Pops Mensah-Bonsu

Pops Mensah-Bonsu

Mensah-Bonsu at the Euroleague match
No. 21 – Galatasaray Liv Hospital
Position	Power forward
League	Turkish Basketball League Euroleague
Personal information
Born	(1983-09-07) 7 September 1983 Tottenham, London, England
Nationality	British
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (206 cm)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school	St. Thomas More Roman Catholic School (London, UK) St. Augustine College Prep (Richland, New Jersey)
College	George Washington (2002–2006)
NBA draft	2006 / Undrafted
Pro playing career	2006–present
Career history
2006–2007	Dallas Mavericks
2006–2007	→Fort Worth Flyers
2007–2008	Benetton Treviso
2008	Granada
2008	Joventut Badalona
2009	Austin Toros
2009	San Antonio Spurs
2009	Houston Rockets
2009–2010	Toronto Raptors
2010	CSKA Moscow
2010–2011	New Orleans Hornets
2011	ASVEL
2011–2012	Beşiktaş Milangaz
2013	CB Sevilla
2013	Emporio Armani Milano
2013–present	Galatasaray Liv Hospital
Career highlights and awards
A-10 All Conference Second Team (2005) A-10 All Conference First Team (2006) NBA D-League All Star Game MVP (2007) EuroChallenge Final Four MVP (2012) EuroChallenge champion (2012) Turkish Cup champion (2012) Turkish League champion (2012) TBL Player of the Year (2012) TBL Defensive Player of the Year (2012) TBL Forward of the Year (2012)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Nana Papa Yaw Dwene "Pops" Mensah-Bonsu (born 7 September 1983) is a British professional basketball player of Ghanaian descent. He currently plays for Galatasaray Liv Hospital of the Turkish Basketball League.

Early life

Pops Mensah-Bonsu was educated at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic School. As a teenager, he represented the London Borough of Haringey at the London Youth Games, appearing in four of Great Britain's five games.^[1]

After starting out as a junior at the English Basketball League club Hackney White Heat, Mensah-Bonsu moved to the USA. He spent his sophomore year of high school playing at the Hun School of Princeton in Princeton, New Jersey, then transferred to St. Augustine College Preparatory School in Richland, New Jersey. He graduated from St. Augustine Prep in 2002.

College career

He majored in psychology at the George Washington University, where he played power forward and center. He was second team all-conference in 2004–05 and averaged around 12 points and 6 rebounds per game for his career, while also recording 141 blocked shots. He was best known for explosive dunks and became a favorite of ESPN SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt, who would often mention Mensah-Bonsu at the end of telecasts.

At George Washington, Mensah-Bonsu helped lead the Colonials to the 2005 NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the first round. The next season was more successful, with the team ending the regular season 26–1 and being ranked in the national top 10 for the first time in 50 years. However, he suffered a knee injury near the end of the regular season and he did not return until the 2006 NCAA Tournament, where the injury lessened his production. The injury probably led to Mensah-Bonsu not being drafted by an NBA team. GW lost to Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament after defeating University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Professional career

Early career

Mensah-Bonsu initially signed a two-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks,^[2] and played for the Fort Worth Flyers, the NBA D-League affiliate of the Mavericks. He made the D-League All Star Team and was MVP of the game, with 30 points and 7 rebounds.

Mensah-Bonsu was recalled to the Mavericks on 8 February 2007. He scored his first NBA points against the Atlanta Hawks.

Move to Europe

For the 2007–08 season, he played with the Italian Serie A team Benetton Treviso, averaging 8.3 points and 9.2 rebounds, shooting 59% from the floor and 77% from the free-throw line.^[3] He finished the season with CB Granada.^[4]

During the following summer, there was much uncertainty whether he would return to the NBA or sign a contract in Spain, but he finally inked a one-year deal with the Spanish ACB team DKV Joventut.^[5] He was released in December due to a shoulder injury, after averaging 18.5 points per game in 2 league matches.

NBA career

In February 2009, Mensah-Bonsu began playing with the Austin Toros, the San Antonio Spurs NBA D-League affiliate.^[6] In his eight games with the Toros, Mensah-Bonsu averaged 26.6 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game. On 25 February, he signed a 10 day contract with the San Antonio Spurs.^[7] On 4 March 2009 the Spurs released Mensah-Bonsu.^[8]

In March 2009, the Toronto Raptors picked up Mensah-Bonsu, giving him a guaranteed contract until the end of the season. Pops made his debut with the Raptors the same day, against the Miami Heat, posting 4 points and 10 rebounds. He became a fan favorite with the Raptors.^[9]

On 21 August 2009, Mensah-Bonsu verbally agreed to a deal to join the Houston Rockets for the 2009-10 season to provide frontcourt depth after the injury to Yao Ming. The signing was made official on 3 September 2009. On 13 November Mensah-Bonsu was released from his Houston Rockets contract, and on 17 November he re-signed with the Toronto Raptors after being picked up on waivers.^[10] On 5 January 2010, he was released by the Raptors to make room for their returning injured reserves,^[11] and signed with CSKA Moscow.

He returned to the NBA, where he played for the New Orleans Hornets, but was released in January 2011.

Europe

Pops played the remainder of the 2010-11 season for French team ASVEL.^[12]

In December 2011 Mensah-Bosnu signed with Turkish side Beşiktaş Milangaz.^[13] He played one season with the club, during which he won the Turkish Basketball League Championship, the Turkish Cup, the EuroChallenge Championship and the Turkish Basketball League Player of the Year award.

In August 2012 Pops signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.^[14] However, he was released from the team on September 19, 2012, before the season started, after physicals showed he had not recovered from injuries picked up during the Olympics.^[15][16][17] Following shoulder surgery he signed with Spanish side CB Sevilla in March 2013^[18] but left after just six games. Pops entered negotiations with Italian side Pallacanestro Varese ^[19] but instead joined Olimpia Milano for the remainder of the 2012-13 season.^[20] He played his first game for Milano on 21 April 2013, an 85-67 win over Pallacanestro Biella.^[21] He participated in the championship playoffs but Milano lost in the quarter finals 4-3 to Montepaschi Siena.

On 27 September 2013 Mensah-Bonsu briefly returned to the NBA, signing with the Washington Wizards for their 2013 training camp,^[22] he participated in a number of their pre-season games, but was ultimately waived by the team on October 24.^[23] Four days later he signed with Turkish side Galatasaray Liv Hospital,^[24] and made his debut on October 31 in a Euroleague game against Unicaja Malaga, in which he scored 10 points.^[25] He received a three-game ban after an in-game fight with Olympiacos centre Mirza Begic on 28 November.^[26]

British national team

Mensah-Bonsu was part of the Great Britain national basketball team that qualified for the Eurobasket 2009. During qualification he averaged 12.2 points, 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocks.

In 2009 Mensah-Bonsu joined the British squad for their first appearance in the EuroBasket Tournament. The team lost all three of their first round games but were competitive throughout including a very close game with current world champions Spain.

Mensah-Bonsu was again part of the GB team in 2010 as they qualified for the Eurobasket 2011 with a 6–2 record. During qualification he led all Division A players with 13.5 rebounds per game, and also finished sixth in points (19.3), and blocks (1.3).^[27] Mensah-Bonsu would miss out the finals of Eurobasket 2011 due to injury but rejoined the team for the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[28]

2012 Olympics

Mensah-Bonsu was chosen as part of the 12-man British team for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He played in four games, scored 46 points and made 29 rebounds. He missed Britain's final group game - a 90-58 win over China - due to injury. Great Britain finished with a 1-4 record, failing to qualify for the knockout stage. ^[29][30]

Personal life

In the language Twi, Mensah-Bonsu's name means King (Nana) Father (Papa) Thursday-Born (Yaw) Third Son (Mensah) Whale (Bonsu). In several interviews Mensah-Bonsu has suggested that his family earned its surname when an ancestor slew a whale.^[31]

Mensah-Bonsu has a number of nicknames, including "King Whale Killer" from his name's meaning and "Big Daddy," popularized by Toronto play-by-play announcer Matt Devlin and other commentators.^[32]

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2006–07	Dallas	12	0	5.9	.647	.000	.389	1.8	.0	.1	.0	2.4
2008–09	San Antonio	3	0	6.7	.714	.000	.714	3.3	.0	.3	.3	5.0
2008–09	Toronto	19	0	13.8	.354	.000	.683	5.4	.3	.4	.2	5.1
2009–10	Houston	4	0	3.3	.250	.000	.500	1.0	.3	.3	.3	1.3
2009–10	Toronto	16	0	6.7	.414	.000	.556	1.9	.1	.2	.5	2.1
2010–11	New Orleans	7	0	5.0	.333	.000	.000	1.6	.3	.0	.0	0.3
Career		61	0	8.3	.410	.000	.589	3.0	.2	.2	.2	3.0

References

External links

• NBA.com Profile
• Euroleague.net Profile
• NBA D-League Profile
• TBLStat.net Profile
• Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com
• George Washington Profile
• DraftExpress.net Profile
• Appearance at Tottenham Hotspur's Official Website
• Profile interview of Pops Mensah-Bonsu on YouTube

v t e Galatasaray Liv Hospital - current roster 4 Erceg 5 Gordon 6 Sönmez 7 Köksal 8 Korkmaz 9 Markoishvili 11 Jawai 14 Atsür 15 Şanlı 17 Akyol 19 Aldemir 21 Mensah-Bonsu 25 Mačvan 30 Arroyo 32 Güler 33 Arslan 35 Dudley 44 Domercant Head coach: Ataman Assistant coaches: Uluğ Sekizkök

v t e Great Britain squad – EuroBasket 2009 – 13th place 4 Hart 5 Achara 6 Lenzly 7 Mensah-Bonsu 8 Sullivan 9 George 10 Archibald 11 Freeland 12 Reinking 13 Clark 14 Boyd 15 Betts Coach: Finch

v t e Great Britain squad – 2012 Summer Olympics – 9th place 4 Achara 5 Lawrence 6 Lenzly 7 Mensah-Bonsu 8 Sullivan 9 Deng 10 Archibald 11 Freeland 12 Reinking 13 Clark 14 Johnson 15 Boateng Coach: Finch

Persondata
Name	Mensah-Bonsu, Pops
Alternative names
Short description	British basketball player
Date of birth	7 September 1983
Place of birth	Tottenham, London, England
Date of death
Place of death