Succes 2011: Maria Paula Silva aka "Magic Paula", one of the greatest basketball players. Member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Maria Paula Gonçalves da Silva, also known as Magic Paula (reference to Magic Johnson) (born March 11, 1962 in Osvaldo Cruz, São Paulo), is a retired Brazilian basketball player.

She is considered one of the greatest players in her country, along with Hortência Marcari and Janeth Arcain. For Brazil women's national basketball team, Paula is the second biggest scorer with 723 points (behind Hortência) and holds the record for caps with 45 games, being in two Olympic Games and six World Championships.
In 2006, Paula became a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Paula begun playing basketball at the age of ten, and in 1974, was invited to join Assis Tênis Clube. One year and a half later, the team folded and Paula went to Jundiaí to play for Colégio Divino Salvador, and a few months later, was drafted for the first time by the national team despite being only fourteen. In 1988, Paula went to play in Spain, but an injured knee and difficulties of adaptation brought her back to Brazil in 1991.
In 1979, she helped her team to a fourth place at the Pan American Games, held in Puerto Rico. In 1983, Paula and the national team improved their previous Pan American performance by winning a bronze medal at the Venezuela games, and, in 1987, went yet one more step further by winning a silver medal at the 1987 Indianapolis Pan Americans.

In 1991, Paula and the Brazilian women's national basketball team won the gold medal at that year's Pan American tournament, held in Cuba, being the player which most impressed Cuban president Fidel Castro.

In 1992, Paula helped her team qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time. Brazil arrived in seventh place at the Barcelona Olympics.
In 1993, Paula went to Associação Atlética Ponte Preta, where she played along with Hortência and won the World Championship for clubs. After discussions with Hortência, Paula returned to Piracicaba.

In 1994, Paula won the women's world basketball championship in Australia, making Brazil only country other than the Soviet Union or the United States to win the title (Australia became the fourth in 2006). In 1996, she won a silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics, and retired from the national team after winning the 1997 FIBA Americas Championship for Women. She still played for clubs before retiring in 2000.

After retirement, Paula became an entrepreneur, director of the Centro Olímpico do Ibirapuera, and worked for a while in the Brazilian Ministry of Sports.

"Big Ghitza" Mureşan, cel mai înalt jucător din istoria NBA

Gheorghe Dumitru Mureşan, also known as Ghiţă or George, is a retired Romanian professional basketball player. At 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m), he is tied with Sudanese player Manute Bol as the tallest man to ever play in the NBA. Both his parents are of average size, and, unlike Bol, Mureşan's height is the result of a pituitary disorder.

The NBA took interest in him and he was selected by the Washington Bullets in the 1993 NBA Draft. He played in the NBA from 1993 to 1994 showing signs of a promising career that was derailed by injuries.

After returning to France and playing for the start of the 1995–96 season with Pau-Orthez, he was named the NBA's Most Improved Player for the 1995–96 season after averaging 14.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.26 blocks per game while making a league-leading 58.4 percent of his field goals. He led in field goal percentage again the following season, with a 60.4% average. Overall, he holds career averages of 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.48 blocks per game and a .573 field goal percentage. He joined the New Jersey Nets for the final 31 games of his career. After retiring from the NBA, Mureşan returned to the French league for three more years before returning to the United States with his family. He normally wore number 77, in reference to his height.

On March 11, 2007, Mureşan played a game for the Maryland Nighthawks as part of the tallest lineup in the history of basketball. This is the only basketball game Mureşan has ever played where he was not the tallest person on the court, as Sun Mingming is 7' 9" (2.36 m).

Outside basketball, Mureşan has dabbled in acting, playing the title character in 1998 feature film My Giant starring comedian Billy Crystal. Mureşan plays a ventriloquist in rap artist Eminem's breakout video "My Name Is". He has appeared in commercials for Snickers candy bars, and sports television network ESPN.