Dikembe Mutombo Quotes

I always felt that I had to leave a legacy on the African continent. As I was only the third player to come to the NBA from Africa, I felt I had to do my best to recruit more young Africans to come and play in the NBA - and also find a way to bring the NBA to Africa.

It's a great thing that the NBA has done in Africa to develop the game.

I think the NBA will certainly survive without Michael Jordan.

I am very proud to be African. I want to defend African people, and I want to show to the world that African players can be as good as the Europeans and South Americans.

If I pass away one day, I am happy because I tried to do my best. My sport allowed me to do so much because it's the biggest sport in the world.

If they're trying to get high school kids to go to the D-League, I will be shouting from mountaintops saying, 'What is this going to do to a generation of kids who say, 'All right, I'm going to do this,' you get one or two years to make it, and now you're out without any opportunities. Who's taking care of those kids now?'

I'm trying to have Wakanda represent all of Africa.

I try to represent Africa and Cameroon as well as I can.

I think it would've been a little easier if I grew up in America; they've got better conditions for basketball players. At the same time, many people have said to me that having to start playing so late helped me not pick up bad habits.

What's being considered now is solidifying my place in the NBA. Keep focusing on the grass roots, because I want the next guys to be good. Right now, all I'm doing for camps and academies and stuff, I'm just finding the next NBA player.

Manute Bol taught my family the game of basketball.

After my second year in the NBA, my prep years, my college, I hadn't really found myself.

My rookie season, I wore 8 because I had wanted 15, but it's retired in Philadelphia. I had worn 15 in college.

I am extremely proud to be a part of the NBA's first game in Africa. Coming from South Sudan and having participated in the Basketball without Borders Africa camps in Johannesburg previously, I am truly honored to be part of this historic event.

I think hip hop allows us to talk about everything, and Africa is what I choose to talk about now. If people are not talking about Africa, that's them, that's cool, there's nothing wrong with that. But this is who I am, this is what I have to say, this is what I have to offer.

We have to move the meter in sports in Africa, especially basketball. With the growth of the NBA globally, we have to figure out more ways to develop facilities, coaching, leagues, and youth development in Africa. The talent is incredible. Especially physically. How do we get the youth to start playing at an early age just like in soccer? The future is bright. We now have an NBA office in Africa, we have legends and Hall of Famers, we have African assistant coaches, front office members, and some prominent African players over the last 10 years. So we must plan well for the next 10.

My biggest obsession is to show Africans and the world who the people of Africa really are.

Everybody whose anybody in hockey has played in Hershey.

The biggest thing that will define my legacy is how I've done it, and what I've done, and who I am. I'm a weird big guy. Doing rapping, doing movies. Do a lot of stuff. But always do things the right way. Went to the police academy to become a police officer. Get his master's in criminal justice, stayed out of trouble. Played for three different teams. Changed three different franchises around. This is a guy who they would have secret meetings about to change the rules. So, that's going to be my legacy: the most dominant player ever.

The wins and losses are over for Rice, the football player, who leaves with 38 NFL records. He was the easiest guy in the world to throw the football to, ... You always knew where he was headed.

The Boston Celtics are not a basketball team, they are a way of life.

We do not have a South African as a member of the African Commission. The President of the Commission comes from Mali, the Deputy comes from Rwanda and then we have got all these other members, ordinary commissioners. There is no South African there. And the reason, again, for that is not because we didn't have South Africans who are competent.

George Kimble said, 'The only thing dark about Africa is our ignorance of it.' So let's start shedding light on this amazing eclectic continent that has so much to offer.

Because I am an African I reserve the right to say that Africa does not exist simply to make people in this country [the UK], or anywhere else in the developed world, feel good about themselves.

I was latching on to something that was part of my heritage, because many of the slaves who were brought here were Moslems.