Gheorghe Mureșan
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| File:Gheorghe Muresan (15833043052).jpg
Mureșan in 2014
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 14, 1971 Tritenii de Jos, Romania |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Listed height | 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) |
| Listed weight | 320 lb (145 kg) |
| Career information | |
| NBA draft | 1993 / Round: 2 / Pick: 30th overall |
| Selected by the Washington Bullets | |
| Playing career | 1991–2006 |
| Position | Center |
| Number | 77 |
| Career history | |
| 1991–1992 | CS Universitatea Mobitelco (Romania) |
| 1992–1993 | Pau-Orthez (France) |
| 1993–1995 | Washington Bullets |
| 1995 | Pau-Orthez (France) |
| 1995–1997 | Washington Bullets |
| 1999–2000 | New Jersey Nets |
| 2000–2001 | Pau-Orthez (France) |
| 2005–2006 | Maryland Nighthawks (ABA) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 3,020 (9.8 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 1,957 (6.4 rpg) |
| Blocks | 455 (1.5 bpg) |
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe mureˈʃan] (
listen); born February 14, 1971), also known as Ghiţă, Big Ghiţă (Romanian: [ˈɡit͡sə]) or George, is a Romanian retired professional basketball player. At 7 feet 7 inches (2.31 m), he is one of the two tallest players in NBA history, along with Sudanese player Manute Bol. He is the tallest man in Romania and second tallest living person in the European Union after British actor and former basketball player Neil Fingleton, who stands 7 feet 7.5 inches (2.324 m).
Contents
Basketball career
Mureșan was born in Tritenii de Jos, Cluj County, and played competitive basketball at Cluj University. He played professionally in the French league with Pau-Orthez during the 1992–93 season and was an instant hit with fans. The NBA took interest in him and he was selected by the Washington Bullets in the 1993 NBA draft.[1] He played in the NBA from 1993 to 2000 showing signs of a promising career that was derailed by injuries. His best season came in the 1994–1995 campaign, when he averaged 14.5 points per game.
After returning to France and playing for the start of the 1995–96 season with Pau-Orthez, he was named the NBA's Most Improved Player for the 1995–96 season after averaging 14.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.26 blocks per game while making a league-leading 58.4 percent of his field goals. He led in field goal percentage again the following season, with a 60.4% average. Overall, he holds career averages of 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.48 blocks per game and a .573 field goal percentage. He joined the New Jersey Nets for the final 31 games of his career. After ending his NBA career, Mureșan had another stint in the French league before returning to the United States with his family. He normally wore number 77, in reference to his height.
On March 11, 2007, Mureșan played a game for the Maryland Nighthawks as part of the tallest lineup in the history of basketball.[2] This was the only basketball game Mureșan ever played where he was not the tallest person on the court, as Sun Mingming is 7'9" (2.36 m).
Other work
In 2004, Gheorghe Muresan founded Giant Basketball Academy (GBA), a program dedicated to teaching the proper fundamentals of basketball to boys and girls of all ages.[3]
Muresan is also part of the Washington Wizards marketing and public relations team, serving as an "ambassador" for the team.[4]
Outside basketball, Mureșan has dabbled in acting, playing the title character in 1998 feature film My Giant starring comedian Billy Crystal. He appeared as a ventriloquist in the music video for Eminem's breakthrough single "My Name Is." He has appeared in commercials for Snickers candy bars, and sports television network ESPN. Most recently, Mureșan co-authored two young adult fitness and health books: The Boy's Fitness Guide and The Girl's Fitness Guide.[5]
Together with his wife Liliane and sons George and Victor, Mureșan had been a resident of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.[6] but currently resides in suburban Washington.[7] His oldest son, George, is currently playing for the Georgetown Hoyas as a walk-on player as of the upcoming 2016-17 season.
In 2006, he appeared at #28 on the Romanian Television's list of 100 Greatest Romanians of all-time, as the 3rd highest ranked athlete/sportsman on the list (Athlete Nadia Comăneci and footballer Gheorghe Hagi were placed 9th and 13th, respectively).
NBA career statistics
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993-94 | Washington | 54 | 2 | 12.0 | .545 | .000 | .676 | 3.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 5.6 |
| 1994-95 | Washington | 73 | 58 | 23.6 | .560 | .000 | .709 | 6.7 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 10.0 |
| 1995-96 | Washington | 76 | 76 | 29.5 | .584 | .000 | .619 | 9.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 14.5 |
| 1996-97 | Washington | 73 | 69 | 25.3 | .604 | .000 | .618 | 6.6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 10.6 |
| 1998-99 | New Jersey | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 1999-00 | New Jersey | 30 | 2 | 8.9 | .456 | .000 | .605 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 3.5 |
| Career | 307 | 207 | 21.9 | .573 | .000 | .644 | 6.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 9.8 | |
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Giant Basketball Academy, "http://www.giantbasketball.com/about_gm.php"
- ↑ "http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64318078/"
- ↑ "http://www.bigbookpress.com/girlsfitness.html"
- ↑ Staff. Giant undertaking, The Washington Times, February 6, 2004. Accessed May 26, 2011. "That was how the former Washington Bullets center and one-time movie actor—he appeared with Billy Crystal in My Giant—spent most of the past few years: being with his wife, tending his two sons and taking care of their home in Franklin Lakes, N.J. "
- ↑ "http://hoopshype.com/interviews/narducci/whatever-happened-to-gheorghe-muresan"
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.comLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Career statistics and player information from WNBA.comLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). and Basketball-Reference.comLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). (archived from 2002)
- Gheorghe Muresan profile at InterBasket
- Gheorghe Muresan at the Internet Movie Database
- Georghe Muresan Trading Cards/Autographs Page
- Pages with broken file links
- 1971 births
- Living people
- American people of Romanian descent
- Centers (basketball)
- Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez players
- New Jersey Nets players
- People from Cluj County
- People from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
- People with gigantism
- Romanian basketball players
- Romanian expatriate basketball people in the United States
- Romanian expatriates in France
- Washington Bullets draft picks
- Washington Bullets players
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