Everybody loves the underdog, right? Then everybody should love Mario West.Contrary to popular belief, West actually WAS drafted out of college. Just not by an NBA team — by the Harlem Globetrotters. As a senior at Georgia Tech, West averaged only 4.7 points per game. For a reference point, Brian Scalabrine averaged 14.7 points as a senior (and 17.8 as a junior), and Scal even played for a better team. Somehow, someway, after his completely nondescript college career, West clawed his way onto his hometown Atlanta Hawks. How’d he do it? Defense, dummy. And heart. All heart.“I’ve been around this league a long time and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy play as hard as Mario plays,” said Hawks head coach Mike Woodson at the time. “He pushes guys in practice to play hard and if you don’t play hard he embarrasses you in terms of just knocking the hell out of you. He is contagious, he wants to do right, he wants to learn, he’s c...
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