The Whiteboard: How we want to remember Dikembe Mutombo

I had the good fortune of meeting Dikembe Mutombo just once, back in 2015 as he was being inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. It can not be overstated just how imposing a figure he cut from a distance, how enormous he was compared to anyone else in that media room conducting interviews before the ceremony — a room that included Spencer Haywood, Tom Heinsohn, Lisa Leslie.

But as he sat behind a generic folding table, with his knees folded up toward his chest in a chair that even Robert Pack would have found a bit small, you couldn't help but swoon. He was the happiest, most grateful guy in that room and, you could tell the intensity of those emotions set up apart at least as much as his height in every room he walked into.

Mutuombo reportedly passed away today at the age of 58 from brain cancer. It feels tragic to have lost such an incredible person so early, but we can all take some solace in the fact that he made the absolute most of every moment.

How we should remember Dikembe Mutombo

I had spent nearly two decades watching him absolutely control an NBA court, swatting away shots and shaking the resolve of even the most powerful interior finishers. As a fan of the Pacers growing up, he scared me as much as any potential opponent. After meeting him and speaking with him in that media room nearly a decade ago, I wrote about the ways in which I wanted to remember him.

"If you can only remember three things about Mutombo, let it be his humanitarian efforts, his deep gratitude, and what is probably the most dramatic image of pure joy ever expressed on a basketball court. That would be Mutombo on his back, clutching the ball with both hands after his Denver Nuggets eliminated the Seattle Supersonics. It was the first time in NBA playoff history that an eight seed had knocked out a top seed in the first round."

He was one of the best players in NBA history. He also helped open a hospital, funded in no small part by his own personal fortune, in Kinshasa, Congo, which has improved the health of hundreds of thousands of people. He helped grow the game of basketball in Africa, serving, officially, as the NBA's Global Ambassador and, unofficially, as its most passionate convert. He saw the power of the game to change lives and then he actually made sure it did. He was beyond grateful for every opportunity he was given and for everyone who had helped open a door or supported him on his journey.

And, he appeared to love every minute of it.

I am of the belief that joy is one of the most underrecognized and untapped resources in basketball. It's what makes the game worth watching and playing, what often separates the good teams from the great ones. Mutuombo carved out his niche as an intimidator but I'm not sure anyone brought as much joy to the game, or took as much from it.

That's what I want to remember most.

"So look at Mutombo’s remarkable life of athletic and human achievement, of selfless charity and ruthless defense, of serial intimidation and unstinting good humor. Look at him there, sprawled out and triumphant on the court, someone at the start of a life spent putting blood, sweat, and tears into a dream much larger than himself, and then seeing that dream through to the end."

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NBA news roundup:

• In case you missed it over the weekend, the Knicks drove a stake through the heart of every Villanova alum in the tri-state area, mapping out a trade to send Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns. The deal isn't final yet, complicated financials still need to be worked out, but it's presumed these are just formalities.

• Joel Embiid says he only cares about his health for the playoffs this season. To his credit, he's reportedly lost 25-30 pounds over the offseason to reduce stress on his body. However,

"the best-laid plans of mice and men and load management oft' go awry" is a well-known saying for a reason.

• It's literally still Day 1, but the Miami Heat are saying all the right things about Jimmy Butler and their plans to put a rocky offseason behind them.

Quick hitter: Are we sure the Knicks are better with Karl-Anthony Towns?

I may be in the minority here among the NBA team at FanSided but I have some serious questions about how the Karl-Anthony Towns trade really helps the Knicks. Yes, they had a hole at center with Mitchell Robinson potentiall out until January but the track record of winning teams featuring Towns as the long big are not great.

The Knicks are hoping their perimeter defense and scheme can be enough to compensate for his personal defensive deficiencies and, to be fair, the Timberwolves defense held on fairly well with Towns on the floor without Gobert last season. But he doesn't really solve the problem they were faced with of lacking an interior defensive presence and the Knicks will have to hope the improvement he provides over Randle on the offensive end is worth it.

But, while Towns is clearly a better and more efficient scorer than Randle, he's firmly a complementary one. He doesn't provide as much as an individual shot-creator and one could argue (I am) that swapping him out means the Knicks are putting more on Jalen Brunson's plate. When you factor in that you're also losing Donte DiVincenzo I think it looks a lot to me shuffling things around and probably ending up with a net neutral impact as the most likely scenario. Is that really worth shaking things up for?