Return of the Pops

The only thing tougher than making it to the NBA is sticking around in the NBA. It's a problem for many players and especially for those deemed to have freakish ability but an average skill set. Pops Mensah-Bonsu faced such a problem upon graduating from George Washington University where he led the Colonials to the NCAA tournament twice while showing off his impressive dunking and physical skills on the court. The Whale-Killer(as he's known because of his last name), signed with the Dallas Mavericks after college but things didn't work out and he ended up making the move to Europe and spending some time in Italy and Spain. "The two years in Europe, in two of the top leagues, helped me as far as experience is concerned." said Mensah-Bonsu. "I think I gained more experience as a player and a person." In terms of new tools added to his game, Pops added "The 17 foot Jump shot. You know in Europe the big guys can shoot and coming back I've felt like I've become a consistent jump shooter and I think that's definitely helped me in getting back to the NBA."
Pops also helped lead Team Great Britain to the 2009 Eurobasket championship in Poland which will be taking place in September. "Our future (in the 2009 Eurobasket tourney) depends on Ben Gordon and Kelenna Azubuike. If we get those two, I think we're one of the best teams in Europe," he said. "I think we're pretty close to getting Ben, he's on board but he just has to make sure some contractual issues are taken care of. Kelenna still has some logistical things to take care of." Team Great Britain, if the addition of Gordon and Azubuike goes through would have Pops, Luol Deng, Gordon and Azubuike leading the line into Poland. "If we have four NBA players on our team, not too many European teams can say they have that so we'd be one of them."
Pops is quite confident in his second NBA go-round and although he didn't end up sticking with the Spurs after his 10-day contract with the team, he is intent on showing the NBA that he is more than a great athlete and that he can be a solid contributor on an NBA team as evidenced in his first few games for his new team, the Toronto Raptors. The whale-killer had 10 rebounds in 15 minutes against the Miami Heat and 7 rebounds in 10 minutes against the Utah Jazz in his first two games for the Raptors and he'll be determined to show the Raptors faithful the new facets of his game during the remainder of the season.