The Wizards’ Roger Mason Revived His Career Abroad
By David Driver (Posted 4-15-08)

Roger Mason Jr. knows what it is like to grow up with a famous parent. His stepfather, Otis Wonsley, played several years for the Washington Redskins in the early 1980s and was part of a Super Bowl champion.

Mason grew up in suburban Maryland – after the Colts left Baltimore and before the Ravens moved to Charm City – and saw up close how revered the Redskins were in metro Washington.

But the former Virginia star, a key reserve guard for the playoff-bound Washington Wizards, may have met his match among children of notable parents when he attended middle school at Sidwell Friends.

The school, with its steep tuition and Embassy Row neighbors, is on Wisconsin Avenue in upper northwest Washington and attracts the girls and boys of the city’s elite. Jesse Jackson and Al Gore both had sons play football at Sidwell.

Mason attended there for three years in the 1990s and Chelsea Clinton was a fellow student. Mason was one year behind Ms. Clinton but the two did talk on occasion in the hallways.

Growing up in Washington, Mason said it was natural to be drawn into politics And he added attending school with a Clinton, who at the time lived in the White House, also added to that interest.

Mason attended Sidwell as a freshman then transferred to Good Counsel High in Wheaton, Md., where he played against DeMatha and other top-flight teams in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. In high school he played against future NBA players Keith Bogans and Joe Forte of DeMatha, and one of Mason’s teammates was Chris Monroe, the all-time leading scorer at George Washington who played pro ball in Hungary and Italy.

Mason is unique among some pro athletes in that he has taken sides in the upcoming Presidential race. And while he praised both Democratic candidates, Mason earlier this year took part in a fundraiser in Washington for Senator Barack Obama.

“I am for change. I think both (Democratic) candidates are great,” said Mason, who added he feels Obama is the right person to gain his party’s bid.

While Washington pollsters look to the fall, this is a unique spring on the banks of the Potomac. For the first time in nearly 20 years the Bullets/Wizards, Capitals and Redskins have made the playoffs in the same calendar year. And Mason, lost among the Wizards’ all-star players, has been among the top players in the NBA this season in terms of increased scoring average as Washington prepares to face Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.

While it may not seem so impressive, the guard was averaging 9.0 points per game in 21 minutes through April 13 after averaging just 2.7 a game last season for the Wizards. But Mason has had some huge games for this season, and most of them came with All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas out of the lineup. Mason had 31 points, six rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes April 14 in the Wizards' 117-110 victory over Indiana.

In February, Mason had a career-high 32 points and six assists at Golden State and also had 24 points and five rebounds at Charlotte in late December. Mason also had six three-pointers in that game to set a personal best. He made his first start for the Wizards on Dec. 21 against the Atlanta Hawks.

His production is magnified since Washington has played most of this season without Arenas, one of the top scoring guards in the NBA.

“To have Gil back going into the playoffs … we are hitting our stride,” Mason said after the Wizards beat the Boston Celtics for the third time recently. “Everyone’s roles are going to change a little bit. I have had a good run. My role is going to change.”

Does a third win over Boston show that the Wizards can play with anyone in the Eastern Conference?

“We have felt like that before. Now that reinforces it in our minds there is not a team we can’t beat,” he said.

Mason almost became an NBA afterthought. After three years at Virginia he was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the second round in 2002. He was traded to Toronto on Dec. 16, 2003 before heading overseas. He averaged 1.8 and 1.0 points in his two seasons with the Bulls and 4.0 in part of a season with Toronto.

He arrived in Greece in the middle of one season and played the next season in Israel. Both countries have two of the top leagues in that region.

“The big thing for me, coming out of college I had surgery,” said Mason, who added he did not get key minutes in his first NBA stint. “It was important to get the ball back in my hands and be the go-to man. That was the biggest thing for me.”.

Mason was able to play the combo guard overseas, though he was more of the “two” guard in Israel. “I was able to make plays and handle the ball,” he said. “It definitely helped.”

The Wizards now have four players on their team from ACC schools: Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison from UNC, Darius Songaila from Wake Forest and Mason.

“I hear from Brendan and Antawn about the Tar Heels. Darius talks to me about Wake,” Mason said. “My coach in Greece was Darius’ coach in Lithuania. We talked about that (overseas) experience,” Mason added. “It is so much different.”

A few years ago the Wizards were one of the few teams in the league without a player from Europe. Now they have Songaila, who is from Lithuania, and Oleksiy Pecherov, who is from Ukraine.

“It does make us a better team. Europe has definitely produced some big-time players,” Mason said.

It also helped Mason improve his game to where he is now an integral part of a playoff-bound team.