Kelly Tripucka

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Kelly Tripucka
Personal information
Born (1959-02-16) February 16, 1959 (age 65)
CSP Limoges
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points
12,142 (17.2 ppg)
Rebounds2,703 (3.8 rpg)
Assists2,090 (3.0 apg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Peter Kelly Tripucka (born February 16, 1959) is an American former

color analyst for the New York Knicks for four years, ending with the 2011–12 season.[1]

High school and college

Tripucka grew up in

NCAA Tournament
in each of his four years, with the Irish earning their first, and to this point, their only Final Four appearance in 1978.

Professional career

Detroit Pistons

Tripucka was selected 12th overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 1981 NBA draft. He proved to be a prolific scorer, averaging 21.6 points per game, and he made the All-Star team in his rookie year. The following season Tripucka had his best season as a professional, averaging a career-best 26.5 points and 4.1 assists per game. He played in only 58 games, however. In his third season with the Pistons, Tripucka continued to play well, averaging 21.3 points per game, and qualified for the All-Star team a second time in three seasons. He helped lead the Pistons to their first playoff appearance since the 1976–77 season, but they were eliminated in five games in the first round. The following season, Tripucka played in only 55 games and averaged 19.1 points per game. He did start all nine playoff games, however, and helped the Pistons advance to the second round. The 1985–86 season, Tripucka's fifth, was another successful one. He missed only one game during the regular season, averaged 20 points per game, and helped lead the Pistons to a third straight post-season appearance. In the playoffs, however, the Pistons were eliminated in the first round.

Utah Jazz

After five successful seasons in Detroit, the Pistons traded Tripucka and teammate Kent Benson to the Utah Jazz for Adrian Dantley and future draft picks. Tripucka and Jazz coach Frank Layden did not get along with each other; at the time, Layden was beginning to build the team around the talents of John Stockton and Karl Malone, and Tripucka was upset at his lack of involvement in the offense. He had two lackluster seasons with the franchise, averaging only 9.1 points per game during his two seasons with the team. The Jazz qualified for the playoffs during both of those seasons, but Tripucka made little impression. During the 1988 NBA playoffs, he would only appear in two games.

Charlotte Hornets

After two frustrating seasons with the Jazz, Tripucka was traded to the Charlotte Hornets (a new expansion team at the time) for Mike Brown. In his first season with the Hornets, he returned to his All-Star form, leading the Hornets with 22.6 points per game. In a game between the Hornets and the Jazz in 1989, shortly after Layden resigned as the Jazz's coach, Karl Malone expressed his devotion to Layden by writing "FRANK" on the heels of his sneakers. In a mock gesture, Tripucka responded by writing "DICK" on the back of his shoes (for then-Hornets coach Dick Harter). The move was seen as a jab at Layden and Malone, whom Tripucka felt ran him out of Utah. In Tripucka's second season with the Hornets, he averaged 15.6 points per game, but the team struggled, finishing one game behind their inaugural season's record. The 1990–91 season, Tripucka's third with the Hornets and tenth overall, saw him average career lows with only 7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, as he came off the bench.

CSP Limoges

After failing to find suitors in the NBA, Tripucka signed with French

CSP Limoges for the 1991–1992 season.[4][5] In February 1992, he was replaced with Tim Legler.[6] In 7 league games, he averaged 17.6 points per game.[7]

Later life

Tripucka was a

Westwood One
radio.

Personal life

Tripucka resided in 2013 in Boonton Township, New Jersey with his family.[8] He is the son of former football quarterback Frank Tripucka, and father of professional football player Travis Tripucka.

Honors

In 2000, Tripucka was named to the

Star-Ledger named Tripucka the "New Jersey Boys' Basketball Player of the Century". In 2008, he was named to the "50 Greatest Pistons" team. Tripucka shares the record for most points scored in his first road playoff game, with 40. He is one of six Pistons to have scored 40 or more in a playoff game, along with Dave Bing, Isiah Thomas, Jerry Stackhouse, Chauncey Billups and Richard (Rip) Hamilton
.

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
1981–82 Detroit 82 82 37.5 .496 .227 .797 5.4 3.3 1.1 0.2 21.6
1982–83 Detroit 58 58 38.8* .489 .378 .845 4.6 4.1 1.2 0.3 26.5
1983–84 Detroit 76 75 32.8 .459 .118 .815 4.0 3.0 0.9 0.2 21.3
1984–85 Detroit 55 43 30.5 .477 .400 .885 4.0 2.5 0.9 0.3 19.1
1985–86 Detroit 81 81 32.4 .498 .480 .856 4.3 3.3 1.1 0.1 20.0
1986–87 Utah 79 76 23.6 .469 .365 .872 3.1 3.1 1.1 0.1 10.1
1987–88 Utah 49 21 19.9 .459 .419 .868 2.4 2.1 0.7 0.1 7.5
1988–89 Charlotte 71 65 32.4 .467 .357 .866 3.8 3.2 1.2 0.2 22.6
1989–90 Charlotte 79 73 30.4 .430 .365 .883 4.1 2.8 0.9 0.2 15.6
1990–91 Charlotte 71 1 16.7 .454 .333 .910 2.3 2.1 0.4 0.2 7.0
Career 707 575 29.6 .473 .361 .849 3.8 3.0 1.0 0.2 17.2
All-Star 2 0 10.5 .429 – .500 0.5 2.0 0.5 0.0 3.5

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1984
Detroit
 5 – 41.6 .471 .000 .804 4.6 3.0 2.2 0.0 27.4
1985
Detroit
 9 9 32.0 .415 .000 .875 4.3 3.2 0.4 0.3 14.8
1986
Detroit
 4 4 43.8 .465 – .913 5.8 2.3 0.8 0.5 21.8
1987
Utah
 5 5 14.0 .700 .000 1.000 1.4 0.6 0.8 0.0 6.4
1988
Utah
 2 0 4.5 .333 – – 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.5
Career 25 18 30.0 .462 .000 .856 3.7 2.3 0.9 0.2 15.6

Personal life

He is the son of former Notre Dame Quarterback and Denver Broncos Hall of Fame QB Frank Tripucka. He is also the uncle of football players Shane Tripucka[10] and father of Travis Tripucka[11] and professional lacrosse player Jake Tripucka.[12]

See also

  • List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders

References

  1. ^ Mushnick, Phil (September 28, 2012). "ESPN sets sights on ex-Knicks GM Isiah for TV role". New York Post. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  2. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE: BASKETBALL; Tripucka Is a Net, Sort Of", The New York Times, June 20, 1992. Accessed August 15, 2016. "Playing for the Nets would be a double homecoming of sorts for Tripucka, who grew up in Bloomfield, N.J., and played four seasons under the new Nets coach, CHUCK DALY, when both were with the Detroit Pistons."
  3. ^ "PLUS: BASKETBALL; Nets Pick Tripucka As Radio Analyst", The New York Times, September 11, 2001. Accessed August 15, 2016. "He was a two-time basketball all-American at Bloomfield High School."
  4. New York Times
    . October 12, 1991. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  5. ^ "Tripucka reportedly signs with French team". Deseret News. October 12, 1991. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  6. ^ "Tim Legler : " C'est la première fois qu'on m'interpelle pour me demander si j'ai joué à Limoges "". basketusa.com (in French). February 15, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  7. ^ "Tribucka Kelly - LNB.fr". lnb.fr (in French). Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  8. MSG Network
    . Accessed November 14, 2013.
  9. ^ "Kelly Tripucka « National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum". Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  10. ^ Croome, Shane. "Aggie punter Shane Tripucka carrying on family tradition". The Eagle.
  11. ^ Constantino, Rocco (September 11, 2012). "New Raiders Long Snapper Travis Tripucka Brings a Familiar Name Back to the NFL". Bleacher Report.
  12. ^ Schwartz, Peter (April 20, 2016). "Son Of Former NBA Star Tripucka Joins New York Lizards".

External links

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