NBA Insider: The ancient Mutombo back for another season

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NBA Insider: The ancient Mutombo back for another season

Web Posted: 10/06/2006 02:55 PM CDT

Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer

It’s official: Suspected for years of being older than advertised, Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo finally admits he is in his 40s.

According to his official biography, Mutombo celebrated his 40th birthday on June 25.

I spoke with Mutombo, who is entering his 15th NBA season, on Thursday at Rockets training camp in Austin. As always, he looked fit, and the smile and Cookie Monster voice had not changed at all.

As always, I asked Mutombo if he were 45, maybe 46.

“There we go,” Mutombo said, with a laugh. “Always you tell me I am older than I am. Well, some of the people my age can still go up and down. It’s like Kevin Willis. I am 40 years old now and I am still playing in the NBA. Like Robert Parish and Kareem, all those old guys that played before me.”

This is the final year of the contract Mutombo signed with the Rockets, and he will earn $2.2 million. But he insists he feels so good he could play for another three or four years, though one additional season will likely be the end of the NBA road for Mutombo, and only if the Rockets want him back. He loves being the backup behind Yao Ming.

“I think I’ve been lucky all my career by staying injury-free, especially my knees,” said the 7-foot-2 center from what is now known as Democratic Republic of Congo. “That’s been No. 1. I think that’s what helped me to last that long. I will try maybe one more after this year.

“I don’t feel like going nowhere. I love playing with that Chinese dude. Come in, give him seven minutes, 10 minutes break. Actually, I was able to play 30-some minutes when he was hurt and couldn’t play. But I know my role. I know what I’ve got to do when I come in.”

Mutombo was headed from the Rockets’ practice on Thursday to a TV studio for a link-up with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who has been in Democratic Republic of Congo reporting on the dire situation there in a series of reports titled “The Killing Fields.” Political unrest in DRC forced Mutombo to postpone the opening of the Biamba Mutombo Hospital in Kinshasa, a facility, named after Mutombo’s late mother, that he has funded through ceaseless efforts through much of his NBA career.

“We’re waiting on a (DRC) Presidential election,” he said. “I am doing Anderson Cooper 360 later today, talk about the whole situation over there.

“It’s very sad, and the world is not doing nothing. I don’t know when will be a time for the African continent to get enough attention. It’s very sad.”

The New Horry

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy makes no secret of his admiration for the Spurs and their approach to the game and to building their roster. The Spurs’ off-season trade that sent Rasho Nesterovic to the Raptors for forward-center Matt Bonner and forward Eric Williams is the latest move Van Gundy believes was a stroke of Spurs’ genius.

“To me, one of the most underrated acquisitions of the off-season was (Matt) Bonner,” Van Gundy said. “I think that guy is very, very good, and if you’re going to put a guy on the floor with Duncan and the penetration they have, he is perfect for that.”

In Bonner, Van Gundy said, the Spurs have the sweet-shooting power forward to fill the role Robert Horry has played since the Spurs acquired him. In Van Gundy’s opinion, Bonner may be an even better long-range shooter than Horry. Few players in the league, in Van Gundy’s opinion, have as high a basketball IQ as Horry.

Was it broke?

Through all the griping about the NBA’s new basketball, the one explanation I have yet to hear is what was so wrong with the old ball.

Personal opinion: I didn’t think the ball was “broke.” Why try to fix it?

On background, one source in the NBA office told me Spalding, which makes the official league ball, had told the league a couple of years ago it was having a problem getting consistent quality leather to make the balls.

A Spalding spokesperson told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein the decision to produce a composite ball for NBA use had very little to do with leather quality; that the company believed it could produce a better ball with a composite cover.

Some players have expressed concern that the ball will be slicker when it gets wet with sweat. Others think it is too “grippy.” Bruce Bowen told the Express-News’ Johnny Ludden the ball doesn’t carom off the rim the same as the leather balls did.

Shaquille O’Neal’s comments got the most attention, probably because he said that whoever had decided to change the ball should have his college degree revoked.

The guess here: Media day in Miami was the first time O’Neal had touched the new ball, despite the fact the league had sent every player one of the new balls to practice with during the summer.

Amid all the hoo-ha, however, there are some facts that have gone unreported. The new ball was used in NBA summer leagues this year, and it seemed to perform quite well.

Here are some comparative figures from summer league games played in 2005 and those played this summer:

In 76 summer league games played with the leather NBA ball in 2005, the overall shooting percentage was 44.2; 3-point percentage was 31.2; free throw percentage was 71.2.

In 73 summer league games with the new ball in 2006, the overall shooting percentage was 45.8; 3-point percentage was 34.0; free throw percentage was 71.9.

Turnovers per game was basically a push: 33.1 in 2005; 33.3 in 2006. The guess here is that NBA coaches will be thrilled if the new ball produces similar improvements in shooting percentages and turnovers remain about the same.

High praise

Tracy McGrady was watching Rockets rookie Steve Novak drain 3-pointer after 3-pointer while he chatted with the media the other day at Denton Cooley Pavilion on the UT campus and declared Novak “the best shooter I’ve ever played with.”

“He can shoot, and I don’t’ care if he can’t do nothing else,” McGrady said. “I love the way he shoots. I don’t care if he can’t dribble, rebound or play defense. That kid can shoot the ball.”

McGrady implied Novak will be the perfect antidote for the Rockets when teams double-team and triple-team him.

“The way I play, all the attention teams like to give me when I handle the ball and run pick and rolls, those guys are standing out there wide open,” T-Mac said. “I do all the work for them. They just stand out there and twiddle their thumbs and wait on the ball to come, and shoot the ball.”