Mehmet Okur

Mehmet Okur — Biography

Mehmet Murat Okur (born 26 May 1979 in Yalova) is a 2.11-meter Turkish former basketball player who spent most of his career at power forward and center and became one of the first Turkish players to make an impact in the NBA. Selected 37th overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2001 NBA draft, he became the first Turkish player to win an NBA championship when the Pistons took the title in 2004.

Okur had his best years with the Utah Jazz, where seven seasons of accurate three-point shooting and clutch scoring earned him the nickname "the Money Man" and an NBA All-Star selection, a first for a Turkish player. He went on to play for the New Jersey Nets and Portland Trail Blazers before announcing his retirement on 8 November 2012. With the Turkish national team he reached the final of EuroBasket 2001 and the final of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, both ending in silver medals.

After retiring, Okur moved into coaching, joining the Phoenix Suns as a player development coach in 2016 and becoming the first Turkish citizen to coach in the NBA; he later took on coaching roles in Turkish basketball as well.