ve went to except for – not last year because I played quite a bit last year – but like in Dallas I didn’t play much. But I’d say Houston was a real good place. Portland was a real good place too. Chicago was a real good place too. I played there quite a bit, started most of the season.”

JG: “Do you have any nicknames?”
BRYANT: “Me? They used to call me ‘Big Daddy’ or ‘Big’.”
JG: “What did your mom call you?”
BRYANT: “Mark.”
JG: “That’s it?”
BRYANT: “There’s another one too, but I don’t want you to print it.”
JG: “Afraid you’ll never hear the end of it?”
BRYANT: “That’s right.”

JG: “Okay, well do you have any pets?”
BRYANT: (emphatically) “No pets.”
JG: “You said that like you meant it.”
BRYANT: “No pets. No pets. My wife had one and that was it.”

JG: “What about favorite movie?”
BRYANT: “Oh what’s the name of that. Ummm. It’s got Al Pacino.
JG: “Scarface?”
BRYANT: “There it is.”

JG: “Who’s the one person throughout history you’d most like to meet?”
BRYANT: “I’ve met Muhammad Ali. I think I wouldn’t mind sitting down and talking to Martin Luther King about the struggles he went through and the things that he was trying to work out through the world. I think I wouldn’t mind meeting with him.”

JG: “Alright, thanks Mark.”
BRYANT: “No problem.”

Jonathan Goldstein is the internet coordinator for the Denver Nuggets and Nuggets.com. You can e-mail him your questions and comments at nuggetsmail@pepsicenter.com.