Jean-Jacques Nzadi da Conceição (born 3 April 1964, in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

), more commonly known as J.J. Conceição or Jean-Jacques, is an Angolan-Portuguese retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. A 2.02 m (6'7 "), 100 kg (220 lbs.)

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

, he represented

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

at the

AfroBasket The AfroBasket (alternatively known as the FIBA Africa Championship, FIBA African Championship, or FIBA AfroBasket) is the men's basketball continental championship contested by the senior national teams of Africa Africa is the world's s ...

, where he won a record seven African titles. At the club level, he won five Angolan League championship titles with Primeiro de Agosto and four Angolan Cups, before moving to Benfica in Portugal, where he won seven Portuguese national championships and three Portuguese Federation Cups. He also went on to play for CSP Limoges in France,

Baloncesto Málaga Baloncesto Málaga S.A.D., also known as Unicaja for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Málaga, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Champions League. Founded in 1977, the team is sponsored by the Spani ...

in Spain, and Portugal Telecom in Portugal.

Professional career

Even though he never played in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, Jean-Jacques enjoyed a successful career in Europe, especially in Portugal, where he won 10 Portuguese national championships (7 with Benfica and 3 with Portugal Telecom), 7 Portuguese Federation Cups (5 with Benfica and 2 with Portugal Telecom), 5 Portuguese Super Cups (4 with Benfica and 1 with Portugal Telecom), and 6 Portuguese League Cups (all with Benfica).

National team career

As a member of the senior Angolan national team, Conceição won seven

gold medals, namely in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. He also won silver medals in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, and a bronze medal in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. He also played for his country at the

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

in 1986,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. He also played at the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

, where he faced the famed Dream Team. The Americans won easily, 116-48, but Conceição led the Angolans with ten points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Post-career

In 2011, in Antananarivo, within the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of

FIBA Africa FIBA Africa is a zone within the FIBA basketball association which contains all 54 national African FIBA federations. It was founded in 1961. FIBA Africa maintains offices in Cairo and in Abidjan. Zones The 54 federations of FIBA Africa are g ...

, Jacques was named the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

in African basketball history. On 19 June 2013, Jean-Jacques became a FIBA Hall of Fame player.

Titles and medals won

Pro clubs

Angolan junior national team

Angolan senior national team

Personal life

Jean-Jacques Conceição is the father to Angolan-Portuguese basketball player Jacques Conceição.

References

External links

*
FIBA EuroLeague ProfileSpanish League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conceicao, Jean-Jacques 1964 births Living people Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Angolan men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Baloncesto Málaga players Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics C.D. Primeiro de Agosto men's basketball players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Liga ACB players Limoges CSP players Olympic basketball players for Angola Portuguese men's basketball players Power forwards S.L. Benfica basketball players Basketball players from Kinshasa 1986 FIBA World Championship players 1994 FIBA World Championship players Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen