Necessity seems to suggest playing Benga more?

[birdsanctuary]

I'm really tired of seeing Dirk in at the center spot. Stronger more physical teams seem to really give the Mavs problems when this is done. We saw it in 02-03 with Dirk and LaFrenz, in 03-04 with Dirk and Walker, and now we've seen it with the Dirk Hendu/Dirk KVH line-up. It appears that the Mavs have enough offensive weapons to overcome 1 offensively deficient player on the floor...that player I think should be Benga.

Given Donnie's comments when Damp went down about being deep at the center position, I scratch my head in confusion. If this is the case why hasn't Shawn, Benga and Pavel seen more time? The answer on Pavel is understandable. Bradley's conditioning seems suspect since he appears to go 8-10 minutes strong and then gas out.

Prior to the Phoenix game, Benga was a real question mark. I felt he was a fouling machine and would committ a foul for every minute played. However, Benga in that Phoenix game showed me that he can now play 10-15 minutes per game. Only Shaq matches up tougher in the league than Amare, they guy is quick and takes it right at you every play. Benga got schooled, but he didn't foul out in fact I think he only had 2 fouls, and Stodimire had to work fairly hard for his buckets.

I'm convinced that Benga deserves more time now that Damp is out.

I'm tired of seeing weaker teams exploit deficiencies at the center position by putting Dirk in foul trouble and beating him up. It seems to me that necessity suggests playing Benga more? What do you think?

[The Miles]

Watching Benga waste away on the bench is one of the biggest mysteries of this season.

I just don't understand it, especially with Damp out. He looked fine to me against the Suns, better than I expected to be honest. Did Nellie really think that Benga would be perfectly polished in his first start of hsi career?

[XERXES]

I tend to concur...I wouldn't mind losing the last few games if we were sacrificing some minutes to see where Mbenga is - especially while Damp is out.

[dude1394]

Ah the allure of the backup.

[Drbio]

Wouldn't mind seeing him play more myself.

[dude1394]

I wouldn't mind seeing him play more either. but since we can't seem to win a game by more than 5 points, don't count on it. There is no way he'll get time in a close game, he just doesn't know what he's doing. And he'll be on the bench as soon as damp comes back.

If devin could hold down the reserve pg spot, then maybe we could keep him on the roster but c'est la vie.

[grndmstr_c]

I don't expect he's going to help much, but if the rest of the team is going to keep playing like $#!t, why not get him some minutes?

[dude1394]

It would only make some sense if he had shown he would play any better. I just haven't seen it. After the last phoenix game, I think he finds it difficult to just play a limited role. I'm still smarting over 5 shots in 10 minutes by mbenga..

[The Miles]

How do you think he is going to learn by watching? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable getting him ready to at least put in 5 minutes here and there in the playoffs? No one can predict Nellies rotations, he doesn't even know due to his "coaching" style. But in a perfect world where you want your most naturally talented players playing, Damp and Benga would be your combination at center.

Against the Suns, all I saw that was bad was him take that little jumper that got him pulled. He missed a dunk or else he would have been 3-5, ie 60%, against Amare Stoudemire. I just didn't see where he hurt us that game, Amare actually had to work every other possession against him.

I would love to see Benga get PT, the guy is a shot blocker that runs like a guard, a perfect fit off the bench with our young trio outside in certain spurts. A lineup of Devin Harris, Marquis Daniels, Josh Howard, Alan Henderson, and DJ Mbenga getting a five minute run in each half, trapping, pressing, etc....really appeals to me.

[dude1394]

Not if I have to lose games in the process. We are not exactly blowing folks out to give him time..

Against the suns he started and played 10 minutes, took 5 shots and got.........1 rebound, 1 goal-tend and a blocked shot. If he had gotten half as many rebounds as he took shots, he would be our starter.

He's just not ready, no matter how much we would like him to be. Of course imo.

[V2M]

10min is too small a sample to judge someone against anyone, let alone when he's facing Amare & the top-scoring Suns. Regardless, MBenga had a pretty nice outing. He defended well and had only one PF, again guarding the most difficult big-man to guard after Shaq. Yes, he got only 1 rebound but you'd get rebounds only when teams miss their shots. I don't remember too many missed shots during his stint. His only mistake, as far as I'm concerned, was the missed 8-footer taken very early in the 2nd half, soon after which he was benched not to be brought in again.

He'd have been ideal to guard Brand against Clips and Mihm against Lakers. His presence would also have prevented many reckless penetrations by Maggette & Co. & Kobe & Co., respectively.

I'd much rather lose with MBenga & Harris than lose with Hendu & DA.

[dude1394]

There were 9 rebounds available in the ~8 minutes in the first quarter that Mbenga played. He snared 1.

But we aren't "losing" with Hendu and DA. In fact we are winning at a 67% clip.

[SeriousSummer]

MBenga--Two years in the Belgian League, where he wasn't a star. And this makes people think he's ready to play in the NBA?

Yes, he has an "NBA Body". So do a lot of guys. He doesn't know how to play yet, and may never know how.

Give Nellie and the coaching staff time to work with him and mayby, just maybe, he'll become a player.

Right now he can only hurt you. He won't help. He isn't half the player (even considered purely on their ability to play center) that Hendu or KVH are.

Please, I beg of you, stop this insanity.

[And while we're all here, a note on Bradley. The current trouble with Bradley is really linked to the problems with Dallas's zone defense. A zone take a lot longer to work out the team defense than the man to man. Right now, with all the new players, injuries and line up changes, too many of our players don't really feel comfortable in the zone defense. As most of us know (sorry, MadApe) Bradley can't guard man to man against every team in the league (short, quicker players will hurt Bradley on defense and his offense isn't potent enough to pay them back). Today, against Houston and Yao Ming, Bradley has some one he can play man to man. Look for him to get big minutes (barring fouls) and play pretty well.]

[The Miles]

Shawn Bradley had 1 rebound in 27 minutes today.

[dude1394]

I thought bradley was not so good bad today, 1 rebound just wasn't enough. But again our problem today wasn't defense. We held an NBA team to 90 points and STILL got out-scored by 20. ..