- Rod Benson
infobox NBA Player
name = Rod Benson
position = Forward/Center
height_ft = 6
height_in = 10
weight_lbs = 235
nickname = "Zero"
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1984|10|10
birth_place =Fairfield, California
highschool = Torrey Pines
college = California
draft = Undrafted | draft_year = 2006 | draft_team =
career_start = 2006
career_end = present
former_teams =Austin Toros 2006–2007,Dakota Wizards 2006-2008
awards =NBA Development League Player of the Week winner
2007 D-League AllstarRodrique Zsorryon Benson (born
October 10 ,1984 inFairfield, California ) is an American basketball player. He currently plays for theSLUC Nancy in the FrenchLigue Nationale de Basketball , and is a notableblog writer.Career
High school
Benson attended
Torrey Pines High School , and averaged 14 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.8 blocks while leading the basketball team to a 25-4 record in his senior year. He was named first team all-league and second team All-CIF San Diego Section. He was rated the No. 3 center on the West Coast by TheInsiders.com. He also played three years of varsity volleyball, earning first team league honors in 2002. [Cal Bears (2008). [http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/benson_rod00.html Rod Benson] . Retrieved May 1, 2008.]College career
Benson graduated from the
University of California, Berkeley and majored in political science. After a huge improvement in his basketball from his sophomore to his junior year, Benson's senior year was marred by heel and knee injuries, which forced him to miss 11 games, impacting his future career heavily.Professional career
In the summer of 2006, Benson played for the
Sacramento Kings Summer League team. He was noticed by many NBA scouts, but was never offered a contract by any team.When Benson left California, he started the 2006-2007 NBDL year with the
Austin Toros . He had a game high of eight points onNovember 25 , but averaged 2.4 points per game and was released by the team onJanuary 3 ,2007 .He was subsequently signed by the
Dakota Wizards onJanuary 9 ,2007 . In one of his first contests with the Wizards, he scored 17 points in 17 minutes. He ended the year with an average of 10.8 PPG. OnMarch 17 ,2007 , he scored a personal high 27 points in a 126-100 win over theArkansas Rimrockers . After training with the NBA'sNew Jersey Nets during the summer of 2007, Benson was re-signed by the Wizards for the 2007-2008 season and recorded averages of 13.6 points and a league best 12.1 rebounds per game. [cite news | last=Babiarz | first=Lou | title= WIZARDS: Plenty of local flavor on All-D-League team | date=April 7 ,2008 | publisher=The Bismarck Tribune | url=http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2008/04/07/news/sports/local/152803.txt]On
August 25 ,2008 , he was signed by defending French Pro-A league championSLUC Nancy .Media coverage and blog
Benson writes a personal blog titled Too Much Rod Benson, as well as contributing to the Ball Don't Lie blog on
Yahoo! Sports .He wrote an autobiographical feature article that was published in "
SLAM Magazine " in April 2008. [cite news | last=Whitaker | first=Lang | title=Links: Rod Benson is McLovin | date=April 21 ,2008 | publisher=Slam Online | url=http://slamonline.com/online/2008/04/the-links-rod-benson-is-mclovin/] He has also been featured in "ESPN The Magazine ", [cite news | last=Westerberg | first=Scott | title=Life With Rod | date=April 8 ,2008 | publisher=KFYR-TV Sports | url=http://www.kfyrtv.com/sports_Stories.asp?news=17361] and was profiled on theESPN television series "" byBill Simmons in April 2008. [ESPN (2008). [http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3372824 E:60 - The Sports Guy Visits Rod Benson] . Retrieved May 1, 2008.]References
External links
* [http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/index.jsp?player=rod_benson NBDL player profile]
* [http://www.toomuchrodbenson.com Too Much Rod Benson] - personal blog
* [http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie?author=Rod+Benson Ball Don't Lie] - articles by Benson
* [http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/benson_rod00.html University of California Athletics profile]
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=11283 ESPN college profile]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
