Last Updated on August 12, 2026 by Mat Diekhake
Mehmet “Memo” Okur brought a rare combination of size, shooting touch, and offensive versatility that helped redefine what an NBA center could do during the 2000s. Best remembered for his years with the Utah Jazz, he became one of the league’s most reliable stretch big men and earned an All-Star selection through his ability to space the floor and score from virtually anywhere on the court.
Player Profile
- Full Name: Mehmet Murat Okur
- Nationality: Turkish
- Date of Birth: May 26, 1979
- Hometown: Yalova, Turkey
- Height: 6 feet 11 inches (211 cm)
- Weight: 249 pounds (112 kg)
- Position: Power Forward / Center
- Jersey Number: 13
- High School: Information not publicly available
- College: Information not publicly available
- NBA Draft: Selected in the 2nd round, 38th overall pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 2001 NBA Draft
- Teams Played For:
- Detroit Pistons (2002–2004)
- Utah Jazz (2004–2010)
- New Jersey Nets (2010–2011)
- NBA Championship Rings: 1 (2004 with the Detroit Pistons)
- Career Highlights:
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- Named to the NBA All-Star team in 2007 as a member of the Utah Jazz
- Known for his three-point shooting and ability to space the floor
- First Turkish player in NBA history to win an NBA championship
- Spouse: Yeliz Çalışkan (married on July 7, 2004)
- Children: Daughter Melisa (born March 21, 2007), son Yiğit Mehmet (born February 19, 2010), and son Mert Mehmet (born November 19, 2014)
- Siblings: Information not publicly available
Coaching Career:
- In 2016, Okur was named a player development coach for the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first Turkish citizen to enter the coaching world in the NBA
Player Archetype / Play Style
Memo Okur was a skilled stretch big whose archetype blended traditional size with perimeter touch, making him one of the more offensive-minded centers of his era. Defensively, he was more positional than explosive, typically filling a team-defense role in the paint by using size and awareness to hold ground inside rather than functioning as a pure shot-blocking anchor. Offensively, he was far more distinctive: a floor-spacing center/power forward who could punish defenses with pick-and-pop shooting, mid-range touch, and inside-out scoring, while still giving value as a rebounder and secondary option in half-court sets. Physically, Okur stood 6-foot-11 and was listed around 260 pounds, giving him legitimate frontcourt size with enough skill to operate well away from the basket. In simple terms, his style was that of a smooth, finesse-oriented big man who stretched the floor, made big shots, and created matchup problems by forcing slower interior defenders to leave the paint. (Basketball Reference)
Scouting Report
Mehmet “Memo” Okur had a way of forcing defenses into choices they didn’t want to make. Leave him alone after a pick-and-pop and he’d step into the jumper without hesitation. Send the big out to contest, and the paint suddenly opened for everyone else. That’s what made him so valuable. He wasn’t simply a shooting center; he understood spacing and consistently drifted into passing windows that stretched the defense one step farther than it wanted to go. From the elbows or above the break, he could reverse the ball quickly, hit cutters flashing behind overplayed defenders, or attack a hard closeout with controlled drives that ended in soft floaters or crafty finishes rather than explosive plays. It’s easy to overlook his footwork on the block, too. If a smaller defender switched onto him, he was patient enough to establish deep position before using pivots and touch instead of trying to overpower every matchup. The trade-off came on the other end of the floor. Okur was most comfortable protecting the paint from a drop coverage, using positioning and anticipation to contest around the rim, but offenses that repeatedly involved him in high pick-and-rolls or forced him to defend in space could expose his limited recovery speed. Even so, his offensive versatility often outweighed those concerns because he fundamentally changed how opposing centers had to defend. Put him next to a downhill guard who could consistently collapse the first line of defense and surround them with willing cutters, and the floor naturally became more difficult to cover. To me, his offensive game foreshadowed much of what Brook Lopez later brought as a floor-spacing center, while sharing elements of Channing Frye’s pick-and-pop gravity, although Okur offered a more polished interior scoring package and a better feel for using the post as a playmaking trigger when defenses tried to take his jumper away. — Mat Diekhake, HeatingUp
Sources:
Mehmet Okur Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and More — Basketball-Reference
Mehmet Okur | Center — NBA.com
Players – Utah Jazz — Utah Jazz