Gheorghe Mureșan

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox basketball biography Gheorghe Dumitru "Ghiță" Mureșan (Template:IPA; born 14 February 1971), also known as "the Giant" (Template:Langx), is a Romanian-American former professional basketball player. At Template:Convert, he is one of the two tallest players to have played in the NBA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Mureșan was born in Tritenii de Jos,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cluj County, Romania. Although his parents' heights were relatively typical, he grew to his remarkable height due to a pituitary gland disorder called gigantism.<ref name= GBA />

Professional career

CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca (1991–1992)

Mureșan played competitive basketball at Universitatea Cluj, becoming national champion in 1992.<ref name="GSP">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez (1992–1993)

Mureșan 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.<ref name="GSP" />

Washington Bullets / Wizards (1993–1998)

Mureșan was selected by the NBA's Washington Bullets in the 1993 NBA draft.<ref name="draft">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Citation needed

New Jersey Nets (1999–2000)

Mureșan joined the New Jersey Nets for the final 31 games of his NBA career.

Return to Pau-Orthez (2000–2001)

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.<ref name="GSP" /> He normally wore number 77, in reference to his height.

On 11 March 2007, Mureșan played a game for the Maryland Nighthawks as part of the tallest lineup in the history of basketball.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> This was the only basketball game Mureșan played where he was not the tallest person on the court, as Sun Mingming is Template:Cvt.

Other work

Mureșan meeting with Nicholas F. Taubman, the U.S. Ambassador to Romania

In 2004, Mureșan founded the Giant Basketball Academy (GBA), a program dedicated to teaching the proper fundamentals of basketball to boys and girls of all ages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name= GBA>Template:Cite web</ref> The Academy is located in Ashburn, Virginia.<ref>Gheorghe Muresan's Giant Basketball Academy</ref>

Mureșan is also part of the Washington Wizards marketing and public relations team,<ref name= GBA /> serving as an "ambassador" for the team.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mureșan co-authored two young adult fitness and health books: The Boy's Fitness Guide and The Girl's Fitness Guide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.Template:Cn

Acting

Outside basketball, Mureșan has dabbled in acting, playing the title character in 1998 feature film My Giant starring comedian Billy Crystal.<ref name= Rotten>Template:Cite web</ref> Mureșan also acted in the films Adventures of Serial Buddies (2011) and Manodrome (2023).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.

Personal life

Mureșan and his wife Liliana and sons George and Victor have resided in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but they relocated to the suburbs of Washington, D.C.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since the 2016–2017 season, his oldest son, George, has played for the Georgetown University Hoyas as a walk-on forward. His younger son Victor joined the Hoyas as a walk-on in the 2020–21 season. Victor is Template:Convert and Template:Convert.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

Template:NBA player statistics start |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1993–94 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 54 || 2 || 12.0 ||.545 ||.000 ||.676 || 3.6 || 0.3 || 0.5 || 0.9 || 5.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1994–95 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 73 ||58 || 23.6 ||.560 ||.000 ||.709 || 6.7 || 0.5 || 0.7 || 1.7 || 10.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1995–96 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 76 || 76 || 29.5 ||style="background:#cfecec;"|.584* ||.000 ||.619 || 9.6 || 0.7 || 0.7 || 2.3 || 14.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1996–97 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 73 || 69 || 25.3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"|.604* ||.000 ||.618 || 6.6 || 0.4 || 0.6 || 1.3 || 10.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1998–99 | style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey | 1 || 0 || 1.0 ||.000 ||.000 ||.000 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0|| 0.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00 | style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey | 30 || 2 || 8.9 ||.456 ||.000 ||.605 || 2.3 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 0.4 || 3.5 |- class=sortbottom | style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career | 307 || 207 || 21.9 ||.573 ||.000 ||.644 || 6.4 || 0.5 || 0.6 || 1.5 || 9.8 Template:S-end

Playoffs

Template:NBA player statistics start |- | style="text-align:left;"|1997 | style="text-align:left;"|Washington | 3 || 3 || 23.3 || .444 || – || .875 || 6.0 || .0 || .0 || 1.3 || 5.0 Template:S-end

See also

• List of tallest players in NBA history
• List of tallest people

External links

• Template:Basketballstats (archived from 2002)
• Gheorghe Muresan profile at InterBasket
• Template:IMDb name
• Georghe Muresan Trading Cards/Autographs Page Template:Webarchive
• NBA.com