In succession this year, the Houston Rockets lost Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming to serious injuries, a surprising — yet heartbreaking — seven-game playoff series to the Los Angeles Lakers, and Ron Artest to free agency. The latter was mitigated by the addition of Trevor Ariza. They’ve also been handed exactly zero national television appearances for the 2009-10 season.
Sounds like the perfect time to add Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who agreed to a contract last week.
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“A lot of people have counted them out,” said Mensah-Bonsu, who played in the Goodman League charity game Sunday at Georgetown’s McDonogh Gymnasium. “I feel like that’s happened to me my whole career. I’m the underdog. I feel like I fit that mold. They’re a scrappy team but a hard-nosed team. They don’t have a lot of big names, but they’re always there come crunch time.”
Mensah-Bonsu has bounced around to no fewer than eight different teams since 2006, when he went undrafted following George Washington’s magical run to a 27-3 record and the second round of the NCAA tournament. The 6-foot-10 power forward has been to Spain, Italy, and he’s had what amounts to about two cups of coffee in the NBA: a brief rookie stint in Dallas and three games last season with San Antonio before averaging 5.1 points and 5.4 rebounds over the final 19 games of the year with Toronto.
He’s no Yao, of course. The burden of that replacement will be left to Australian seven-footer David Andersen. For Mensah-Bonsu, it’s enough that his defensive energy and shot-blocking ability appear to be in Houston’s plans from the very start.
“I feel like it’s the first time I’m going into a season with the opportunity to play,” said Mensah-Bonsu. “I spoke to Rick Adelman a bunch of times, and he’s expressed his interest in me and how much he likes my game, how much he feels like I can help the team. If I have the backing of the coaches, the rest is on me.”
