YouTube Gold: Dikembe Mutombo

A great shotblocker and, to hear people tell it, a great man as well.

Dikembe Mutombo was a highly unusual basketball player.

For one, he came to Georgetown from the Congo to study medicine. Basketball may not have even been on his mind.

He quickly became a powerful force though and one of the best shotblockers the game has ever seen. Only Hakeem Olajuwon has more career blocks than Mutombo. And Mutombo was smooth too. Watch for two things in this video: first, his hands were always up. He never started with them below his waist. And second, most of his blocks were recoverable. This is such a hard lesson for American players to learn. It’s like stealing the ball, tossing it out of bounds and just giving it back.

With his immense size, his Barry White-like voice and the finger wag he gave after every blocked shot, Mutombo was a huge force around the basket. He was uniquely intimidating.

As you may have seen on social media, he was deeply respected by his colleagues. Former Blue Devil Shane Battier posted a note saying that Mutombo was the teammate he most respected. Plenty of other guys said similar things. A couple of women spoke of how kindly he treated them at airports or on the street.

All in all, he is getting more good vibes in his farewell than most people get in a lifetime. Obviously he’s going to be missed.