RIP: Tractor Traylor

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Ex-NBA player Robert 'Tractor' Traylor found dead in Puerto Rico - ESPN

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Former NBA and University of Michigan player Robert "Tractor" Traylor has died. He was 34.

Police in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said in a statement he was found dead Wednesday on the bedroom floor of his oceanfront apartment. Police and Traylor's team, the Vaqueros de Bayamon, said he had been missing for a few days and apparently died from a heart attack.

The Vaqueros said Traylor was rehabbing a heel injury and had not been playing. They suspended their game Wednesday night because of his death.

The 6-foot-8, 300-pound Traylor, a McDonalds' All-American in high school, was selected No. 6 overall in the 1998 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, who traded him to Milwaukee for the Bucks' two first-round picks, Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity.

Traylor spent seven years in the NBA, also playing for Cleveland, Charlotte and New Orleans.

In seven seasons, he averaged 4.8 points and 3.7 rebounds in 438 career games.

Traylor, who got his nickname because of his size, had surgery on his aorta in 2005, the Vaqueros said.

Team manager Jose Carlos Perez told The Associated Press that Traylor had been talking by phone to his wife in Chicago on Wednesday when the connection was suddenly cut off. She called team officials and they checked on him, Perez said.

"He was a leader of the team," he said. "He was very, very friendly. He got along very well with everyone. The fans loved him, idolized him."

Traylor had been playing with a team in Veracruz, Mexico, before he moved to Puerto Rico in mid-March, Perez said.

"His game was one of a lot of strength, a lot of defense," he said.

Indiana coach Tom Crean, a former assistant at Michigan State, echoed those sentiments in a post on Twitter.

"At Michigan State we battled against him and he might have been the most time-consuming and mind-challenging matchup we ever faced and we as coaches weren't even playing. He had great feet and hands and a very soft touch...You really had to have a plan to stop him."

In 2009, Traylor was sentenced to jail after violating conditions of supervised release related to an income tax case, in which he acknowledged preparing a false tax return that hid assets of a convicted drug dealer.

A judge had delayed the sentence so Traylor could play for an Italian team.

Perez said Traylor's survivors include his wife and two sons.

[RomaGoth]

I never knew there was a basketball team in Puerto Rico.

[molson]

I heard about this and assumed he had ballooned up to 400+ lbs or something - but he didn't look too bad in some recent photos I saw with his Puerto Rican team. He looked even a little thinner than I remembered.

[JPhillips]

The 6-foot-8, 300-pound Traylor, a McDonalds' All-American in high school, was selected No. 6 overall in the 1998 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, who traded him to Milwaukee for the Bucks' two first-round picks, Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity.

What a horrible trade.

[stevew]

i thought he was already dead. IIRC he had that heart issue when he was with the CAVS. Dissapointing player, but it was as likely that he was going to be a stud as that Dirk was going to flop. Besides, the Mavs would have taken Dirk outright if they thought that they couldn't make the trade with the Bucks, so it was never one of those situations where the Bucks traded Dirk on purpose.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

What a horrible trade.

That was my first thought when I heard he had passed ... "wasn't he traded on draft day for Dirk?"

[MizzouRah]

Way too young.