The Big on a 10 Day Contract

Mbenga stretch.

I remember the way Smush Parker played when he was on the Lakers and if I only had one word to describe him, it would have been "desperate." Desperate to score. Desperate to be noticed. Desperate for a contract.

And probably the most important lesson that we learned from the Smush Parker era was that "desperate" and the point guard position don't mix.

Last night we got our first dose of DJ Mbenga, the Lakers' frontcourt back up plan. He was released by the Warriors earlier this season and the Lakers signed him to a 10 day contract in the wake of the Andrew Bynum injury.

Ahh, the 10 day contract, desperate times indeed. But after watching Mbenga play like he might only have 9 days left in the NBA, I started realizing that this might just work out. Because while you want your point guard to play with a cool, level head, there's nothing wrong with your big man playing as if his career depended on it.

Mbenga survey floor.

It's basically a matter of how the different positions contribute and the nature of big and small in basketball. But in this case, where Smush's attitude may have caused him to shoot an ill advised three or gamble to make a steal, Mbenga's will push him a little closer to a loose ball and a little faster down court. And if you saw him save the Laker fans' tacos last night, you'd have to agree.

UPDATE: I was checking out Flea's Laker Blog today and he had a post up about DJ (Didier) Mbenga. Apparently, DJ had a horrible experience as a youngster in Congo as he was mistakenly entangled in the Civil War taking place in neighboring Rwanda:

didier mbenga, was mistaken for a criminal in this affair and put in
jail and treated horribly for nine months and was supposed to face
execution he escaped and managed to get out of the country and get to
belgium
where he started playing basketball, around 1999
this led him to the nba, and now he is a laker, with a ten day contract
so i am sitting there watching the game the other night
and thinking...man, this guy was in jail facing execution and now is
on the court in staples center where the most important thing for him
to do is to block some shots and get some rebounds
...
he has faced death and been in the midst of a genocide
a genocide is when a million people of one ethnic group are murdered
for the sake of their ethnicity
and now he is throwing outlet passes to kobe bryant in front of jack
nicholson
god bless him
wow
trip out

Hmm, maybe that 10 day contract is not such a desperate situation after all. For more details check out his wiki page.