Angola - Jean-Jacques Conceicao
In the history of Angolan basketball, one man towers above the rest. Jean-Jacques Conceicao, who was born in Kinshasa in 1964 but spent most of his career playing in Portugal, represented Angola in eight FIBA Africa Championships – winning seven of them – three World Championships and two Olympic Games.
DOB: 3 April July 1964
Place of birth: Kinshasa
Height: 198cm
Position: Power Forward
In the history of Angolan basketball, one man towers above the rest. Jean-Jacques Conceicao, who was born in Kinshasa in 1964 but spent most of his career playing in Portugal, represented Angola in eight FIBA Africa Championships – winning seven of them – three FIBA World Championships and two Olympic Games.
In club basketball, he was a key player in a highly successful Benfica team, helping them secure seven Portuguese league titles, before spells with CSP Limoges in France, Unicaja Málaga in Spain and Portugal Telecom, where he ended his career.
No other player in the national team’s history has been able to match his level of performance, which seldom dropped during the more than 15 years he wore the his country’s jersey.
His final game for Angola came in Egypt during the 2003 FIBA Africa Championship, in which Angola defeated Nigeria in the final.
Conceicao’s fine aerial ability always seemed to make him look taller than his modest 198cm and was the envy of many other power forwards, while many of his taller opponents appeared to look clumsy and heavy-footed.