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Center · 1987–88

Melvin Turpin

Kentucky made him an All-American — a 6'11" center who once hit 18 of 22 shots for 42 points against Tennessee and started on the Wildcats' 1984 Final Four team. Washington took him sixth overall in 1984 and dealt him straight to Cleveland. After a season with Spain's CAI Zaragoza, he was exchanged to the Jazz for Jose Ortiz, part of an NBA run of 361 games and 8 points a night.

Weight troubles in a draft class holding Olajuwon, Jordan, Barkley and Stockton got him labeled a bust, but he kept his humor, telling Sports Illustrated in 2004 that the era's thinking on big men 'was medieval.' Fork Union Military Academy enshrined him in 2000. He died in July 2010, at 49.

HOW HE CAME & WENTCleveland sent him and Darryl Dawkins to Utah for Kent Benson and Dell Curry on October 8, 1987, a three-team deal meant to thicken the Jazz front line. A year later Utah swapped him to Zaragoza in Spain for Jose Ortiz.

Full name
Melvin Harrison Turpin
Utah Jazz tenure
1987–88
Position
Center
Born
1960, Lexington, Kentucky
Died
2010
Height
6′11″ (211 cm)
Weight
240 lb (109 kg)
College
Kentucky
Drafted
1984, 1st round (No. 6), Washington
Signature in the archive Melvin Turpin Autograph

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

With the Jazz

MELVIN TURPIN · 1987–88 · PER GAME
SEASONTEAMGMPGPPGRPGAPGSPGBPGFG%3P%FT%
1987–88UTA7912.85.93.00.40.30.9.512.333.724
JAZZ TOTAL1 SEASON7912.85.93.00.40.30.9.512.333.724

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗  ·  Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

MELVIN TURPIN · 4 NOTES
  • A postgraduate year at Fork Union Military Academy made him Virginia's top varsity player, averaging 19 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks.
  • He holds the SEC tournament record for most field goals made in tournament play.
  • The New York Times reported in August 1988 that his weight had become an obstacle to the delicate swap the Jazz were negotiating with the Spanish club Zaragoza.
  • After his season in Spain he came back for one last NBA year, with the Washington Bullets in 1989-90.