Dikembe Mutombo warbles "I kept my promise, you keep your distance."

Diatribe #5 - October 6, 2003
Don't Cry For Me, Dikembe
Here's what I want you to do. Imagine that your boss, in your place of employment, doesn't want you around anymore. He offers you 81% of what you're currently owed in salary to just disappear. True to your nature, you say you'll never accept less than your full value.

And then you take it and you go away, knowing full well that you'll have people lining up at your door to rehire you, at potentially more money than you'd be giving up.

Is this a great country or what?

Having trouble surviving on that 81% of what you're owed? Well, try $30 million on for size.

Yes, Netsfans - the era of Defende Reboundo appears to be over, with Rod Thorn having seen the misfit on the wall and parted company with 30 million of the "I don't want to own this money-losing dog" Nets' owners' cash. While it was never pretty, and certainly didn't work out like it was intended, you have to admit, it was interesting.

Ol' Deke was brought in here by Gamblin' Rod Thorn after the NBA Finals destruction by Shaq in June 2002. Of course, the trade actually served two purposes: 1) to get rid of Keith Van Horn, who's, um, heart was questioned by Kenyon Martin and others and 2) to get a Shaq-fighter to combat the lack of inside stopping-power on the Nets roster.

So with former Net poster-boy-turned-whipping-boy Van Horn out of the way, and with Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson ready to step up and take a larger role in the Net offense, the thinking was that all Mutombo had to do was play defense, block shots and grab rebounds, and everything was going to be ok.

Except for that whole, hands-of-stone, runs-slower-than-some-dead-people part of his persona, which immediately caused some havoc in training camp when ol' Deke did more to slow down his own team than the opposition. Frightfully early in the season, which some of the offense tossed aside because Dikembe hadn't shown the ability to grasp the offense in his own head, let alone master it on the court, that whole fish-out-of-water thing was obvious.

Then he got hurt.

And magically, the offense started to hum better. At least it was more fun to watch with Jason Collins manning the middle, wasn't it? It was no coincidence in my book that the big 10 game winning streak started shortly after Deke got hurt and the Nets righted the ship with Jason Collins in the middle.

When Deke finally came back, it was easy for everyone to rationalize that since he'd sat out for much of the season and the Nets prospered, Ol' Deke wasn't much needed. How you pay someone $15 million to sit on the bench is beyond me, but clearly, even though he had his moments in the NBA Finals, Deke wasn't cut out for these Nets.

With four capable centers in training camp after the summer acquisition of Alonzo "AFLAC" Mourning, and playing time for maybe 3 (or 2 1/2, in Byron Scott math), someone had to go.

Admit it, you were rooting for Mutombo, weren't you? After all, how can you root against hard working Jason Collins and Aaron Williams? And aren't you the least bit curious to see what Mourning has left in the tank, and what effect he might have if he approaches his former self in his 20-minute stints?

Face it - the Nets brass was certainly afraid of any negative effect on team chemistry should Mutombo sit for long stretches and complain mightily like he did last year. Deke had to go now, since he had no real trade value with the huge contract and practice time at a premium. If Mourning can't go, well, that's a risk the Nets are willing to take to rid themselves of Mutombo.

That's a pretty expensive insurance premium to pay, isn't it?

Of course, Deke feels like things would have been different if he hadn't been injured for so long last season. Yeah, he's entitled to think that way, but Mutombo is certainly suffering from a case of "Ewing-itis" in that he's not doing a very good job of recognizing that he's not 43 anymore.

(As a side note, anyone able to win official documentation of Mutombo's actual age will win a JoeNetsfan.com sweatshirt. C'mon - aren't you the least bit curious to know how old he really is?)

Hey, don't cry for Dikembe. In all sincerity, he's been a stand-up guy from the first day, with the exception of that little hissy-fit over playing time last post-season. He's about the most charitable NBA player alive, and he's not out there spending his millions on Hummer H-2's and crack but hospitals and emergency relief aid. We should all be so horrible.

Maybe this is the true test of whether or not the Nets franchise has turned the corner. Does he go to the Knicks, play like his former self about 10 years ago, and stil ink from New Jersey? This is what would happen to the franchise before Rod Thorn's arrival.

Or, does Thorn once again prove to be the smartest man in the room, removing some of the salary cap plugs while ridding himself of an obvious mistake? For his sake, he'd better be certain that Mourning won't be sidelined for a long stretch (although, Collins and Williams handled things quite nicely last year, didn't they? About the only obstacle they couldn't overcome was the two-headed hydra of Duncan and Robinson).

In the end, I find it ironic, to say the least, that a franchise crying povery and bleeding red ink all over the back pages of the local news to the point where the team is for sale can find $30 million extra dollars to make a potential problem go away.

But don't cry for Dikembe, that's for sure.

After all, he's now making millions to NOT go to work tomorrow.

Is this a great country, or what?
- Joe

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