Kelly Tripucka is a former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association for the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz, and the Charlotte Hornets. He also played for the CSP Limoges in France.
Tripucka is a two-time NBA All-Star and in his rookie year, he was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
Player Profile and Personal Life
Peter Kelly Tripucka was born on February 16, 1959, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey in the United States of America. He is right-handed and he played small forward.
His father is a former American football player Frank Tripucka. His son Travis Tripucka also went on to play American football.
High School and College Career
He attended Bloomfield High School in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Later, he committed to play college basketball for the University of Notre Dame and was there from 1977 to 1981.
He played for number 42 with his High School team. Star-Ledger, the largest circulated newspaper in New Jersey, named Tripucka as the “New Jersey Boy’s Basketball Player of the Century”. During his 3 varsity years, Tripucka acquired 2,278 points with 1,045 coming out of his senior campaign.
While in college, he was named to the 1980 Third-team All-American UPI.
Professional Career
The Detroit Pistons drafted Tripucka in the first round of the 1981 NBA Draft. In his first year with the team, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1982.
After playing for the Pistons till the 1985-86 season, the Pistons traded him off to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Adrian Dantley.
Frank Layden, the head coach for the Jazz team, was not able to blend with Tripucka mostly owing to Tripucka’s orientation to defensive tactics rather than offensive. The coach was intending to build up a strong team along with offensive players Karl Malone and John Stockton. Tripucka’s constant complaining led to a decrease in the share of games reserved for Tripucka.
After the expansion draft in 1988, the Charlotte Hornets picked him up. He played a few good seasons with the Hornets.
He retired from professional basketball in 1991 and joined the Detroit Pistons as a color commentator from 1993 to 2001. Later, in the 2000-2001 season, he became a full-time radio commentator with the New Jersey Nets.
From 2003 to 2005, he was appointed as the color commentator for the Nets team and currently, he is serving as a part of the New York Knicks MSG Broadcast team since 2008. Tripucka was named one of the “50 Greatest Pistons” in 2008.
Career Highlights
- 1982, 1984 - NBA All-Star
- 1982 - NBA All-Rookie First Team
- 1979, 1981 - Consensus second-team All-American
- 1980 - Third-team All-American – UPI
Career NBA Statistics
- Points - 12,142 (17.2 ppg)
- Rebounds - 2,703 (3.8 rpg)
- Assists - 2,090 (3.0 apg)
