Joseph "Joe" Blair (born June 12, 1974) is a former professional American basketball player who currently works as an assistant coach for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. Standing 2.10m (6 ft ft 10.75 inches), and weighing 120 kg (265 lb), he spent his playing career playing power forward and center position. He is best known for his spectacular style of play, especially when he is a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Video Joseph Blair
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Blair attends school and plays basketball in C.E. King High School, in Houston, Texas.
Maps Joseph Blair
College career
Blair played four college basketball seasons with the Arizona Wildcats of the Pacific Conference-10 in the NCAA Division I. She averaged 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game during her college career, and she is a member of two regular Pac seasons -10 in Arizona championships, in 1993 and 1994. He was a starter in the Arizona squad that advanced to the NCAA Final Four 1994.
In the 2014-15 season, he holds the Arizona program record for the highest percentage of career goals (61.3%), and is also ranked eighth in the school blocked photo-taking list with 101 blocks.
Professional career
Though he composed the 35th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft, by the Seattle SuperSonics, Blair did not sign a contract with the team, and his agent engineered his release in 1997. Later in his career, the preseason game with the Chicago Bulls in 2007, was the closest he came to play in the NBA, before being released by the Bulls in October, less than two weeks after being signed.
After being released by Seattle, he moved to Europe, entering France with Pau-Orthez for the 1997-98 season.
After returning to the US, to play for Harlem Globetrotters and Long Island Surf, the last of the US Basketball League (USBL), Blair returned to Europe in 1998.
He moved to the Italian LBA league, where he will spend most of his career, with Biella, Scavolini Pesaro, and Armani Jeans Milano, participating in the All-Star Game league in 2000, 2005, and 2006, and leading the league in rebound in the 1999 season. -00.
He had a distraction with PAOK from the Greek Basketball League in the 2000-01 season, which he described as "a bad experience", due to salary arrears. He did not finish the season in Greece, and instead finished playing with Harlem Globetrotters again.
While playing with Italian club Pesaro at EuroLeague, Europe's premier club competition, he was elected Second Team Euro-2 2001-02.
Blair plays for ÃÆ'Ã… "lkerspor for two years, in the Turkish Super Basketball League and EuroLeague. He was named season 2002-03 EuroLeague Regular Season MVP, while playing for the club.
He finished his career in Russian Super Basketball League 1, playing first with Spartak Primorje, with whom he led the league in rebounds, during the 2007-08 season, and then with another Russian team, Spartak Saint Petersburg. The Americans were at the center of a less-than-positive incident during the October 30 Russian Cup match against Lokomotiv Rostov. Allegedly, in order to protect his team mate, Blair presses Lokomotiv players, who start a fight that causes a lot of ejection players, leaving the team with only 4 players each in court (they finish with 3 each).
Train a career
Blair returns to the Arizona Wildcats college program for the 2013-14 season, serving as an undergraduate coach assistant, and helping a large men's team. For the 2014-15 season, he was transferred to the post graduate school's position, and in this role he is credited with helping Arizona players like Caleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley realize their potential. He was not offered a position at the University of Arizona for the 2015-16 season.
On October 14, 2015, Blair was hired by the NBA D-League Rio Grande Valley Vipers, as an assistant coach.
Personal life
After being inspired by a youth camp run by Harlem Globetrotters, where he previously participated, Blair founded the Blair Charity Group. Described as, "a local charity group focused on Tucson children", the group provides "camps and basketball centers and social training-free skills" around the Tucson area. Although basketball is the center of charity, it also aims to provide education and social skills to children. The charity remains insufficient, not to deter unfortunate children from occasion.
Two of Blair's three children are born in Italy, both with ex-Italian girlfriends. After playing in three different cities in the country, he also speaks Italian fluently.
Since completing his playing career in 2009, Blair has lived in Tucson, Arizona, where the University of Arizona is located. He returned to university to complete his degree, which he obtained in 2014.
References
External links
- EuroLeague Profile Retrieved on June 9, 2015
- RealGM.com Profile Retrieved on June 9, 2015
- Italian LBA Profile Retrieved on June 9, 2015 (in Italian)
- Turkish BSL Profile Retrieved on June 9, 2015
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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