The son of one of the NBA’s greatest shot blockers is emerging as an elite recruit
This is typically the time of year when college basketball coaches are out on the recruiting trail, reinforcing relationships with their top targets and seeking out new high school prospects to pursue in the future.
That’s obviously not the case in 2020.
With the NCAA banning all in-person recruiting due to the coronavirus pandemic — and all of the major grassroots basketball events on hold indefinitely — coaches have been forced to take a different approach. Recruiting hasn’t stopped, it’s just changed. New scholarship offers have still been going out, and rising star center Ryan Mutombo has been one of the hottest names in the class of 2021 this spring.
College coaches haven’t seen him play in person recently, of course, but they have been looking at the film of his impressive junior season. In the past two weeks alone, Mutombo has picked up scholarship offers from Florida, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Stanford, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Clemson. That’s in addition to previous offers from Georgetown, Georgia Tech and Texas A&M, among others, and continued interest from major programs like North Carolina. Last week, Louisville reached out for the first time.
It’s clear that Mutombo’s recruitment is taking off.
The Lovett School (Ga.) head coach Mike Harner said Mutombo — the 6-foot-11 son of NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo — put on about 15 to 20 pounds between his sophomore and junior seasons, a change that has taken his game to the next level.
This past season, Mutombo averaged 24 points, 12 rebounds and 4.8 blocked shots per game playing for his Atlanta high school. He went into the season unranked. Earlier this year, 247Sports inserted him at No. 44 overall in its class of 2021 rankings, a major statement for a player not previously rated.
“He truly is a back-to-the basket ‘5’ who’s developing his ability to step out,” Harner told the Herald-Leader. “He’s more of an old-school post — he’s not a stretch ‘5.’ He likes to get down on the block, and he’s got really good skill around the basket. Good footwork. He does have the ability to step out and hit 15-foot, 18-foot jump shots. He’s not out to three-point range yet, but I believe that’s within his capabilities, because he has really good shooting touch and form.”
The bio section of Mutombo’s Twitter page is brief, and telling. “5 man,” is all it says.
“He likes it down in there,” Harner said with a chuckle.
That’s often not the case with post players his age. In many cases, top frontcourt recruits — even those who are 6-11 and 235 pounds, like Mutombo — tend to want to play down a position and show off their versatility away from the basket, whether those skills are really there or not.
That’s not Mutombo’s mentality. He likes the dirty work in the post, especially on the defensive end. His father was one of the most feared post defenders in NBA history. He led the league in blocked shots in five consecutive seasons in the 1990s and is still No. 2 on the NBA’s list of all-time shot blockers (behind only Hakeem Olajuwon). He passed that trait on to his son.
“He’s got really great instincts,” Harner said of Ryan Mutombo. “He blocks probably 95 percent of his shots with his left hand, which comes natural. Most of the guys he goes against are right-handed, so that gives him an advantage. He’s very controlled when he blocks a shot. He doesn’t swat it out of bounds. He’s not going for the highlight reel. It’s either a block to himself or to a teammate. He just has great natural instincts with being able to block shots.”
Mutombo’s recruitment
Harner said he hasn’t had any contact with Kentucky’s coaching staff, but Mutombo specifically mentioned his own interest in the Wildcats’ program over the winter, telling 247Sports that he’d like to hear from UK and referring to it as one of “the big schools that kids dream about when they’re growing up.”
There’s still plenty of time for Kentucky (and others) to get involved. Mutombo is in no hurry with the recruiting process. He still has one more season of high school basketball and will probably take several visits — when campus trips are again permitted — before he makes a college decision.
Right now, he’s focused on getting better on the court. The possibilities are just about limitless.
Mutombo is young for the 2021 class — he won’t turn 17 years old until June — and he’s probably still growing. His father was listed at 7-2 and 245 pounds as a player, and Ryan could be even bigger. Harner said he has been told his star player could grow to 7-2 or 7-3, and they’re hoping to have him in the range of 250-255 pounds by the time he gets to college.
Over the past year, he has become more confident and controlled with his body, and that has led to better results on the court.
“He has dedicated himself to getting stronger, more athletic,” Harner said. “He’s not getting pushed off his spot. He’s able to catch balls that aren’t perfectly thrown to him. Just the overall strength has given him more confidence. And some players — when they get confidence — can get cocky and stop working, but he’s soaked it up, ‘I’m hungry. I want more.’ And that’s the great thing about Ryan. He’s a great teammate, too. There have been games where he got 40 and didn’t care. And there are games when he’s got 16 and we won and he was just as happy.”
He’s also getting private instruction from one of the best centers in basketball history. That certainly won’t hurt his development.
Harner said he has been watching film this spring and could probably count on one hand the number of times Mutombo had single post coverage with a defender behind him. Opposing teams often front the 6-11 teenager in the post and/or run additional defenders at him as soon as the ball is passed his way. College defenses — especially if Mutombo goes to a star-studded program — won’t be able to play him like that.
“I think at the next level, if he can get more single coverage with a guy playing behind him, I think you’re going to be able to see his skill set — with his post moves — a lot more,” Harner said. “And he’s a very willing passer. I think that’s what makes him so fun to play with. He commands so much attention down there, but he’s not afraid to kick it back out. And he does a really good job of recognizing early whether to go ahead and make the move or to kick it back out.”
Georgetown, his father’s alma mater, is obviously in a prime spot in Mutombo’s recruitment. He has known Hoyas Coach Patrick Ewing — another of the game’s greatest centers — his entire life. Georgia Tech was also around early, and one of its top former players, James Forrest, is Mutombo’s AAU coach and will probably be an influential voice in his recruitment.
But it sounds like the blue bloods are coming, and they shouldn’t be discounted.
“I think he would want to play at the highest level he could, whether that’s a Kentucky or Duke or Carolina, whether that’s Louisville or somebody on the up and come that’s rising as a program,” Harner said.
During their recent end-of-the season meeting, Mutombo told Harner that he was in no rush with his recruitment. He wants as many options as possible.
“He told me he was going to wait until the spring of his senior year to decide. I think he wants to try and get an offer from everybody in the country. I think that’s where he wants to position himself. He wants to be the best player in the state of Georgia — if he can get there — and then ultimately be one of the top players in the country.”
