Official Warriors Season Thread

Warriors waive DJ Mbenga
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DJ "TACO'S!" MBenga no longer has a job!
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Congratulations Mullin, best move you've ever made/ever will make.
 
Originally Posted by JapanAir21

DJ "TACO'S!" MBenga no longer has a job!
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Congratulations Mullin, best move you've ever made/ever will make.
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I know it was a joke but...

Trading for Baron > cutting Mbenga...
Bringing back Nellie > cutting Mbenga...
Drafting Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins > cutting Mbenga...
Finding Kelenna Azubuike in the D-League > cutting Mbenga...
Getting rid of Murphy and Dunleavy > cutting Mbenga...

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I might be wrong but the way I see it is that Kosta got a promotion. He'll go from playing in the D-League to registering DNP's on the Warriors'bench. I don't think Kosta will get much playing time. This move was more for the benefit of Wright and O'Bryant.
 
ive been to all monta t-mobile autograph signings.. missed this one, didnt know of it.

anyways.. rumors saying warriors might bring in december dleague player of the month cj watson
 
Mbenga's got a pretty interesting history..

Didier Mbenga was born in and lived in Zaire (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for seventeen years as the son of a family involved in the Congolese government. When his father's term was over, the new regime hunted down everyone who worked for the previous leaders. His father died in unknown circumstances and it is unclear if the new regime were the ones behind it. During the war between the Tutsis and the Hutus Didier was falsely accused of being Tutsi and was put in a prison with execution waiting on him in the long run. In the year 1999, after a whole nine months being heavily mistreated in prison, Didier managed to escape after his brother bribed one of the prison guards. Fearing for their lives, Didier and his mother got on a flight out of Congo as soon as possible. The first available flight lead him to Belgium where they were given political asylum. Later on, he would also pick up the Belgian nationality.

Once in Belgium, Didier stayed at an asylum center in the town of Kapellen, where he was spotted on the streets by Belgian basketball legend Willy Steveniers. Impressed by his physical appearance, he offered to teach Didier the game of basketball. In the time to come, Steveniers would serve as Didier's personal basketball mentor as well as substitute father.
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Warriors have several options after waiving Mbenga

By Geoff Lepper
STAFF WRITER

Article Launched: 01/06/2008 09:19:42 PM PST


OAKLAND -- Despite giving the Warriors everything they reasonably expected from a backup center, DJ Mbenga was sacrificed Sunday on the altar of flexibility.
The team announced it will waive Mbenga, clearing the 7-footer off its books just before the remaining balance of his contract -- roughly $460,000 -- becomes guaranteed.

Perhaps more important, the move opens a roster spot that the Warriors can use in any number of interesting ways.

They can now take part in an unbalanced trade, where they receive one more player than they send out, without having to cut someone loose. They can call for reinforcements from the NBA Development League, something they did last January in the form of guard Kelenna Azubuike. Or they can bring someone in on a 10-day contract to audition for a permanent place.

"It's a possibility, all those different scenarios," Warriors executive vice president Chris Mullin said. "Everything, really, is just to leave open some options."

Mullin said the team was more interested in guards or big men rather than swingmen, so one name that's sure to come up is that of Oakland native Gary Payton. The 39-year-old point guard, who ranks third all-time among NBA players in steals and seventh in assists, is unsigned after spending the last two seasons with Miami and his agent, Aaron Goodwin, has told various media outlets a comeback is possible.

But Mullin isn't certain the Warriors want to go down the path of veteran help again. The two

Advertiseent
experienced players the Warriors brought in this season -- point guard Troy Hudson and forward Austin Croshere -- have been bedeviled by injuries.
"We want to stay away from what happened with Troy," Mullin said, "You're looking at him to avoid injury (for the sake of starter Baron Davis), and he gets injured. ... That becomes the decision: A young guy that has the energy and low risk of injury, does that make sense, or does it make sense to get a guy who you know what he can do?"

That being said, Mullin did acknowledge the need for another body behind Davis, who is averaging 39.4 minutes per game, the 13th highest total in the league.

"We've got to get (Davis) some downtime," Mullin said. "Etching out seven (more) minutes (per game) of rest over the haul, I think it means a lot."

Mbenga averaged 1.2 points and 1.9 rebounds in 8.9 minutes during his 16 appearances with the Warriors, and quickly moved past second-year center Patrick O'Bryant on the depth chart. But it wasn't enough.

"DJ was fine," said Warriors coach Don Nelson, who brought Mbenga over from the Congo in 2004. "I was very happy with he way he played; his progress was fine; his knee was sound. It's just one of those unfortunate issues."

Nelson said that with Mbenga's departure, the backup job will fall back to O'Bryant -- who has been practically a ghost since a disastrous appearance against the Los Angeles Lakers in early December, playing just three minutes since then.

"He's been working hard, he's kept a good attitude," Nelson said of O'Bryant. "Even when Mbenga was ahead of him, he kept working hard. I still think he'll make it one day. Whether he's ready or not now, I don't know. He'll get an opportunity once in a while and we'll see how he does."

Additionally, rookie center Kosta Perovic is being recalled from the Warriors' D-League affiliate, the Bakersfield Jam, although Mullin said that's more to get conditioning work in than to serve as a replacement for Mbenga.

Notes: Croshere made it through his first practice in three weeks and, assuming his strained back doesn't react poorly this morning, should be available tonight. "He looked OK to me," Nelson said. "I don't think he's sharp, but he got through a practice." ... Rookie forward Brandan Wright, who earned his first NBA start on Friday against New Orleans, did not practice. He was ill with the flu, although it looked like something worse to Nelson, who reported that Wright had "passed out" in the locker room. "I think Al put something in his coffee," Nelson said. "I think I played him too many minutes (Friday)." According to a team spokesman, Wright was actually following the orders of athletic trainer Tom Abdenour; since there wasn't enough room on the training tables, Abdenour told Wright to get some rest in the locker room instead.


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don nelson is hilarious, but seriously, get well soon wright.
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On KNBR, they said that Watson was shooting 50% from the field, 40% from 3, and 90% from the FT line. I know it's the D-League, but that's hard toaccomplish... Watson also averages 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and unfortunately, 3 turnovers per game. But hopefully Watson pans out and he becomes our backup PG.Take it for what it's worth, but dude from the Contra Costa Times compared Watson to a PG version of Monta Ellis. Watson won't be available for theSpurs game tonight but should be in uniform for the Portland game.
 
I read that Watson is "just an average athlete" so he can't really be a PG version of Monta, but maybe his scoring mentality is similar.
 
I'm not concerned about how much points he can put up. As long as he handles the ball well + sets up his teammates, he'll be alright.
 
dont know who CJ watson is but if he can hold down the backup PG spot and run the offense efficiently (i.e. keep it out of Jackson's hands) let's seewhat he can do.
 
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