Tag: Dikembe Mutombo

Georgia basketball offers scholarship to Ryan Mutombo

The Georgia Bulldogs have offered a basketball scholarship to center Ryan Mutombo, the son of Dikembe Mutombo.

Tom Crean and the Georgia Bulldogs have offered a basketball scholarship to center Ryan Mutombo. Mutombo is a senior at Lovett School and is from Atlanta, Georgia.

Mutombo is the son of NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, who was an eight-time all-star and a four-time defensive player of the year. Mutombo’s number fifty-five jersey is retired for the Atlanta Hawks and Denver Nuggets.

Ryan Mutombo will play much of his career in his father’s shadow according to the media, but Mutombo has a chance to make a name for himself. At six-foot-eleven, Mutombo has great size and is a talented four-star recruit. He’s a member of the class of 2021.

He was excited to receive an offer from the University of Georgia:

We’ll keep you updated throughout Mutombo’s recruitment. He’d be a great addition to Georgia’s class of 2021.

Dikembe Mutombo attended Georgetown during his college days. Will Ryan Mutombo follow in his footsteps or opt to go to FSU, Clemson, Georgia, or many of the other schools that have offered him?

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Sixers history: Dikembe Mutombo leads way past Bucks in Game 5 in 2001

On this day in Philadelphia 76ers history, Dikembe Mutombo stepped up to lead the way past the Milwaukee Bucks.

With the NBA in an indefinite hiatus due to COVID-19, we continue our day-by-day look back at the history of the Philadelphia 76ers. We continue down our path into Sixers history every day as we look to fill the void left by the absence of basketball.

This one takes us back to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2001 with the Sixers in a battle with the Milwaukee Bucks. Allen Iverson led the way on the road in Game 4 to tie the series at 2-2, but as the scene shifts back to Philadelphia, the Bucks had a lot of firepower to retake control. Iverson would not have the same type of game in this one and they would have to rely on others to get this one done.

May 30, 2001

Iverson could not find a groove in this one. Every good shot he had just could not drop. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Big 3 of Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson, and Sam Cassell were firing on all cylinders. This seemed like one prime for the taking for Milwaukee to take a 3-2 lead back to the Bradley Center. However, Philadelphia found offense from other sources.

Dikembe Mutombo stepped up to the challenge and he led the way with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks while Eric Snow hopped off the bench and poured in 18 points to lead Philadelphia to an 89-88 win. Iverson shot 5-for-27 to score 15 points with nine rebounds, eight assists, and four steals so he did other things to help the Sixers earn this one despite his struggles from the floor.

With the 3-2 series lead now in their favor with things shifting back to Wisconsin, the Sixers will need all hands on deck to combat the Bucks and their explosive offensive attack. They now sit just one win away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 1983.

Sixers have seven players show up on ESPN’s top 74 players list

The Philadelphia 76ers have seven players appear on ESPN’s top 74 players list.

The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the more historic franchises in the game. They have had Hall of Famers and all-time greats such as Wilt Chamberlain, Allen Iverson, Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, and other players come through and rock a Sixers jersey.

So, it’s only fair for them to have a high number of players on ESPN’s list of the top 74 players in NBA history.

According to HoopsHype, the Sixers have seven players on the list which puts them at 10th in the NBA just behind the Brooklyn Nets and the Chicago Bulls who have eight players each:

10. SIXERS
Seven players combining for 2,937 games played with the team

Players: Julius Erving, Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Dikembe Mutombo and Bob McAdoo.

Philadelphia has two young All-Stars who, with a little more work, can eventually end up on an all-time list. Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are two of the bright stars this league has to offer and they can make some noise as long as they can continue to move forward. [lawrence-related id=32277,32267,31579]

ESPN ranks Russell Westbrook as No. 42 player in NBA history

In the all-time ranking, Westbrook comes in slightly ahead of Rockets legends such as Elvin Hayes, Tracy McGrady, and Clyde Drexler.

A new poll by an ESPN media panel of the top 74 players in NBA history ranks Houston Rockets star Russell Westbrook at No. 42 overall.

Westbrook has tallied 23.2 points (43.7% FG), 8.3 assists, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 34.6 minutes per game over his 12-year career.

ESPN’s Royce Young, who covered Westbrook for the majority of his first 11 professional seasons in Oklahoma City, summarized the case for the former MVP and nine-time NBA All-Star as follows:

In a purely statistical vacuum, Westbrook is as impactful a player as the league has ever seen. The debate over whether that stubborn single-mindedness helped or actually hurt his team will be part of NBA chatter forever. But his résumé is stacked with jaw-dropping achievements, the greatest of which is intangible: He made the triple-double not only seem normal, but to some dissenters, no longer a worthwhile achievement. Ten years ago, that seemed unthinkable.

With three consecutive seasons averaging a triple-double — and an MVP award in 2016-17 — all Westbrook is missing to elevate into the top 25 discussion is that one, shiny thing.

ESPN’s updated list on Monday only includes players in the 41-74 range. Other NBA players in that all-time tier to have played in Houston include No. 73 Dikembe Mutombo; No. 57 Clyde Drexler; No. 52 Tracy McGrady; No. 44 Elvin Hayes; and No. 43 Rick Barry.

Hakeem Olajuwon, James Harden, and Moses Malone are the only three players to have won the NBA’s MVP award as members of the Rockets. They will each presumably be recognized in the top 40.

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Jaxson Hayes said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had biggest influence on him

Jaxson Hayes knows how much influence Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has had on the bigs that came after him.

Bigs in today’s NBA game have different archetypes compared to yesteryear.

The quintessential big man now can do a little bit of everything, from occasionally posting up, to slipping pick and rolls, to shooting threes from the perimeter. 30 years ago, though, bigs were restricted mainly to the paint and worked there for buckets.

New Orleans Pelicans rookie Jaxson Hayes is a budding rim runner, and his shot blocking gives him potential to have a long, successful career.

But as a new age center, Hayes recently told Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com that a player who impacted his game was a product of the old school.

“Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, because of his sky hook,” Hayes said. “He’s a huge influence for a lot of bigs.”

Hayes paying homage to Abdul-Jabbar, the greatest center ever, shows how Abdul-Jabbar created the foundation for the big men who came after him. As the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, Abdul-Jabbar had an array of moves in the post.

Along with his elite offense, Abdul-Jabbar is also one of the best defenders ever. According to NBA.com stats, he ranks third all-time in blocks behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo.

With Hayes’ career still very young, his upside is high. During his rookie season, he’s shown his own defensive prowess, ranking second in blocks (0.9) on the Pelicans behind Derrick Favors.

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Ranking the top five centers in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers

We now move on to the fifth and final installment of the top five rankings as we now rank the top five centers in Philadelphia 76ers history.

The center position on a basketball team needs to be the anchor of the team on the defensive end as well as being the guy who provides post play on the offensive end. The Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of players do this for their team as they have done a solid job of doing both of those things for the team to be successful.

We have counted down the top five players at each position so far, but now we are moving on to the final position in the lineup: centers. Make sure you check out our previous rankings for the other four positions if you have not seen them yet.

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With that being said, let’s dive into this list!

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7

Dikembe Mutombo’s 6-foot-11 son Ryan suddenly getting major recruiting attention

The likes of Georgetown and Georgia Tech are both chasing after 6-foot-11 Ryan Mutombo, a junior and the son of Dikembe Mutombo.

Every great basketball player peaks at his or her own pace. Now, it appears that pace is rapidly speeding up for the son of an all-time NBA great.

Ryan Mutombo, the 6-foot-11 son of Dikembe Mutombo has received scholarship offers from Georgetown and Georgia Tech, adding to the previous scholarships he held from Richmond and Indiana State.

According to 247Sports, the younger Mutombo’s rise comes in conjunction with a particularly strong outing at the Holiday Hoopsgiving Tournament in Atlanta. Playing for his Lovett School (Atlanta) squad, Mutombo reportedly showcased his elite length and stunning court vision for a player near 7-feet tall.

While the younger Mutombo is already taking (and making!) hook shots and mid-range jumpers, it’s his defensive intensity that could make him an instant standout at the next level. He works out extensively with his father every week and says he’s learning some of the tricks that made his father such a legendary player at Georgetown and in the NBA, on both sides of the ball.

“He’s trying to give me those nuggets here and there,” Ryan Mutombo told 247Sports. “He tells me to block everything. I go after every single ball when I’m down there. I’m really relentless.

“(Dikembe Mutombo) tells me to never be rushed when I’m in the post. If I feel my man playing straight behind me, I need to face him up and go to work and make the right play.”

With more and more of those plays being made by Ryan Mutombo, it’s no surprise that power programs including his father’s alma mater are suddenly interested in his services. Something tells us that trend won’t end anytime soon.