David Blu

David Blu

Blu playing with Maccabi Tel Aviv
Personal information
Born (1980-07-18) July 18, 1980
Los Angeles, California
Nationality American / Israeli
Listed height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High school Venice (Los Angeles, California)
Westchester (Los Angeles, California)
College USC (1998–2002)
NBA draft 2002 / Undrafted
Playing career 2002–2014
Position Small forward / Power forward
Number 7, 13, 15, 33
Career history
2002–2004 Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
2004 Dynamo Saint Petersburg (Russia)
2004–2005 Benetton Treviso (Italy)
2005–2006 VidiVici Bologna (Italy)
2006–2007 Climamio Bologna (Italy)
2007–2008 Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
2008–2009 Le Mans Sarthe (France)
2009–2012
2013–2014		 Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Career highlights and awards

David Blu[1] (Hebrew: דוד בלו‎‎; born David Bluthenthal, July 18, 1980) is a retired Israeli American professional basketball player. He also represented the Israeli national basketball team. Standing at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), he played at the small forward and power forward positions. He is considered to be one of the top three-point shooters in Euroleague history.[2]

Early life

Blu is Jewish.[3][4] His mother is Jewish, and his African American father converted to Judaism.[4][5][6] He represented the United States at the Maccabiah Games in 1997, winning a gold medal.[7][8]

Before high school, Blu attended Palms Junior High.

College career

He attended the University of Southern California, which was founded by his great-great-great-grandfather, Isaias Hellman.[9] A starter from his sophomore season on, he was consistently one of the top players in the Pac-10.

In 2001–02, his senior season, Blu was named All-Pac 10 honorable mention.[4] He averaged 12.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He graduated in 2002.[10] His most memorable performance remains the 27 points scored against Kentucky in an NCAA Regional Semifinal upset in 2001 made by a Trojans team led by Blumenthal and Brian Scalabrine.

Professional career

Maccabi Tel Aviv

After graduation and being undrafted in the 2002 NBA Draft, he went to Europe and signed with Israeli professional team Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israel League. During two years with Maccabi Tel Aviv (2003–04) he lifted team to the Euroleague championship in 2004 and the Israeli National Cup twice. He scored 20 points off the bench in the 2004 Euroleague final, a 44-point Maccabi annihilation of one of his future teams, Fortitudo Bologna.[11]

He then tried his luck in the NBA's summer league, and was signed by the Sacramento Kings on August 7, 2004, as a forward, but was released in November before the 2004–05 season started.

Dynamo St. Petersburg

Following his release from Sacramento, he received an offer from the Russian team Dynamo Saint Petersburg that just signed David Blatt, who was the coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv during the time that Blu was there. In 8 games he shot 69.6% from 2-point range.

Italian teams

After only two months in Russia, he went to Italy to play for Benetton Treviso. He shot over 60% from 2-point range, and over 51% from 3-point range.[12]

In the summer of 2005, he signed with Virtus Bologna, and became one of their top players with 20.2 points per game.

After the 2005–06 season, he signed with Virtus' intense crosstown rivals Fortitudo. During the 2006–07 season for Fortitudo, he averaged 16 points and 4.2 rebounds in Euroleague play, and also made 71.1% of his two-point shots and 46.2% of his three-pointers.[13]

Second stint with Maccabi

On June 15, 2007, he returned from Fortitudo to Maccabi Tel Aviv.[14] He averaged 8.7 points and 2.4 rebounds in 25 Euroleague games for Maccabi as they advanced to the Euroleague final against winners CSKA Moscow.[11]

Le Mans

On July 10, 2008, he signed a one-year deal with Le Mans.[11] Over 10 games in the Euroleague, he averaged 12.5 points and 3.8 rebounds.

Third stint with Maccabi

In the summer of 2010, Blu yet again returned to Israel and signed a one-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv. He finished the season with averages of 9.3 points and 3 rebounds in the Euroleague,[15] and 11.1 points and 4 rebounds in the Israeli league. In July 2010 Maccabi extended Blu contract for another year.[15]

In June 2012 Blu said that he will not return in the club for another season because he wants to finish his school in the USA.[16]

In the summer of 2013 Blu signed a new contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv.[17] Following his comeback, after up and down season, Maccabi has won the Euroleague, sixth in the club's history and his second. Over the season, he averaged 10.1 points and 3.2 rebounds over 30 games in the Euroleague. In the Final Four, he helped his team oust CSKA Moscow in the semifinal by scoring 15 points with some crucial three-pointers.[18] In the championship final game against Real Madrid, he scored 14 points and grabbed 4 rebounds. Once the season ended, Blu announced his retirement from the professional basketball.[19][20][21]

Israeli national team

Although he has Israeli citizenship, he declined to play for the Israeli national team in the European Championship in 2005 and 2007. But in summer of 2010 Blu finally agreed to represent Israel and made his first appearance against Portugal on July 19, 2010. Shortly after, the player formerly known as David Bluthenthal shortened his name. Blu competed with the Israeli national team in Eurobasket 2011 averaging 12.8 PPG and 3.2 RPG.

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

† Denotes seasons in which Blu won the Euroleague
Led the league

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 Maccabi 14 0 11.1 .522 .368 .700 1.8 .4 .3 .0 4.4 4.3
2003–04† Maccabi 17 0 10.2 .609 .462 .789 1.4 .4 .2 .1 6.2 4.5
2004–05 Benetton 10 0 18.1 .393 .276 .500 2.5 .9 .8 .3 5.8 4.7
2006–07 Climamio 14 10 31.7 .491 .533 .828 4.2 1.2 .6 .1 16.0 13.4
2007–08 Maccabi 25 18 21.0 .488 .456 .929 2.4 .6 .3 .1 8.7 6.6
2008–09 Le Mans 10 8 32.9 .413 .360 .913 3.8 1.1 1.2 .0 12.5 11.2
2009–10 Maccabi 19 1 23.6 .409 .363 .880 3.0 1.1 .5 .1 9.3 7.2
2010–11 Maccabi 22 1 23.0 .448 .432 .727 3.1 .6 .8 .1 8.9 6.6
2011–12 Maccabi 20 6 24.6 .447 .375 .880 2.5 .5 .6 .0 9.3 6.4
2013–14† Maccabi 30 6 24.8 .433 .406 .816 3.2 1.0 .6 .0 10.1 8.2
Career 181 50 22.1 .457 .411 .833 2.8 .8 .5 .1 9.1 7.2

See also

References

  1. ↑ Art-Up. "David Bluthenthal has officially changed his name to David Blu, and took a new number to go with his new name: number 7". Maccabi.co.il. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  2. ↑ "David Blu, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv". Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL.
  3. ↑ Day by day in Jewish sports history. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 ".". Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  5. ↑ Eskenazi, Joe (September 10, 2004). "Jewish shooting star aims to make his mark in NBA". j. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  6. ↑ Day by day in Jewish sports history. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Drape, Joe (March 24, 2001). ".". The New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  9. ↑ ".". CNN. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  10. ↑ "David Bluthenthal Bio". NBA.com. June 16, 2004. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
  11. 1 2 3 "Le Mans lands David Bluthenthal". Euroleague.net. July 10, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  12. ↑ http://217.13.116.51/plantillas/jugador.jsp?id=BES
  13. ↑ "Maccabi brings back shooting ace Bluthenthal – Latest – Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL". Euroleague.net. June 15, 2007. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Maccabi brings back shooting ace Bluthenthal". Euroleague.net. June 15, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  15. 1 2 Art-Up. "Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv BasketBall Club". Maccabi.co.il. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
  16. ↑ "David Blu won't return to Maccabi Tel Aviv". Spotando. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Maccabi Tel Aviv announced David Blu". Sportando. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Maccabi rallies from 15 down to stun CSKA, advance to championship game!". Euroleague.net. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  19. ↑ "David Blu turned down Maccabi's offer to come out of retirement". sportando.com. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Yellow-and-blue moves on without Sofo". jpost.com. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Com respeito ao Fla, Maccabi disputa título mundial para dar alegria a Israel". globoesporte.globo.com (in Portuguese). Retrieved October 10, 2014.
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