Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history: No. 70 – Dikembe Mutombo
Career: 1991 – 2009
Achievements: All-NBA (3x); All-Star (8x); All-Defense (6x); Defensive Player of the Year (4x); led the league in rebounds (3x) and blocks (3x); 21st in career rebounding; second all-time in blocks
We come to the next step in our parsing down of the league’s best defenders. At this point, Dikembe Mutombo wins a spot on the list, which will push another similar player, Ben Wallace, just off of the list. Mutombo’s combination of elite impact and sustained success win out, although both were among the best defenders this league has ever seen.
Mutombo was a shot-blocking machine from the moment he joined the league as a 25-year old. He averaged 3.0 blocks as a rookie and two years later led the league with a whopping 4.1 per game, and was the league’s leading shot-blocker for the next three seasons. He has three of the seven highest per-game blocks averages of the last 30 years, mixed in with names like David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Mutombo altered the very field of play with his long reach and shot anticipation, and his signature finger-wag is iconic. Whatever team he was on instantly became a top defensive unit, and he twice made it to the NBA Finals in 2001 and 2003. He won four Defensive Player of the Year awards, tied with Ben Wallace for the most all-time. What is interesting is that he is the only player to win that award on multiple teams, and he did it defending the paint for three different teams: the Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks (2x), and Philadelphia 76ers. Add in three All-NBA selections and eight All-Star appearances and his resume speaks for itself.