Early life and college career

Chris was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a young player in New York, Mullin studied the games of Knicks stars Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe while admiring Larry Bird and wearing #17 in honor of John Havlicek. As a youth, he regularly traveled to the Bronx and Harlem, predominately African American neighborhoods, to play against the best basketball players in New York City. From a young age, he paved a path for himself to become a legend in the Diocese of Brooklyn. His name began to spread while playing CYO basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish on Flatlands Avenue. Along with playing CYO basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Mullin attended Lou Carnesecca's basketball camp with future Xaverian teammates Roger McCready, Gerard Shepard, Mike O'Reilly, and Joe Cannizo. Mullin began his high school career at Power Memorial Academy, where he was a teammate of Mario Elie. He transferred as a junior to Xaverian High School (in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn). He also played with Ross LaCorte, current coach at Island Garden Basketball known for its Lightning Program.

After being selected as New York State's "Mr. Basketball", Mullin was recruited by the Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca to play for St. John's University in nearby Queens. After signing, Mullin averaged 16.6 points per game in his freshman year (also setting the school freshman record for points scored). In his subsequent three years for the Redmen (now known as the Red Storm), he was named Big East Player of the Year three times, named to the All-America team three times, played for the gold medal-winning 1984 Olympic team, and received the 1985 Wooden Award and USBWA College Player of the Year. As a senior who averaged 19.8 points per game, Mullin led St. John's to the 1985 Final Four and its first #1 ranking since 1951. Mullin, who averaged 19.5 points per game, finished his career as the Redmen's all-time leading scorer with 2,440 career points. He also holds the distinction of being one of only three players in history to win the Haggerty Award (given to the best college player in the New York City area) three times (1983-1985). From 1983-1985, Mullin was also named the Big East conference's player of the year, making him the only men's basketball player to receive this award three different seasons.

Professional career

Playing career (1985-2001)

In the 1985 NBA draft, the Golden State Warriors selected Mullin in the first round with the seventh pick. In Mullin's first three seasons with the Warriors, he was primarily a spot-up shooting guard playing in the backcourt alongside Eric "Sleepy" Floyd. In his second season, 1986-87, the Warriors advanced to the Western Conference semifinals under George Karl, where they lost to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. The next season, Don Nelson became the Warriors' coach and had plans to move Mullin to small forward. During his third season in the NBA, Mullin admitted to Nelson that he was an alcoholic. After missing several practices, Mullin was suspended, then entered an alcohol rehabilitation program.

For five consecutive seasons, from 1988 until 1993, Mullin scored an average of 25 or more points and five rebounds. Additionally, the Warriors made five straight playoff appearances. Mullin, Mitch Richmond, and 1989 first-round draftee Tim Hardaway formed the trio "Run TMC" (the initials of the players' first names and a play on the name of the popular rap group Run DMC) that were the focal stars of this playoff run. A five-time All-Star, Mullin also won Olympic gold twice—as a member of the 1984 amateur team, and for the 1992 Dream Team. During the 1992 Summer Olympics, Mullin, who started two games, averaged 12.9 points per game, shot 61.9% from the field and 53.8% from the three-point land. In 1993, Nelson traded for Chris Webber on NBA Draft day, hoping to make the Warriors stronger in the frontcourt. Mullin's body began breaking down, and he began to miss significant numbers of games. The Warriors had a successful first season with Webber, but he and Nelson began to bicker over his use as a player. This led Nelson to resign, and subsequent coaches saw Mullin as injury-prone and began to center the team around Latrell Sprewell. Mullin was traded after the 1996-97 season to the Indiana Pacers for second-year center Erick Dampier and NBA journeyman Duane Ferrell.

In his first season with the Pacers, coached by Larry Bird, Mullin started all 82 games, averaged 11.3 points per game, and helped the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in game seven. Bird began to phase Mullin out and give more time to Jalen Rose at small forward during his second season with the team. As a member of the Indiana Pacers, Mullin, who was primarily a bench player at this time, appeared in three games of the 2000 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers and scored four points total. After that season, Mullin was waived by the Pacers. He then once again signed with Warriors for the 2000-01 season, his last season as a player.

According to Jim O'Brien, Mullin was similar to NBA legend Larry Bird because both players lacked speed, had a great outside shot and had the innate ability to put their defender off guard. He was on the All-NBA second team (1989 and 1991), third team (1990), and first team (1992).

Front office positions

After his playing days were over, Mullin was hired by the Warriors as a special assistant, dealing with daily business operations. On April 22, 2004, he was named Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the team. On May 11, 2009, the team announced that Mullin's expiring contract would not be renewed. He was replaced by Larry Riley as the Warriors' General Manager.

Mullin began working with the Sacramento Kings in May 2013 when Vivek Ranadive became owner. In September 2013, the Sacramento Kings hired him as an advisor. As an advisor, Mullin's duties were not only to provide advice to Ranadive and D'Alessandro on player transactions, but to also supervise the organization's college and overseas scouting program.

Broadcasting

Mullin has worked as an NBA analyst for ESPN. On October 22, 2010, Mullin made his network debut as an ESPN studio analyst on Kia NBA Countdown.

In December 2011, Mullin worked with the ESPN broadcasting crew for Mark Jackson's coaching debut with the Golden State Warriors. Mullin joined his former television colleagues, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen to announce the game against the Los Angeles Clippers in the season opener and Christmas finale.

NCAA

Coaching

On March 30, 2015 Mullin accepted the vacant head coaching position at St. John's University.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
St. John's (Big East)
2015-16	St. John's	8-24	1-17	10th
St. John's Red Storm:		8-24	1-17
Total:		8-24

Honors

In 2010, Mullin was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the "Dream Team".

On February 28, 2011, Mullin was elected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

On April 4, 2011, Mullin was inducted again to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, this time for his individual career.

On March 19, 2012, Mullin's number was retired by the Golden State Warriors.

Personal

Mullin is a devout Roman Catholic, and has stated that he relies upon his faith daily. He and his wife Liz have four children: Sean, Christopher, Liam and Kiera. Mullin was very good friends with former teammate, Sudanese NBA player Manute Bol. After Bol was badly injured in a taxi cab incident in 2004, Mullin and the Warriors offered to raise money for Bol’s medical bills by organizing a fantasy camp. On November 19, 2004, the Warriors, Mullin and his former teammates Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway participated in the fantasy camp named “Run With TMC”.

In March 2012, PG&E joined the Golden State Warriors to restore a pair of basketball courts in Mullin's honor. Both courts were named the "Chris Mullin Basketball Courts at Arroyo Recreation Center Presented by PG&E".

In July 2014, Mullin was featured at a wheelchair basketball charity and opportunity event hosted in Puerto Rico by Max International. Before the event, he was presented a jersey from Federacion de Baloncesto en Silla de Ruedas de Puerto Rico (FEBASIRU), the local wheelchair basketball team. In this event, Mullin participated in a wheelchair basketball game for the very first time with Max International Associate Hector Marcano Lopez and the local Puerto Rican wheelchair basketball team (FEBASIRU). He participated in "Max and Mullin Legends Classic Exhibition Game" with 20 local Puerto Rican basketball legends.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]