#55 Dikembe Mutombo
Player File
This 7' 2" center from Georgetown
('91), an 6-time All-Star, currently ranked 4th in the NBA in blocks (and
in the top ten of 9 other categories, including Rebounds PG), enters his
13th season in the NBA.
Birthday:
June 25, 1966
Birthplace:
Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Congo).
Full Name:
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo
Drafted:
4th overall in the 1991 Draft, selected by Denver.
NBA Career:
Denver '91 - '96; Atlanta '96 - '00; traded by Atlanta on February 22,
2001 to Philadelphia; Philadelphia '01 - '02; traded to New Jersey for
Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch on August 6, 2002.
Contract:
Re-signed with Philadelphia in 2001 for 5 more seasons, for $13 million
per season, with a 12.5 annual raise, before being traded to Nets.
NBA Awards:
All-Defensive 1st Team '94 - '01; Defensive Player of the Year '95, '97,
'98; NBA All-Star Game '92, '96, '97, '98, '00, '01.
2001 - 2002 Regular Season Stats:
Games Played:
80
Minutes PG:
36.3
Points PG:
11.5
PCT: .501
Free Throw PCT:
.764
Rebounds PG:
10.8 (the lowest average in his career)
Assists PG:
1
Blocks PG:
2.38 (the lowest average in his career)
Steals PG:
0.36
Turnovers PG:
3
Nicknames:
"Defend-e Rebound-o," "The Sultan of Swat," "Drac,"
"Flyswatter," and
hosts and hosts of others our readers came up with.
Known For: Rebounding, defensive intensity, shot blocking, finger wagging, stone hands, hospital-building, that funny croak of a voice.
The Real Deal: How old is this guy? That's the question on everyone's mind. That, and can he make the adjustment to the Nets' offense succesfully, or will he be a liability? He'll rebound, defend and block shots, so he'll contribute to the defensive pressure the Nets are trying to generate. But he appears to be slowing down, so minutes may become a factor. In any case, he's along for the regular season ride, with the expectation that he'll have some juice left in the tank to battle Shaq in the playoffs, should they get that far.
Joe's Take: The ugly ducking in the Nets' graceful NBA ballet. Honestly, Mutombo has always grated on my nerves, for the voice and the finger wag and his ability in his prime to disrupt everything from about what seemed like 15 feet and in. Now he's on my squad, and I'm still not sure what to make of it. He'll help the break with rebounds and blocked shots if he can get the ball out to Kidd or Kittles or anyone else. But will he handle the center's role, which is a key position in the Princeton offense, with any sort of dexterity? React, don't think, Deke. And try not to talk too much – that croak will drive me crazy in an 82 game season. Good luck with Shaq, my friend. However old you are, you better have some gas left in the tank.
Champagne's Take: According to the official NBA records, Dikembe Mutombo is younger than me. This either speaks to my own enduring immaturity, or is just an outright lie. He looks like he's about 38, at the very least. His referral to himself in the third person during a few preseason meetings with the press, on the other hand, speaks to the enduring egotism instilled by John Thompson into all his center-playing sires. It was Mutombo's Georgetown brethren Ewing and Mourning I could never take much of (maybe you remember how uptight, hair-triggered, and pouty Mourning used to be before his kidney ailment struck and he had to learn to conserve his energy); Dikembe I never knew much about. But I always liked his ballsy finger-wagging after monster blocks, and that look of pure disdain he'd put on. The less bland, happy-faced (and phony noir-ish Garnett-type) sneaker shills in the NBA and the more haughty African princes, the better, I say (I was an am a huge Hakeem Olajuwon fan). The Nets are starting to pack their roster with certain Hall of Famers like Deke, and you really have to like that. I think Mutombo will do fine this year – he's an incredible defender – even if Team Speed may have to work around his offensive deficits occasionally. I think it'll be worth it.
Dikembe Mutombo's stats and bio: click here.
2002 - 2003 Nets Roster
Brandon Armstrong - G
Chris Childs - G
Jason Collins - C
Lucious Harris - G
Richard Jefferson - F
Anthony Johnson - G
Jason Kidd - PG
Kerry Kittles - G
Kenyon Martin - F
Dikembe Mutombo - C
Rodney Rogers - F
Brian Scalabrine - F
Tamar Slay - G
Aaron Williams - PF/C
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