Pops Mensah-Bonsu had an impressive showing this weekend at the Turkish Basketball Leagues’s All Star showcase, bagging himself the BEKO All Star 2012 Dunk contest title before representing the “Foreigners” in the All Star Game.

The performance comes after having spent a long off-season rehabbing from a dislocated shoulder, and Pops expressed his relief to be back on form, tweeting:

“6 months ago I couldn’t even lift my arm, and today I was blessed enough to win a dunk contest, thank GOD!!!!!”

It remains unclear how many points Mensah-Bonsu scored in the game (with some confusion as to whether or not he dropped 37; he is listed in the scorers as having 37 combined with Vladimir Stimac), as his team made up of international players in the TBL beat the Turkish players 140-139. Sasha Vujacic was named MVP, dropping 24 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, whilst Pops’ Besiktas teammate Carlos Arroyo had a 13 point-13 assist double double.

In the dunk contest, the 6’9 GB star scored 93 on his final round dunk to take the title, winning himself 3000 Turkish Lira. The only footage we can find of Pops in the contest can be seen below, with Pops getting UP!

Is Pops the great British dunker of all time?

Source: Piratas Del Basketball

Image Credit: tbl.org.tr/@yunusemresel

Great Britain big man Eric Boateng is out 4-6 months after being diagnosed with a thrombosis in his foot.

The injury could put Boateng’s chance of representing GB at the Olympics at risk, and has ended his season with Peristeri in Greece early.

Talking to TalkBasket.net, who first reported the injury, the 6’11″ centre said:

“It is still early days for me so I am trying to figure out the full scope of things as well as understanding what I am physically able to do.

“The aim is returning to health as soon as possible but it is also an issue of listening to my body, as well as staying in close contact with the medical staff and doctors of the GB basketball team.”

Read the full article over at Talkbasket.

GB’s injury woes don’t get any better after Joel Freeland sprained his right ankle at practice last week and has been confirmed out for up to 3 weeks.

It took Great Britain forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu just two games to get back into the swing of things as he returned to competitive action in Turkey after missing 6 months due to shoulder surgery.

On Tuesday Mensah-Bonsu made his debut for Beskitas in the EuroChallenge, beating BG Göttingen 96-59, and finishing with a 21 point-9 rebound performance.

The 28 year old Londoner had 14 points and six rebounds in the first quarter alone, and played just 26 minutes in total, going 8/9 from the field and 5/8 at the line.

Talking to FIBA about his performance, he said:

“It was my second game. I just wanted to come out and play with energy and intensity, so my teammates could feed off my energy.

“I am new here and want to establish myself. I just want to help the team in any way possible.

“I do whatever the coach wants me to do, I am not trying to fill up the shoes of the players we had before. I’m just coming here to do what I can do best.”

Pops made his team debut in an 86-67 regular season loss to Banvit BK at the weekend where he had 13 points and 7 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.

Great Britain star forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu has signed with Besiktas, and is hoping to play some of his best basketball with the Turkish side.

Talking to Hoopsfix about the move, he said:

“(I’m) Glad to be back working again, look forward to getting back on the court and playing some of my best basketball. I made this decision based on the fact that I want to go into next summer’s Olympics with the utmost confidence and a good season of basketball under my belt.”

Mensah-Bonsu, who also revealed he was considering Milan and Siena in Italy, most recently played in the French Pro A league with Asvel, and has spent the last 6 months rehabbing from a shoulder dislocation that occurred in the first round of the playoffs. He averaged 16.5 points and 9.3 rebounds in 14 games with Asvel, before having to miss GB’s summer Eurobasket campaign in Lithuania.

Besiktas currently have the best record in the Turkish Basketball League at 7-1 but suffered a big blow recently as NBA players Deron Williams and Semih Erden returned to the US after the lockout ended.

The 6’8″ athletic big man also had a brief stint with New Orleans Hornets last season. Pops will join fellow Brit Matthew Bryan-Amaning in Turkey, who is playing for Hacettepe.

Hoopsfix wants to wish Pops all the best for the coming season!

Image:Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images

Great Britain big man Eric Boateng has signed with Greek side Peristeri B.C for the coming season.

The 6’11″, 260lb center spent last season in the NBA’s Development League, split between two teams, the Idaho Stampede and Austin Toros. He averaged 4.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 0.9 bpg in just 16 minutes per outing, with his best two outings coming in back to back performances for Idaho against Bakersfield in December where he had a 19 point-11 rebound and 16 point-13 rebound double double respectively. The Londoner also made 5 NBA appearances with Denver Nuggets in the pre-season.

Peristeri compete in Greek’s top A1 league, where they went 12-14 last season finishing in the middle of the table (7th out of 14). They are 2-0 for the 2011/12 season so far.

Boateng averaged 1.5 points and 2 rebounds per game this summer for GB at Eurobasket in Lithuania.

Hoopsfix wants to wish Eric all the best for the coming season!

Great Britain rising star Joel Freeland has had a dominant start to the ACB season with Unicaja Malaga in Spain, culminating in being named the league’s Player of the Month for October.

After missing the season opener with an injury, the forward is averaging 17.5 points (3rd in the league), 9 rebounds (3rd), 2.3 assists and 1.5 blocks (5th) on 60.4% shooting from the field, with an average +26.3 efficiency rating in just under 30 minutes per game. Check out video highlights here.

Talking to ACB.com, Freeland was immensely honoured to receive the award (excuse the Google translation):

“It is an honor. I worked hard this summer to improve my game. I am very happy to win, not only for me but for what it means for my teammates and the team. It means that my work and that of Unicaja’s is good.

“I think I have plenty of room to grow and still be better, so I will try to work more with my team, to improve myself and my team too.”

His best individual performance came against Lagun Aro GBC, where he finished with a 22 point-10 rebound double double, going 9/12 from the field and 4/5 at the line. Unicaja currently stand at 4-1 and are third in the table.

Freeland has also been performing well in the Euroleague, where most recently he had a 21 point-12 rebound performance against Zalgiris.

You can follow Joel’s stats for the season here.

Image Credit: EFE/David Aguilar

Louie Kirkman (1991 born) has signed with Hamar in Iceland’s Division 1 (second division).

Kirkman, originally a part of the Solent Kestrels programmes, averaged 28.8 points per game last season in EBL Division 3 whilst representing Portsmouth City Smugglers (would have been leading scorer had stat sheets been submitted to EB).

The 6’4″ guard got the spot after impressing at pre-season work-outs with the club and putting up big numbers in a friendly game against an Express League team. He had interest from a couple of Express League teams but felt Hamar was a better fit.

In the 3 pre-season games since he moved out there he has averaged over 20 ppg in around 25 minutes of action per outing.

Hoopsfix wants to wish Louie all the best with his pro career!

Great Britain forward Joel Freeland has said despite the lockout he knows the Portland Trailblazers continue to keep an eye on his progress in Spain.

Freeland reiterated he’s in no rush to play in the NBA with the team who drafted him with the 30th pick in the 2006 draft, but said it’s “definitely a place I want to be”.

HoopsHype reports:

“(The NBA) is a goal of mine, but I’m still going to weigh my options,” Freeland told HoopsHype. “We’ll see what happens next year. The NBA is definitely a place where I want to be. If I feel like I’m 100 percent ready and I’ve got the opportunity to make the step, I’ll make the step. If not, I’ll continue doing what I’m doing.

“(The Blazers) came over to see me maybe four, five times. We had some dinners, some meetings and everything. Overall it was good. I haven’t had much of communication lately because of the lockout. I know they are keeping an eye on me and they got me in mind, so we’ll see what happens.”

Freeland has become one of the centerpieces of Spanish powerhouse Unicaja, a team he led in scoring in the Euroleague in 2010-11. The Brit big man knows his role would be much different in the NBA, though.

“Going to a place like that, I have to start from scratch and build my way up,” Freeland said. “I’ll have to go there and prove myself as a player, so I’m going to have to do things that other players don’t really want to do: rebound, play defense… And this is a big factor, this is why I’m here now trying to improve my defense and all these other things, like rebounding.”

The Unicaja Malaga star will open up his season against Gran Canaria this weekend, after a solid pre-season which saw him lead the team in scoring on multiple occasions as they went for 6 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw.

Read the full interview over at HoopsHype.

Image Credit: Mansoor Ahmed Photography

Former Great Britain big man Andy Betts has returned to Spain after three years, signing with ACB side Lagun Aro GBC.

The 7’0″ centre helped Ukrainian side Budivelnyk Kyiv take the domestic title last season, averaging 9.9 ppg and 3.9 rpg in 51 games, whilst adding 7.1 ppg and 4.1 rpg in 14 EuroCup games. He was not present with GB for this summer’s Eurobasket campaign after announcing his retirement from international basketball earlier this year due to family commitments.

Great Britain point guard Ogo Adegboye has signed with Cypriot league champions Apoel Nicosia, joining former Great Britain Under-23 teammate Ben Eaves who signed with the same side earlier this summer.

Adegboye has just graduated from St. Bonaventure University where he averaged 11.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4 assists per game in his senior year, finishing amongst the nation’s leaders in minutes per game (39 per outing).

The 6’0″ Londoner seemingly came out of nowhere last summer to take GB’s starting point guard spot, where he again featured at this year’s Eurobasket averaging 3.6 points and 1.4 assists in 14 mins per game. He was a part of the first ever Findlay Prep side when he first headed to the US, before joining Lamar Community College for two years after which he transferred to St Bonaventure.

Hoopsfix wants to wish Ogo all the best with his professional career, we will be following!

Check out Hoopsfix highlights of Adegboye at Midnight Madness in 2009.