Robert "Tractor" Traylor Found Dead

[JohnnyHector]

http://sports.espn.g...tory?id=6527372

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.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[faba]

RIP so young to die sad

[RutgersJetFan]