One
week from this past Monday, the National Basketball Association hosted its 2nd
Annual Live Award Show, presented by Kia from the Barker Hangar in Los Angeles,
CA. Houston Rockets perennial All-Star James Harden as expected on the Kia Most
Valuable Player (MVP). Philadelphia 76ers lead guard Ben Simmons took home Kia
NBA Rookie of the Year. Los Angeles Clippers high scoring reserve Lou Williams
was awarded Kia Sixth Man of the Year for the second time in his career. Utah
Jazz center Rudy Gobert won Kia Defensive Player of the Year. Starting guard
Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers won the Kia Most Improved Player award and
former Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, now the head man on the
sidelines of the Detroit Pistons took home NBA Coach of the Year. While the
stars of the present earned some well-deserved hardware, the NBA also took some
time to honor two legends that help make the game better for the current NBA
labor force and showed the kind of impact they can have on the fans that take
their time to watch them on the hardwood.
The
winner of the second annual Sager Strong Award, named in honor of the late
iconic Turner Sports sideline reporter and one-time Turner Sports studio host
Craig Sager went to Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, which he was presented by
Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT color analyst Reggie Miller, Philadelphia 76ers
All-Star center and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Joel Embiid, from
Yaounde, Cameroon and actress from HBO’s “Insecure” and native of Port
Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria Yvonne Orji.
The
award, which was won last year by then Oklahoma City Thunder and former New
Orleans Pelicans, then Hornets head coach Monty Williams is presented to an
individual who has been a trailblazer while exemplifying courage, faith,
compassion, and grace.
The
recipient is bestowed a suit jacket that is full of color, a replica that Mr.
Sager wore during his memorable, “Time is simply how you live your life” speech
during the ESPYS in the summer of 2016.
“I
want to express a heartfelt appreciation to the NBA and TNT, and especially to
Mrs. Stacey Sager, whose the president of the Sager Foundation for this
recognition,” Mutombo, who celebrated his 52nd Birthday that Monday
night.
“I
remember being interviewed by Craig at the very beginning of my NBA career and
I’m so glad to be able to wear this unique jacket which celebrates his memory
and which will be giving me a great opening to explain to curious people the
source of my fashion attire.”
On
that same night, Hall of Famer and one true game changer Oscar Robertson
received the second annual Lifetime Achievement Award.
“I’m
honored to receive the NBA’s Lifetime Achievement Award,” Mr. Robertson said in
his acceptance speech. “Over the years there’s so many positive things and
opportunities that have happened to me in my lifetime.”
“Much
of who I am today was shaped by basketball. My story is much more than just
basketball.”
On
the court, Mutombo, whose full name is Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Jean-Jacques
Wamutombo for 18 seasons with the Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia
76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets played was one of
the respected players in “The Association” for what he did on the defensive end
as a shot blocker and rebounder.
While
the No. 4 overall pick in the 1991 draft out of Georgetown, who was selected to
eight All-Star Games; was a four-time Defensive Player of the Year recipient;
is second all-time in blocks shots with 3,256; a three-time All-NBA selection;
and six-time NBA All-Defensive selection, Mutombo became well known for his
humanitarian work all around the globe.
His
signature move on the court after blocked a shot was he would waive his right
index finger in the direction of the opposition.
“Dikembe
has done this for a lot of years in the game of basketball,” Mutombo’s former
Hoya teammate and NBA Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning, who played 16 seasons with
the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat and New Jersey Nets said of his finger wag.
“But this really means one man can change the world. He is our global
ambassador.”
Former
Hawks teammate and current NBATV and NBA on TNT studio and game color analyst
Steve Smith expressed those same feeling saying of Mutombo’s finger wag, “To me
it symbolizes this one individual has really touched so many lives.”
Two
decades back, he created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, where its mission was
to improve the health, education, and the quality of life of the people of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, his homeland.
Perhaps
the greatest achievement of the DMF was the opening of the Biamba Marie Mutombo
Hospital in 2007 in his war-torn homeland.
The
plans to open this $29 million, 300-bed hospital on the outskirts of his
hometown Kinshasa, the Congolese capital began a decade ago.
While
ground broke in 2001, it took until 2004 for construction to begin because
Mutombo had problems getting donations in the early stages despite personally
donating $3.5 million towards the construction of the facility.
The
other issue was Mutombo nearly lost the land to the government because it was
not being used and the refugees who began getting paid to farm the land had to
leave. On top of that, he had struggled to reassure some of the people there
was no ulterior or political motive for the project.
The
final donation for the hospital came personally from Mutombo of $15 million and
the ceremonial opening came in Sept. 2, 2006 and the name of the hospital as
mentioned earlier Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital was in honor of his late
mother, who passed away 21 years ago because of a stroke.
When
the facility opened 11 years ago, it was the first modern medical to be built
in the area f Kinshasa in nearly four decades. The hospital is on a 12-acre
site on the outskirts of Kinshasa in Masina which is home to about a quarter of
the 7.5 million residents that live in poverty. The hospital is minutes away
from the airport and close to a busy open-air market.
“We
are the top hospital in the DRC,” Dr. Alex Mutombo said. “We have saved
thousands and thousands of lives.”
“What
he’s doing for us, it’s more than a miracle. We are all part of him. He’s the
son of Congo.”
How
big has this hospital been to this land, Kanu Thomas Mbimbi, another hospital
employee and father said, “Without the hospital’s care my children would have
died. The lord sent Mutombo to save my children.”
Along
with building the hospital in his homeland, Mutombo serves on the Board of
Trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA. It is a
museum dedicated to the United States Constitution.
In
2011, Mutombo traveled to South Sudan as part of SportsUnited Sports Envoy for
the United States Department of State, where he worked with former Dallas
Maverick, Los Angeles Laker, Seattle Supersonic and Indiana Pacer Sam Perkins
leading a series of basketball clinics and exercises that emphasized
team-building with 50 youth and 36 coaches.
This
opportunity represented a contribution to the State Department’s mission of
removing barriers and create a world in which individuals with disabilities
enjoy dignity and full inclusion in society.
Speaking
of being able to enjoy full inclusion in something, that is something Oscar
Robertson, the 2018 Lifetime Achievement recipient did many years ago.
On
the court, Mr. Robertson produced the kind of career resume that most players
could only dream of. He won Rookie of the Year in 1961. Was a 12-time All-Star
selection, winning the game MVP three times. Won league MVP in 1964; was a
11-time All-NBA selection, and along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the Milwaukee
Bucks to their only NBA title in 1971.
“There
was nothing he couldn’t do.” Abdul-Jabbar who along with Hall of Famer and NBA
on TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley presented Robertson with his award said.
“It was like having a coach on the court.”
What
Mr. Robertson is known for most though was the fact that he was an all-around
player. He is the all-time leader with 181 career triple-doubles and prior to
the 2016-17 NBA season was the only player to average a triple-double for an entire
NBA season, which he did in the 1961-62 campaign while with the then Cincinnati
Royals of 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists that season.
The
last two seasons, perennial All-Star himself Russell Westbrook has averaged a
triple-double, the first in NBA history to do that and in the 2016-17 season
Mr. Robertson’s single-season triple-double record of 41 by one with 42 games
of double figures in points, rebounds, and assists.
To
put that feet into context, in the 1960-61 season, Mr. Robertson’s rookie year
nearly averaged a triple-double with 30.5 points, 10.1 boards and a league
leading 9.7 assists.
“I’m
not even close to the things Oscar was able to do the things Oscar was able to
do,” Westbrook, the 2017 league MVP said.
The
work Mr. Robertson put in is something he did not pay much attention, but some
of the greats of the game looked at what he did and have nothing but the
ultimate respect for him as a player and even more so as a person.
“His
contribution to the game I don’t think will ever be fully appreciated,” Hall of
Famer, Laker legend and “the logo” Jerry West, who played with him on the 1960
Olympic Gold Medal team said. “Incredible competitor. He dominated the game
like few we’ve seen.To
play with him in the Olympic Games was a thrill of a lifetime.”
“Oscar
was the man,” Hall of Famer, five-time NBA champion Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who
is second all-time with Robertson with 138 career triple-doubles said. “A
triple-double threat every single night.
While
his on the court accolades are undeniable, the Crispus Attucks High School Alum
of Indianapolis, IN is most remembered for what he did as the head of the
National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA), a job which put him right
square in opposition with the league office on many occasions.
One
of the most historical confrontations took place in 1964 when Mr. Robertson was
part of a group of players who threatened to boycott that year’s All-Star Game
if they did not start receiving important things like better medical treatment,
benefits, pay for preseason games.
The
league called the player’s bluff, but the players gave no ground and refused to
come onto the hardwood causing a delay before the NBA finally caved.
Then
there was the famed 1970 case of Robertson
versus the National Basketball Association, which was an anti-trust suit
filed by the NBPA against the league.
This
was the case that paved the way for free agency as we come to know it today,
where not only the players are being paid high salaries, but are able to terminate,
or the politically correct term opt out of the final year of there deal at that
moment if that is negotiated into their deal.
Robertson
himself stated that clubs basically owned their players and were forbidden to
even communicate with other teams once their contracts were up because free
agency was non-existent.
“It’s
very important because what we have now is not quite adequate,” Mr. Robertson
said back then of the conditions the NBA players had.
The
actual lawsuit though was structured to put a barrier of the merger between the
NBA and American Basketball Association (ABA), which it did for six years.
The
NBA office did everything possible to go around Robertson to make this merger
happen, which included attempting to lobby through the U.S. Congress.
All
those attempts, including that one failed and the NBA was forced to come to a
settlement, which became to be known as the Oscar Robertson Rule. The rule
allows players of today to have some say in their own lives and careers.
“He
was extraordinarily passionate about making sure that the players are going to
be treated fairly,” Jim Quinn, the lawyer in the case said.
When
the case was settled in 1976, the two leagues merged and the college draft,
which is today called the NBA Draft as well as free agency clauses were
reformed in not just the NBA but all other sports.
“Oscar
Robertson changed the face of the NBA,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of
that landmark victory.
The
Bakersfield Californian
said of the case won by Mr. Robertson, “Basketball, players gained dignity.”
“Winning
that battle was every bit as rewarding to me as anything I ever achieved on the
basketball court and I’m most proud of that assists,” Robertson said that
Monday night.
Even
with this amazing triumph, Mr. Robertson says that after the lawsuit, he was
blackballed. Unlike Hall of Famer Bill Russell, Robertson was never hired as a
head coach or never worked in the front office of any NBA team.
Even
with that, Mr. Robertson said to ESPN’s host of “NBA: The Jump’s” Rachel Nichols
last year he is very happy that players like Kevin Durant can pick and chose
where they can go to continue their professional basketball journeys like he
did two seasons back joining the Golden State Warriors.
“I
think it’s wonderful. I think it’s great,” he said to Nichols about Durant, who
since joining the Warriors in the summer of 2016 has led them to two straight
titles and has won back-to-back Finals MVPs along the way.
“Where
else could he go. The [Brooklyn] Nets, Orlando [Magic]. No, he had to go where
players would compliment what he did.”
“I’m
happy that he went there to be honest because he’s taking advantage of his
contract. Even when LeBron [James] went down to Miami, everybody was so upset.
Why were they upset because he didn’t have a contract? Why did they sign him to
a life-term contract before he did that?”
When
asked by Nichols why fans become outraged and angry when players leave within
the rules, Mr. Robertson said that some fans think players do not have that
much intelligence. That basketball players to them are like being in a coliseum
where front offices are the only ones that can move you from team-to-team.
Mr.
Robertson said that when free agency came about that it was going to ruin the
game of professional basketball.
As
we have seen that has not been the case. It has actually made the NBA game
better and the best example of this was in May 2014 following the scandal of
former owner Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers were purchased for $2
billion by former Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Steve Ballmer.
This
came about when four-time league MVP LeBron James spoke up during a postgame
presser after a playoff game stating that the harsh and disrespectful words of
Mr. Sterling in a recorded conversation in Sept. 2013 with V.Stiviano, born
Maria Vanessa Perez released by TMZ Sports had no place in the NBA.
NBA
greats like former Phoenix Sun Kevin Johnson, Hall of Famers Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who Stiviano took a picture with and posted
on her Instagram that started all of this, Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and soon
to be Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant also condemned Mr. Sterling’s remarks and on
Apr. 29, 2013, Commissioner Silver in a 2 p.m. press conference announced that
Mr. Sterling was banned for life from the league and fined $2.5 million
dollars, which was the maximum fined allowed by the NBA constitution.
“Their
trailblazers because they broke all the racial barriers. Did all the heavy
lifting,” Barkley, who played for the 76ers, Suns and Rockets in his 17-year
career said of what Mr. Robertson, Bill Walton, Chester “Chet” Walker and all
the other former players did for him and the players of today. “The reason guys
are able to be free agents. If it wasn’t for those guys I wouldn’t be where I
am today.”
The
pride of Leeds, AL also said about what the game of basketball and the impact
Mr. Robertson had on him, “I’m 55 years old. I’ve never had a real job. I am so
lucky and blessed, but it’s because of those guys doing all the heavy lifting
and every time I see those guys I make sure they know I appreciate what they
did for me and all of us. There the reason we got this show.”
With
all those happenings, along with the fact that a player like James in the early
stages of this off-season took his talents to the “City of Angels” and agreed
to a four-year, $154 million deal to join the Los Angeles Lakers at the start
of this week.
As
Mr. Robertson told Nichols about the state of the NBA, “I think it’s doing very
well. I think the people love. It’s a good TV game. So, what else matters.”
Commissioner
Silver echoed those same thoughts when he said, “Because of Oscar Robertson,
players earned the right to become free agents.”
Quinn
also pointed out that the players starting back then were not only treaded with
much more dignity, but their pensions were improved and received more benefits.
Last
week, the second annual NBA Awards took place to celebrate and honors some of
the best in the sport with the 2018 league MVP, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive
Players of the, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year,
presented by Kia Motors. This was also a night where “The Association” took
time to honor two great men who have had a major impact on the players of see
today both on and off the hardwood.
They
honored a player that Miller pointed did not finish the first game he ever
played because he went to the hospital to get 20 stitches in his chin after
going for a rebound. That player was Dikembe Mutombo and he shook off that moment
where he did like basketball that much became a Hall of Famer, who was one of
the best rebounders and shot blockers in NBA history and built a hospital that
provides medical care in one of the most difficult circumstances that exists in
the world.
He
also showed how a great education which he got at Georgetown University in
Washington D.C. and playing for a Hall of Fame head coach John Thompson, Jr.
can do. While he never reached his original goal of becoming a doctor, he build
a place that consists of many doctors in all fields that help people get well.
“Things
were important to him that extended pass athletics,” Thompson said.
Fellow
Hoya and NBA Hall of Famer of the New York Knicks, Seattle Supersonics and
Orlando Magic Patrick Ewing and current basketball head coach at Georgetown
echoed that sentiment by saying, “Giving back to the community. Giving back to
the world was his next love.”
That
love had an impact on many in the Congo including a couple of current NBA
players from the Congo like Toronto Raptors forward/center Serge Ibaka and the
previously mentioned Embiid.
“When
I found out he built a hospital, I couldn’t sleep because I was dreaming, like,
wow. I want to be like him one day,” Ibaka, who began his career with the
Thunder and also played a short time with the Orlando Magic said.
In
the case of Mr. Robertson, the prior Monday night showed how gracious one can
be when at one point they were at odds. The NBA office could have held a grudge
against him forever, but by presenting him with the Lifetime Achievement Award
displayed their gratitude and appreciation for how he changed the game for the
better by having players have some say in what team they want to play for when
their current contract concludes.
He
took a courageous stand for the rights of NBA players of that time so the
players of today can be their very best during and after their careers.
Not
only was Mr. Robertson honored during the ceremony, but extensively
highlighting the times he fought and beat the league office in his quest for
player rights and benefits.
“He
put a lot on the line for guys like myself and everyone whose playing today,”
Johnson said. He also said poignantly, “It’s time for us to honor you now.”
Mr.
Robertson was a man who earned his right to play as young child playing pickup
games with his brothers in a dirt lot in Indianapolis, IN called the “Dust
Bowl” against older kids and adults who as he said were bigger and much better.
Those
lessons he took with him from the “Dust Bowl” to leading the Crispus Attucks
High Tigers basketball squad to back-to-back Indiana state titles to the
University of Cincinnati, where he was a three-time College Player of the Year;
time Consensus First-Team All-American; three-time NCAA Division I scoring
leader and a three-time First-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection. He
would then be drafted into the NBA and the rest is history.
Dikembe
Mutombo through his philanthropic endeavors showed how one person can change a
community no matter how big or small for the better and Oscar Robertson’s
victory versus the league at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
at the Marshall Courthouse in New York, NY showed that one person with the
right intentions can make the lives of others that come after them better. Player
like Embiid, Oladipo, Westbrook, Rookie of the Year runner-up Donovan Mitchell,
Boston Celtics All-Star center Al Horford
The
National Basketball Association is in a great place and it is thanks to the
likes of Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Jean-Jacques Wamutombo from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Oscar Palmer from Indianapolis, IN.
Information,
statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 6/22/18 NBA release on www.nba.com, “Dikembe Mutombo To Receive Craig
Sager Strong Award;” 6/25/18 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump,” on ESPN with
Rachel Nichols, Ramona Shelburne, and Jorge Sedano; 6/25/18 NBA Awards on TNT,
presented by Kia Motors, hosted by Anthony Anderson, Ernie Johnson, Kenny
Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal; 6/26/18 www.nba.com’s “2018 NBA Awards Complete List of
Winner;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dikembe_Mutombo;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Robertson;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_v._National_Basketball_Association_Ass%27n;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sterlin#Racist_remarks_and_lifetime_ban.
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