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On Saturday, the Dikembe Mutombo family will hold a public memorial at 10:30 a.m. in McCamish Pavilion on the campus of Georgia Tech to honor his life and legacy. “I thought just because the way Dikembe lived, and the way he embraced the people and the way he loved the people in our community, and also the support we’ve received in the last two years and a half,” Mutombo’s widow, Rose, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “From the time he was diagnosed and all the way to passing, we just have received an outpouring of support of people in our community and people all over the world. So, I thought it would be a good idea to give the people in our community and those all over the world who want to come join us to celebrate his life and legacy.”
Mike Vorkunov: Gregory is a former head coach at Georgia Tech, Dayton, and USF. He was also an assistant coach at Michigan State when Mat Ishbia was a walk-on player there. He was named VP of player programming last June and has had a prominent voice in the Suns front office even before this.
Georgia Tech could lose another one of its star players from the 2024-25 season. Duncan Powell took to Instagram on Friday to announce he has declared for the NBA draft. A 6-foot-8, 235-pound junior, Powell could return to Tech for the 2025-26 season if not signed to a professional contract.
In a bit of surprising news on Friday evening, Georgia Tech's Duncan Powell announced via his Instagram he would be testing the NBA Draft waters following his breakout junior season with the Jackets.
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The School Committee has voted to name the Central High School basketball court for alumnus and NBA star Travis Best. Best, a 1991 graduate of the high school, went onto to play at Georgia Tech and then had a decade-long career in the NBA.
Al Harrington: So I go over, and Steph's on the phone. He had a crib in Atlanta for the summer. He had the drop-top Benz 600, just leaning on it, talking on the phone. I go talk to my cousin, then I start talking to Steph. He asks, "What you doing in town?" I say, "I'm visiting Georgia Tech." And he’s like, "How much they paying you?" I'm like, "Paying me for what?" He's like, "To go to school." I say, "They ain't paying me nothing." He says, "You going to school for free?" I say, "I ain't commit yet." He was like, "Bro—uh, what is his name? Oh my God, I just saw the coach the other day. I just saw him two days ago." Steph was about to lose it—he was like, "Call him!" I can’t remember his name, but we called him. Steph was like, "Okay, okay, okay." Then the coach says, "Al, I’ll see you in the morning." We hung up the phone, and... I ain't gonna say what they offered me, but they made something make sense. If I was gonna go to school, I should have gone, you know what I'm saying? I didn’t go, obviously.
Through Okogie’s initial three games wearing a purple and teal uniform, it certainly has that kind of feel. Although he’s not going to overwhelm the opposition in one particular area, he brings a little bit of everything. Block a shot. Hit a 3-pointer. Grab a rebound. Play defense. Grinding it out is a huge part of Okogie’s makeup. That mentality is something he’s had since entering the NBA in 2018, when he was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round following two seasons at Georgia Tech, where he earned All-ACC third team honors as a sophomore. “That’s just the epitome of what I do and kind of have that blue collar work ethic,” he said. “Work hard, no excuses. Just get the job done.”
Langston Wertz: Sad news to report. Former NBA basketball player Jerrod Mustaf died Monday morning. He was 55. Mustaf's son, Jaeden, was an All-Observer and all-state star at national power Carmel Christian two years ago. Jaeden, who played at the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite as a high school senior, is now a freshman at Georgia Tech. Jerrod Mustaf played in high school at DeMatha Catholic in Maryland and played in college at Maryland, where he became an All-ACC player in 1990. In high school, Mustaf, who was 6-foot-10, was a three-time Parade All-American. After college, Jerrod Mustaf became a first round draft pick by the New York Knicks and played professional for 11 years with the Knicks, Suns and several European professional teams.
Scott spent 11 seasons in the NBA playing for Orlando, Dallas, Phoenix, New York, Minnesota and Vancouver, respectively. He was named to the NBA’s all-rookie team in 1991. “It’s all because of my mom saying that she wanted to see No. 4 in the rafters,” Scott added. “I said, ‘Well, mom, Georgia Tech is like most serious institutions and you have to be a student-athlete and gone back to school.’ And she said, ‘Well can you go back to school before I pass away?’ When she put it on me that way and she’s 81 years old you’re like, ‘Dang, do I have enough time? It’ll kill me if don’t graduate and she passes away on me.’”
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Stephon Marbury: "Now I'm 19 years old and I'm living where there's 6% black people and it snows. It's 10,000 lakes, it's cold, it's like 40 below every day in the winter time. It's Black Ice. It's so many different challenges in the life of how you live and you know this is a place where I wasn't familiar with. I grew up in a melting pot in New York where it's black, white, Chinese, Puerto Rican, all different types of people that I grew up with. And then I leave, I go to school in Atlanta where it's predominantly black people when I go to Georgia Tech. And then now I leave school and now I go to Minnesota where it's predominantly white people."
A lack of diversity and the cold weather was too much so he requested a trade. He said it was different than when he grew up in New York and played college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. He also relayed a couple of stories of him nearly dying while driving on icy roads in Minnesota. So despite the success, Marbury was traded to the New Jersey Nets at midseason in 1999. The Wolves still made the playoffs, but things were never the same. It was the end of one of the league's most exciting duos. "I'm like, I don't know if I want to do this," Marbury said. "This has nothing to do with the court. I told them this has nothing to do with the team or the people. The fans are dope ... My love for Minnesota is still the same."
Jason Dumas: The Warriors are holding pre-draft workouts on Wednesday with the following players: Jermaine Couisnard (Oregon) Isaiah Crawford (LA Tech) Malik Dia (Belmont) Sam Griffin (Wyoming) Miles Kelly (Georgia Tech) Tre Mitchell (Kentucky)
Jon Rothstein: Georgia Tech's Baye Ndongo tells me that he will withdraw from the 2024 NBA Draft and return to school next season. Averaged 12.4 PPG and 8.2 RPG last year as a freshman.
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