Rod Benson Graduates...in So Many Ways

Rod Benson, darling of the die-hards, is back in the D-League and back blogging...but with quite a difference. The first man cut in training camp, Benson first thought of going overseas to play...more money for sure in Europe. Then, he decided it would be smarter, with all that training camp experience, to stay in the USA and re-sign with Dakota Wizards, D-League champs.

As for the blog, it had some nice pickup (courtesy of NetsDaily and other cognoscenti of the hoop world) but training camp had slowed its frequency. It didn't help that his cousin, Jason Kidd, didn't endorse it. What a headache.

Well, Benson is making the frontcourt woes of the Nets look just a little worse. Benson is the D-League's leading rebounder, at 14.9 boards a game, to go along with 14.3 points a game and a 57% shooting percentage. I mean, those are Mikki Moore numbers...and we all know what happened to him. Money happened!

In a recent game, last Saturday night, Benson had a monster line. Godzilla would have been proud. So would his parents. J. Gant too. He had 28 points, on 10-for-13 shooting to go along with 28 rebounds, seven of them offensive. The 28 boards are a D-League record. And his Dakota Wizards won, 115-105. Benson, still only 23, has to be considered a prime candidate for an NBA call-up--he was named D-League Player of the Week. What about the Nets? He knows their system and credits his Nets training camp with helping him improve his game. But it's unlikely he'll be back in New Jersey. After all, the Nets don't need any big men!

Now, the bigger story, if possible, is that Yahoo! Sports has picked up his blog and announced it is supporting the booming "Boom Tho" movement.

Here's to ya, Rod! Boom Tho, baby!