Gheorghe Mureșan

Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe mureˈʃan] (listen); born February 14, 1971), also known as "Ghiță" (Romanian: [ˈɡit͡sə]), is a Romanian retired professional basketball player. At 7 feet 7 inches (2.31 m), he is the tallest player ever to have played in the NBA.[2][3]

Gheorghe Mureșan
Mureșan in 2014
Personal information
Born (1971-02-14) February 14, 1971
Tritenii de Jos, Romania
NationalityRomanian
Listed height7 ft 7 in (2.31 m)
Listed weight303 lb (137 kg)[1]
Career information
NBA draft1993 / Round: 2 / Pick: 30th overall
Selected by the Washington Bullets
Playing career1991–2001
PositionCenter
Number77
Career history
1991–1992CS Universitatea Mobitelco
1992–1993Pau-Orthez
1993–1998Washington Bullets / Wizards
1999–2000New Jersey Nets
2000–2001Pau-Orthez
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points3,020 (9.8 ppg)
Rebounds1,957 (6.4 rpg)
Blocks455 (1.5 bpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Early life

Mureșan was born in Tritenii de Jos,[4][5] Cluj County, Romania. Although his parents were of normal height, he grew to his remarkable height due to a pituitary gland disorder.[6]

Basketball career

He played competitive basketball at Universitatea Cluj, becoming national champion in 1992.[7][8] He played professionally in the French league with Pau-Orthez during the 1992–93 season and was an instant hit with fans, also managing to win the French League Cup.[7] He was selected by the NBA franchise Washington Bullets in the 1993 NBA draft.[9] 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 1995–1996 campaign, when he averaged 14.5 points per game.

Mureșan 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 at Pau-Orthez where he won the French league before returning to the United States with his family.[7] 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.[10] This was the only basketball game Mureșan ever played where he was not the tallest person on the court, as Sun Mingming is 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m).

Other work
Mureșan (right) meeting with Nicholas F. Taubman, the U.S. Ambassador to Romania

In 2004, Gheorghe Mureşan founded the Giant Basketball Academy (GBA), a program dedicated to teaching the proper fundamentals of basketball to boys and girls of all ages.[11][6] The Academy is located in Ashburn, Virginia.[12]

Mureşan is also part of the Washington Wizards marketing and public relations team,[6] serving as an "ambassador" for the team.[13]

Outside basketball, Mureșan has dabbled in acting, playing the title character in 1998 feature film My Giant starring comedian Billy Crystal.[14] 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.[15]

In 2013, Mureșan participated in the first annual 3v3 UMTTR (You Matter) Basketball Tournament to increase awareness, prevention and research of teen suicide, the leading cause of death among adults and children between the ages of 15 and 24.

Personal life

Mureșan and his wife Liliana and sons George and Victor have resided in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey,[16] but they relocated to suburban Washington, D.C.[17] Since the 2016–2017 season, his oldest son, George, has played for the Georgetown University Hoyas as a walk-on forward.

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
 *  Led the league

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1993–94 Washington 54212.0.545.000.6763.60.30.50.95.6
1994–95 Washington 735823.6.560.000.7096.70.50.71.710.0
1995–96 Washington 767629.5.584*.000.6199.60.70.72.314.5
1996–97 Washington 736925.3.604*.000.6186.60.40.61.310.6
1998–99 New Jersey 101.0.000.000.0000.00.00.00.00.0
1999–00 New Jersey 3028.9.456.000.6052.30.30.00.43.5
Career 30720721.9.573.000.6446.40.50.61.59.8

See also

References
  1. "Gheorghe Mureșan". National Basketball Association. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  2. Norris, Luke (April 8, 2020). "What Happened to Gheorghe Muresan, the Tallest Player in NBA History?". Sportscasting.com. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  3. "Muresan's back and ready to play". ESPN. October 23, 1999. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  4. Vincent, Mal (May 14, 1998). "Basketball's Muresan becomes a big star". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  5. "A brief biography of Gheorghe Muresan, the Romanian who became the tallest player ever in the NBA". Romaniajournal.ro. January 6, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  6. "Georghe Muresan". giantbasketball.com. Giant Basketball Academy. Archived from the original on 2010-05-25. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  7. Raymond Füstös (19 June 2018). "SPECIAL GSP Ghiță Mureșan vorbește sincer și direct despre viața în America și despre baschetul românesc: "85% dintre jucătorii care se retrag din NBA rămân fără bani!"" [SPECIAL GSP Ghiță Mureșan speaks honestly and directly about life in America and about Romanian basketball: "85% of the players who retire from the NBA remain without money!"] (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  8. Șchiopu, Valentin (12 December 2018). "Ghiță Mureșan, după 30 de ani în baschet: "Nu sunt flămând după popularitate"" [Ghiță Mureșan, after 30 years in basketball: "I'm not hungry for popularity"] (in Romanian). Pressone.ro. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  9. "1993 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
  10. "Land Of The Giants", Deadspin.com, 2007-03-21, retrieved 2013-09-28
  11. https://www.giantbasketball.com/gba-coaches
  12. https://www.giantbasketball.com/
  13. Casey, Tim (2013-12-02). "Gheorghe Muresan makes time for laughs and hoops". Sports on Earth. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  14. "My Giant (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  15. "Girl's Fitness Guide". Bigbookpress.com. 2011-12-18. Archived from the original on 2017-04-27. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  16. "Giant undertaking". The Washington Times. February 6, 2004. Retrieved 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.
  17. "Whatever happened to Gheorghe Muresan?". HoopsHype.com. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
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