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Chris Webber wants a Fab Five reunion

Ahead of tonight&rsquo;s 2020 NBA Draft, BasketballNews.com caught up with former Notre Dame big man John Mooney. Last season, the 22-year-old averaged 16.2 points, 12.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.0 threes while shooting 46 percent from the field. Mooney talked about his game, what he&rsquo;ll bring to an NBA team, his off-court interests, this unique pre-draft process and more.
What was it like having your season end prematurely in March and then entering a very unique pre-draft process that&rsquo;s unlike anything we&rsquo;ve seen?
John Mooney: &ldquo;The way the season ended, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it was definitely disappointing. But it is what it is; you want to prioritize everyone&rsquo;s health. But to be playing your best basketball as a team at the end of the year and thinking you can really make a run and guys are clicking and everything is looking good, then to have it end that way is very disappointing. You put the work in all year and you want to play in the postseason, but it is what it is. You have to turn to the next page, and I&rsquo;m certainly excited about the next steps. It&rsquo;s a little bit different right now with everything going on, but I&rsquo;ve still been getting better every day leading up to the draft. I&rsquo;m very excited.&rdquo;
What are some things that you wanted to show teams throughout the pre-draft process?
Mooney: &ldquo;I wanted to show teams that I can play at the next level. I wanted to show them that I can move, that I can shoot the ball and that I can defend. Rebounding is my No. 1 strength. For two years in a row, I was top-five in NCAA in rebounds. I think I&rsquo;m the best rebounder in this draft - both on the offensive and defensive side. I really feel like I have a knack for the ball, and I can rebound with anyone. I think that&rsquo;s a skill that will translate over to the NBA. I also wanted to show teams that I&rsquo;m a high-character guy and a team-first guy that will do anything to help the team win. All four years [in college], my role changed, but I think I maximized my role no matter what I was doing."
You have a ton of productive game film, which may help you. Teams have been watching a ton of film in recent months and some front offices may put more stock into that due to the limited workouts and strange circumstances.
Mooney: &ldquo;Yeah, definitely. With workouts being limited, it&rsquo;s natural for teams to depend on film. Not in a cocky way, but I think my film speaks for itself. I&rsquo;m hoping a lot of teams see it. They&rsquo;re getting a guy who does his job and maximizes his role. I feel like I&rsquo;m versatile on the offensive end, I can shoot it. I have to be more consistent from deep, from the NBA [three-point] line, but I&rsquo;m working on that. I think I&rsquo;m an underrated guy athletically. The perception of me is that I&rsquo;m a slow white guy, but I really feel like I can move; athletically, I can hang. When teams see that on film, plus my rebounding and motor, hopefully they&rsquo;ll like what they see.&rdquo;
[Editor&rsquo;s Note: During the NBA Draft Combine, Mooney shot the ball really well, making 69 percent of his three-pointers and 82 percent of his two-pointers. Also, he shot an impressive 83.3 percent on his corner threes.]
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Who are some NBA players that you&rsquo;ve studied or tried to emulate?
Mooney: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always loved watching Kevin Love play. The way he&rsquo;s kind of a stretch big, but he can also post-up and he&rsquo;s one of the best rebounders in the game, I love watching him. And I love watching his outlet passes. That&rsquo;s something that I tried to add to my game during my junior and senior year; just getting the ball and really firing it down the court to get the offense moving. That&rsquo;s someone who I really like to watch.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I also liked watching a guy like Shane Battier, who was a really good role player. I think I can be someone like that - not necessarily someone who&rsquo;s getting up 20 shots, but who can just come in and do his job, no matter what the organization needs. A guy who&rsquo;s going to come in and be a great locker-room guy and maximize his role and love doing it. I just want to come in and do my job, whatever that is. ... I&rsquo;m going to work my tail off to try to become an All-Star and become the next Kevin Love, but I think in the here and now, I&rsquo;ll be a guy who just maximizes his role - no matter what the organization needs. I think I can be that guy.&rdquo;
A lot of prospects talk about what they can add to a locker room or how they can help off the court, but what specifically can you do to help a team in that regard? What separates you from the other players who are saying that?
Mooney: &ldquo;I just think my experience throughout college has helped me in that regard. When you&rsquo;re a guy who played as a junior and senior, you&rsquo;re called upon to be a leader and lead some of the younger guys. I think I did a good job of that, and I definitely got better at it over the years. But, for example, being a senior this past year, I had to use my voice more and with that experience comes leadership and that ability [to help a locker room]. Also, I love people. I love getting to know guys. Obviously my teammates, but you can talk to anyone on Notre Dame&rsquo;s staff - assistant coaches, managers, team trainers, support staff - I loved having relationships with all of those people too. Like I said, I&rsquo;m a team-first, organization-first guy who&rsquo;s sole focus is to help my team win. I think a guy with a mindset like that can help out no matter where he is.&rdquo;
I feel like that college experience also makes you more NBA-ready than a lot of the prospects in this draft. Do you think your NBA-readiness will intrigue teams too?
Mooney: &ldquo;Definitely. There are guys out there whose potential is through the roof and maybe they&rsquo;re younger - 18 years old or something - and I get that. I&rsquo;m a 22-year-old guy who has experience. With that being said, I don&rsquo;t think that I&rsquo;ve come close to hitting my ceiling; I think I can get better. I&rsquo;m on a trend that&rsquo;s going up. From freshman year to sophomore year, I got better; from sophomore year to junior year, I got better; from junior year to senior year, I got better. And I don&rsquo;t plan on having that trend stop. I will continue to work and continue to try to get better in the areas that I need to every day. That&rsquo;s my mindset. I think I can come in and maybe teams know what they&rsquo;re going to get, but I also have room for growth as well.&rdquo;
Because you&rsquo;re 22 years old, there will be questions about whether you&rsquo;ve reached your ceiling. How much room do you still have to improve?
Mooney: &ldquo;I feel like the ceiling is through the roof, like the sky is the limit. Like I said before, I&rsquo;m trending the right way just in terms of my development - from freshman year to now - and I&rsquo;m going to continue to put the work in. I have areas for growth - my consistency shooting from the arc, athletically trying to take things to the next level - but there&rsquo;s no reason why I [can&rsquo;t play] in the league for 10-15 years. I think I have the ability to get better, and I have the work ethic to do it.&rdquo;
I know some players avoid the draft coverage altogether, while others look at it or use it for motivation. Do you pay any attention to the mock drafts or rankings?&nbsp;
Mooney: &ldquo;I mean, I look at it, but I try not to pay too much attention to it. I think I&rsquo;m a little bit overlooked on some of those boards, but that&rsquo;s just the way it is sometimes being a four-year guy. But I&rsquo;ve gone head-to-head against a lot of the guys [who are ahead of me] on those boards and I&rsquo;ve more than held my own or outplayed some of those guys, so I&rsquo;m extremely confident that I can play with anyone. It definitely is fuel to work harder and use that motivation to show teams that I can play at the next level.&rdquo;
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What are some of your off-court interests?&nbsp;
Mooney: &ldquo;I love to compete. No matter what it is, me and my friends try to find different things that we can do where we&rsquo;re competing. I love to golf in my free time. My dad was a big golfer, so he got my brother and I into it at a young age. I love the competitive aspect of it. My handicap isn&rsquo;t where I want it to be because I&rsquo;m always playing basketball, but I&rsquo;m probably around a 15 to 20 handicap. I like to play ping pong and video games and just compete. And I&rsquo;m a guy from Florida, so I love hanging out at the beach. When I&rsquo;m with my friends, we go to the beach a lot.&rdquo;
If you weren&rsquo;t playing basketball, what career would you have pursued?
Mooney: &ldquo;It would definitely be something where I could compete. Maybe something in the business world. My major at Notre Dame was Business Management. My dad is a successful businessman and my brother and sister are [in business too], so probably something in that realm. I&rsquo;m very interested in the business side of basketball too, so maybe an executive or front-office job. I would love to do that. Maybe I&rsquo;ll play as long as I can and then go down that path. That or coaching; coaching is something that intrigues me as well.&rdquo;
What would it mean for you to hear your name called on draft night?
Mooney: &ldquo;I would love it, man. I&rsquo;ve been working [toward that] and it&rsquo;s been a goal of mine since I was a little kid. To have that chance in front of you, it&rsquo;s very exciting. I just love the game so much. Whether I get picked up on draft night or go undrafted, I&rsquo;m going to keep working - just because I love the game so much and I&rsquo;m so passionate about it.&rdquo;
When did you have your big growth spurt or was it pretty gradual? And when did you take that next step as a player?&nbsp;
Mooney: &ldquo;I was always one of the taller kids, but I think between eighth and ninth grade is when I shot up from 6&rsquo;3 or 6&rsquo;4 to 6&rsquo;7 or 6&rsquo;8. It was when I was going into my freshman year of high school. But as for taking the next step, I really thought I could play at the next level all throughout high school. Then, you get to college and your experience success and your dreams of playing in the NBA just grow. It&rsquo;s always been a dream and goal of mine, to play professionally, and I love to compete and want to compete at the highest level.&rdquo;
How much did you develop during your time at Notre Dame and how did they help you grow as a player?
Mooney: &ldquo;I grew tremendously. Shout out to Coach [Mike] Brey for giving me a chance and helping me better myself as a player and as a person. Big shout out to Ryan Humphrey, who coaches the bigs at Notre Dame. He was instrumental in helping me day in and day out. I feel like I made tremendous strides. Comparing the player I was when I first arrived on campus to the player who left, it&rsquo;s night and day. My confidence soared, my work ethic - mixed with great mentorship from those coaches - really helped me out.&rdquo;

NBA draft prospect John Mooney talks about his game, his time at Notre Dame, NBA players he studies, his upbringing and more.

John Mooney Q&A: 'I think I’m the best rebounder in this draft'

I had a special relationship with Hall-of-Fame coach John Thompson, and it all started when he chose not to recruit me.&nbsp;
Anybody I grew up with will remember that I always wanted to go to Georgetown; Syracuse was actually my second choice. I remember my high school teammate, Ryan Humphrey, saying that I was like the kid in the movie "Rudy" who always wanted to go to Notre Dame. That was actually pretty accurate.&nbsp;
See, I grew up admiring Coach Thompson ever since I heard him speak out about the racism of the NCAA. I remember him being asked how it felt to be the first Black coach to reach the NCAA Final Four and he replied, "I resent the hell out of that question if it implies I am the first Black coach competent enough to take a team to the Final Four. Other Blacks have been denied the right in this country; coaches who have the ability. I don't take any pride in being the first Black coach in the Final Four. I find the question extremely offensive."
I remember reading about how Coach Thompson specifically recruited inner-city Black players and molded them, both on and off the court.
He focused on their education, enforced discipline and structure, and educated them about society and being a Black man in America. He was a father figure in that he actually cared about his players far beyond wins and losses (although he definitely wanted to win). He made sure he stressed that his players graduate and not squander their time allowing the system to use them. Of course that was the coach and program I wanted to be a part of.&nbsp;
Also, he coached one of my favorite players, Alonzo Mourning - someone who I wanted to pattern my game after. He also coached Patrick Ewing, one of my favorite players growing up (as a New York Knicks fan). I wanted to be able to block shots like Dikembe Mutombo and have defenses literally draw plans to avoid bringing the ball inside. I wanted to carry on the tradition and wear No. 33 at Georgetown (which is one of the reasons why I wore No. 33 at Syracuse, but I&rsquo;ll explain that later).
I even went to Georgetown's basketball camp when I was in the eighth grade. I remember reading about the next center who was going there, Othella Harrington, and seeing pictures of Coach Thompson with his arm around all of the aforementioned men. I dreamed of seeing myself in that same picture, in that same pose, alongside the great centers of Georgetown at the end of that line.
In the summer of my junior year, I was being recruited by every major program in the country except Georgetown. Coach Thompson called me and told me that they had a lot of big men, naming off five: Jamel Watkins, Boubacar Aw, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, Jahidi White and Ya-Ya Dia, so they really didn&rsquo;t need any more bigs. I was heartbroken, to be honest. I may have even shed a few thug tears, but I vowed to terrorize Georgetown for my entire college career and picked their biggest rival, Syracuse University.&nbsp;
Fast-forward to Feb. 8, 1997, during my freshman year at Syracuse. That day, we faced off against Georgetown. Syracuse fans remember this as the "Donovan McNabb game" since the star quarterback and two-sport athlete ignited the Carrier Dome with an electrifying performance en route to a win over the Hoyas. Meanwhile, as a young freshman who didn&rsquo;t receive much playing time after the beginning of the season - I was playing behind and learning from the great Otis Hill - I had one of the worst games of my career. I set a Syracuse record for the <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2013/02/syracuses_1997_win_over_george.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quickest foul out by a player in school history</a> (and maybe even Big East history).
After not playing for a long stretch, I was put into one of the biggest games of the season due to Hill's foul trouble. I found myself in the unfortunate position of having to guard an explosive, quick-off-his-feet, 300-pound monster named Jahidi White, who could have been called the Shaq of the Big East.&nbsp;
As soon as I checked into the game, Coach Thompson ran every single play for White - and apparently told him to dunk on me every play. Well, I had too much pride for that, so I fouled him every time he tried it. I attempted to block the first few dunks and almost got my arm ripped off in Jahidi&rsquo;s Shaq-like power moves to the rim. So the next two times, I just fouled him.
I ended up fouling out of the game after seven minutes in front of 30,000 people at the Carrier Dome in one of the biggest games of the year. I remember looking at Coach Thompson as I was walking to the bench. He gave me a little nod that said, to me, "That&rsquo;s why I didn&rsquo;t recruit you." I was destroyed inside. I wanted to head straight to the locker room and hide in the closet until everyone left.&nbsp;
After the game, a ball boy gave me a note from Coach Thompson that simply read, "Keep working, keep your head up, you&rsquo;ll be fine."
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My sophomore year was really my breakout year, and one of the games I had circled on my schedule was the Georgetown game. I had a <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2013/01/in_1997-98_season_syracuse_get.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monster night</a> - 23 points, seven rebounds, six blocks - and I was throwing down thunderous dunks, beating my chest, swatting shots into the stands and screaming into the crowd. I was so hyped, I couldn&rsquo;t even calm down to shoot on the free-throw line.
At the sound of the buzzer, my first thought was to run up to Coach Thompson. I shook his hand, looked him in the eyes and said, &ldquo;You could&rsquo;ve had me.&rdquo;
And he replied with a big smile: &ldquo;Yeah, I know."
That was the start of our relationship of mutual respect and support that spanned for two decades.&nbsp;
I came to D.C. in 2000 with the Washington Wizards. Coach Thompson would have me on his show and support my events around the city. He would offer advice, encouragement, chastisement and praise by call or text.
<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2007/09/etans_antiwar_speech.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shortly after the invasion of Iraq</a>, I spoke at a big <a href="http://politicalaffairs.net/the-speech-everyone-is-talking-about-etan-thomas-electrifies-anti-war-washington/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-war rally</a> in D.C. Coach Thompson called me afterwards and said, &ldquo;You have no idea what you just stepped into young man, do you?&rdquo;&nbsp;
And honestly, I truly didn&rsquo;t. I had been speaking all over D.C. about the war. I wrote three different poems and two different speeches against the war all from my first poetry book, "<a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/561-more-than-an-athlete" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More Than An Athlete</a>."
&ldquo;You are lucky you play for [Washington Wizards chairman] Abe Pollin because if you didn&rsquo;t, this could be very bad for your professional career," Coach Thompson said to me. He also told me that he had the utmost respect for me, and if I needed some support when I felt the wrath of America after that speech, he was there for me.&nbsp;
For many years, I would have events around D.C. and when I looked into the crowd, I'd see Coach Thompson right there in the front row with his arms folded.&nbsp;
At Georgetown University, I had a debate with Bill Rhoden about his book, "40 Million Dollar Slave." Coach Thompson brought his entire team there - including a young Roy Hibbert, Jeff Green and Patrick Ewing Jr. - and had them all taking notes.
In my book, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fatherhood-Ultimate-Challenge-Etan-Thomas/dp/0451414896/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1523315169&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=etan+thomas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge</a>," Coach Thompson wrote: &ldquo;In my life, I&rsquo;ve been fortunate enough to meet presidents, senators, congressmen, CEOs of major companies, cardinals of churches, heads of states from several countries and some of the finest athletes and coaches this world has ever known. I&rsquo;ve learned to respect them all and admired their accomplishments, but I&rsquo;ve never met a man who accomplished so much with so little as my dad. And I have come to realize that nothing has more meaning to me than the honor of being named after the finest man I have ever met, my Dad, John Robert Thompson.&rdquo;&nbsp;
I had never even heard him tell that story before and was honored by the fact that he felt comfortable telling me this for my book.&nbsp;
This past winter, I was watching a high school tournament at Wise High School and doing some recruiting for my AAU team, FBCG Elite Dynamic Disciples. Coach Thompson saw me before I saw him. He had someone chase me down and bring me to him. He said, "You better come over here and say hi to me."
He was in obvious pain with his walker, and I asked him how he was feeling. He smiled and said, "Just old, but you keep doing what you&rsquo;re doing."
I said, "Yeah, I'm looking at some players for my team." He responded, "That&rsquo;s great, but that&rsquo;s not what I&rsquo;m talking about. You keep using your platform and speaking and writing truth. I may not get around like I used to, but I&rsquo;m always watching you and I'm proud of you. Now move out my way, I gotta get out of here."
He left before I could even get a picture with him and my son Malcolm, who came up after the conversation. Afterwards, Malcolm asked me who the man in the walker was.
"One of the best coaches to ever walk the planet," I told him.
Rest In Peace, Coach John Thompson.

Etan Thomas looks back on his unique relationship with the late, great John Thompson.