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Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga enters a pivotal season with Dikembe Mutombo in mind

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LAIE, Hawaii – Per week ago, Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga was driving to work optimistic about a potential breakout NBA All-Star season. But because the DRC native approached the Chase Center, his joy turned to sadness when he learned that his legendary compatriot Dikembe Mutombo had died.

“I was driving to the arena with a friend on media day, listening to music and driving to ‘The City’ (San Francisco),” Kuminga said Oct. 4 during Warriors practice at BYU-Hawaii. “He opened his Instagram and the primary photo that appeared was of Mutombo’s death. And then I turned off the music. We just stayed silent and didn’t consult with one another for a while.

“I began considering, ‘Why? What’s up? What’s occurring? It was bad news to listen to it so early. Overall bad news. It was very sad. I knew he was sick. A number of months ago I texted him to ascertain on him. I knew he was sick, but I didn’t know he was very, very sick.

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Mutombo died on September 30 on the age of 58 from brain cancer. The Basketball Hall of Famer ranks second in NBA history in blocks behind fellow African Hakeem Olajuwon. The eight-time NBA All-Star was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year 4 times and had his No. 55 jersey retired by the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks.

Mutombo could also be remembered much more as a humanitarian. The NBA’s first global ambassador opened a much-needed hospital and faculty in his hometown of Kinshasa. Mutombo also played perhaps the most important role in persuading the NBA to start out the African Basketball League and was a regular at BAL events.

“I knew about Mutombo before I knew about the most popular NBA players like Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) and all the other greats. My dad always talked about him and played against him growing up,” said Kuminga, whose hometown of Goma is about a three-hour flight from Kinshasa. “(Mutombo) built a big hospital to assist the numerous individuals who were in search of him. There was no hospital in Congo that performed many tests, akin to MRIs. The hospital was also built in his mother’s name. It was great that he did it.

“Many of my people from my hometown went to India and South Africa to get medical attention. They don’t even have to go that far anymore. They just need to go to Mutombo Hospital. He also meant a lot to the student-athletes (from Congo). It means everything.”

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Starting at small forward, Kuminga scored seven points on 3-of-8 shooting from the sector, 7 assists and 4 rebounds in 19 minutes in the Warriors’ 91-90 opener victory over the LA Clippers on the Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawaii on October 5. Kuminga said Mutombo was his mentor, with whom he normally spoke via text message, and added that the last time he saw Mutombo was two years ago, when the Warriors were playing preseason games in Japan.

“The last time I saw Mutombo he said, ‘Just keep doing it, keep working. You will have a great future. Always remember where you come from,” Kuminga said.

Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga scores a basket during a game against the LA Clippers on October 5 on the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.

Jay Metzger/NBAE via Getty Images

The Democratic Republic of Congo has produced several NBA players akin to Mutombo, Kuminga, Bismack Biyombo, DJ Mbenga, Christian Eyenga, Emmanuel Mudiay and Oscar Tshiebwe. Not only does Mutombo have probably the most noteworthy basketball resume, but he was also the one player to seem in the NBA All-Star Game.

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Over the previous three seasons, Kuminga had shown flashes of NBA All-Star talent. The 6-foot-10, 225-pound athlete posted profession averages of 16.1 points and 4.8 rebounds in 26.4 minutes last season. With guard Klay Thompson heading to the Dallas Mavericks this summer as a part of a signing, Kuminga is predicted to play a much larger role offensively alongside Warriors star Stephen Curry. 2025 NBA All-Star Game scheduled for San Francisco Kuminga has additional motivation and a person goal of appearing in the All-Star Game for the primary time this season.

“This is my trajectory. That’s what I’ve been working on,” Kuminga said. “I did as much as I could, practicing, getting my body ready, learning the sport and dealing on things defensively. It’s just a matter of once we start playing now and I can show what I’ve been working on and the way my game has developed.

“We have a different team. I’m unsure what’s going to occur. But whatever happens, my mind is prepared for anything.

Asked about expectations for Kuminga, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said: “He needs to maintain improving because he’s on the correct track. Everyone is doing higher. The three-point shot is a big deal, especially in today’s NBA. If he can catch and shoot consistently, it can open things up for each him and others.

“Defensively, I just keep getting better and we use that athleticism, that strength, in a way that really impacts our opponents. These are the things we focus on.”

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Kuminga, who turned 22 on Sunday, also hopes to increase his contract with the Warriors. The Warriors and Kuminga have expressed mutual interest in wanting to agree on an extension before the Oct. 21 rookie extension deadline. Kuminga is making $7.6 million in the ultimate 12 months of his contract and can be a restricted free agent in 2025 if a contract extension is just not agreed upon by the deadline.

“My agent is handling it. I need to focus on what I’m trying to achieve. The more I achieve, the more these things take care of themselves,” Kuminga said.

Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga (right) is coached by Ines Belhamer (left) in the course of the Basketball Without Borders Africa competition on the American International School in Johannesburg on July 29, 2023 in the Gauteng province of Johannesburg, South Africa.

NBAE via Getty Images

After Mutombo’s departure, there are several African basketball stars in the NBA, and there are potential stars on the horizon.

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There were 19 African-born players in the NBA last season, including Kuminga, 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid and Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam. NBA Academy Africa has also paid dividends recently, as Duke signed center Khaman Maluach, the Toronto Raptors signed big man Ulrich Chomche, and the Utah Jazz signed Babacar Sane to an Exhibit 10 contract.

Kuminga is confident that Mutombo’s legacy will continue to exist amongst current and future African NBA players.

“I’m just trying to be great here and do the best I can,” said Kuminga, who last visited Congo after the Warriors won the 2022 NBA championship. “Mutombo did every thing he could and got here back and it helped. That’s what it’s all about. Do as much as you may, whatever it’s, so long as you give back and show the remainder of us how much it matters.

“I helped. I’m sending some stuff back. Helping people. Giving back the shoes. Helping some kids. When I come back someday, I’m working on organizing a camp and helping some (Congolese) students by providing them with scholarships for school and education.”

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Marc J. Spears is Andscape’s senior NBA author. He used to give you the option to dunk on you, but he hasn’t been in a position to do it for years and his knees still hurt.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.


Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.

The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.

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The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.

The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.

But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.

Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.

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“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “

Alabama, Jalen Milroe, talks to the media during the NFL mix at the Lucas Oil stadium on February 28 at Indianapolis.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.

But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.

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Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.

In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.

He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.

Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.

“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.

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“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”

Jalen Milroe warms up during seniors training at the Hancock Whitney stadium on January 29 at Mobile, Alabama.

Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images

Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.

“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.

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But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.

“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.

“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “

The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.

But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.

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Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “

“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.

Martenzie Johnson is an older author for Andcape. His favorite film moment is that Django said: “You all want to see something?”

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Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.

Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.

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One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.

Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.

I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.

When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.

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History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.

The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.

That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

Teenage students of Stax Music Academy Mark 25th anniversary, black history month with a concert

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:

“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.

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Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”

I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”

I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.

They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

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Panama Jackson Thegrio.com

(Tagstranslate) @Ap

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Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

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Morgan State University, Sterling Steward


Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.

No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.

Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.

“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “

While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.

Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.

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He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.

(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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