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07-01-2004, 01:40 PM
Mavs Acquire 'Mystery' 7-Foot D.J.
By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
Meet Didier M’Benga of Zaire.
Or is he D.J. Benga of The Congo?
At long last, we finally have our “Mavs mystery big man,’’ the elusive person with the elusive name from the elusive background.
Mavs exec Donnie Nelson informed DallasBasketball.com on Wednesday that the 7-foot, 23-year-old center who has been playing in Belgium will finally join the Mavs’ summer league team. Benga (who also sometimes goes by Didier Ilunga-Mbenga) will be teammates with draftees Devin Harris and Pavel Podkolzine, as well as with second-year Mavs Josh Howard and, the club hopes, Marquis Daniels.
“It’s a group with a lot of promise,’’ Nelson says. “Marquis isn’t under contract, so we’re only hopeful he’ll be a part of it. But we do think we’re on the same page contractually with Marquis. He knows he’s a part of the family.’’
So now is Didier M’Benga – “he likes to be called ‘D.J. Benga,’’ Donnie says – who has been on the Dallas radar for two years while working through knee problems. In photographs of Benga, he appears to have a muscular, athletic upper body. At the same time, his numbers while playing in Europe have hovered around double-figures in rebounds and points. … while playing on a team led by Scooter Berry and while playing in a league where Zan Tabak is a standout.
Benga – from The Congo, which used to be called Zaire -- becomes the zkillionth Mav who is not from here, the zkillionth Mav who is over 7-feet tall, and yet another Mav who joins Tariq Abdul-Wahad and Antoine Rigadeau in his ability to speak some French.
Say “Didier’’ just so and it comes out “D.J.’’ Say “Benga’’ just so and it comes out “Banger.’’ Worth a try, right.
Benga, by the way, apparently has played head-to-head against P-Pod – and the boxscores indicate D.J. had his way. Once again, we’ll take all the 7-footers we can get (especially if we go all the way to the weird outpost of Southern California for one.
http://www.spiroucharleroi.com/Spirou/Image.nsf/.Files/mbenga%20pr.jpg/$File/mbenga%20pr.jpg
By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
Meet Didier M’Benga of Zaire.
Or is he D.J. Benga of The Congo?
At long last, we finally have our “Mavs mystery big man,’’ the elusive person with the elusive name from the elusive background.
Mavs exec Donnie Nelson informed DallasBasketball.com on Wednesday that the 7-foot, 23-year-old center who has been playing in Belgium will finally join the Mavs’ summer league team. Benga (who also sometimes goes by Didier Ilunga-Mbenga) will be teammates with draftees Devin Harris and Pavel Podkolzine, as well as with second-year Mavs Josh Howard and, the club hopes, Marquis Daniels.
“It’s a group with a lot of promise,’’ Nelson says. “Marquis isn’t under contract, so we’re only hopeful he’ll be a part of it. But we do think we’re on the same page contractually with Marquis. He knows he’s a part of the family.’’
So now is Didier M’Benga – “he likes to be called ‘D.J. Benga,’’ Donnie says – who has been on the Dallas radar for two years while working through knee problems. In photographs of Benga, he appears to have a muscular, athletic upper body. At the same time, his numbers while playing in Europe have hovered around double-figures in rebounds and points. … while playing on a team led by Scooter Berry and while playing in a league where Zan Tabak is a standout.
Benga – from The Congo, which used to be called Zaire -- becomes the zkillionth Mav who is not from here, the zkillionth Mav who is over 7-feet tall, and yet another Mav who joins Tariq Abdul-Wahad and Antoine Rigadeau in his ability to speak some French.
Say “Didier’’ just so and it comes out “D.J.’’ Say “Benga’’ just so and it comes out “Banger.’’ Worth a try, right.
Benga, by the way, apparently has played head-to-head against P-Pod – and the boxscores indicate D.J. had his way. Once again, we’ll take all the 7-footers we can get (especially if we go all the way to the weird outpost of Southern California for one.
http://www.spiroucharleroi.com/Spirou/Image.nsf/.Files/mbenga%20pr.jpg/$File/mbenga%20pr.jpg