Great Britain coaches want Pops Mensah-Bonsu to settle
By Rob Dugdale
Mensah-Bonsu has had two spells with Toronto in the last 12 months
GB coaches Chris Finch and Nick Nurse believe forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu needs a "settled situation" after being released by the Toronto Raptors.
Mensah-Bonsu, 26, has been dropped by Houston and Toronto this season and may now return to play in Europe.
The Londoner could still re-sign with Toronto but also has an offer from Russian giants CSKA Moscow.
"We want Pops to get a settled situation whether it be in the NBA or in Europe," said head coach Finch.
"Obviously at this time it seems to be more sustainable in Europe."
The days of waiting for the guys to go through all the machinations of club pressures and insurance - they've got to be behind us now
Chris Finch
Mensah-Bonsu has twice been cut by NBA teams as deadlines approached for them to sign him for the remainder of the season - Houston released him in November after just four games and Toronto set him free on Tuesday.
"I'd like him to land somewhere and get a career started," said assistant coach Nurse. "He's a valuable part of our programme.
"He's got a little window here where he can target the NBA. He's just a bit of a victim of the economy. I think he's got a couple of NBA teams interested in him."
Finch has seen the GB programme disrupted by injury and insurance problems for his two main players, Mensah-Bonsu and Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng, in the past two seasons.
Mensah-Bonsu joined the team late last summer, a matter of days before their first European Championship game against Slovenia, as he sought to secure a contract with Houston.
And his absence from the team's warm-up games may have been instrumental in their failure to qualify from a group acknowledged as the toughest the tournament had to offer.
Finch and Nurse face each other in the NBA D-League this weekend
Next summer will see GB in action in EuroBasket qualifying, with the draw to see who they will face taking place on 16 January.
"We want and need him in camp right away [at the start of training camp]," said Finch of Mensah-Bonsu.
"The days of waiting for the guys to go through all the machinations of club pressures and insurance - they've got to be behind us now if we want to make another step as a programme."
"It's incumbent on us to clear the way for our guys and it's also incumbent on our players to make sure that they deal with their agents and their professional situations to be ready when we start."
Americans Nurse and Finch cut their coaching teeth in the British Basketball League - Nurse with Derby, Manchester and Brighton and Finch with the Sheffield Sharks - before moving on to bigger things.
They face each other in back-to-back games in the the NBA Development League this weekend for the first time, Finch with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Nurse with the Iowa Energy.
Finch joined the D-League this season after five years in Belgium and is grateful to Nurse for helping him make the transition.
"He was huge in this whole decision to come over," he said. "He gave me a lot of help and a lot of advice. He knows the personnel side really well."
The Vipers and the Energy are top of their respective conferences, giving an added edge to a coaching rivalry that began when Finch took over the reins at Sheffield in 1997.
Neither coach could remember their head-to-head record over the years but they have greatly contrasting teams.
"We have a nice team - a veteran team - and obviously we're getting the results right now," said Nurse, in his third season with the Energy.
Finch noted: "His team's more mature than mine. I have rookies and he has a lot more seasoned veterans."
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?