New Charlotte Bobcats center Byron Mullens made weekly visits to an Ohio prison during the lockout, looking for a good pickup game.

It wasn't charity work, though it was good for inmate morale.

Mullens traveled to Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, Ohio, looking to toughen himself up. "The idea was just to take the fear out of playing," Mullens said Wednesday. "You play against those guys and this (an NBA practice) feels like nothing."