David Bluthenthal
Encyclopedia
David Blu is a 6' 7" (2.01 m) American-Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i professional basketball player who plays for the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club.

He was born as David Bluthenthal. In 2010 he changed his name to David Blu .

Early life

Blu is Jewish. His mother is Jewish, and his African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 father converted to Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

. He represented the United States at the Maccabiah Games
Maccabiah Games
The Maccabiah is an international Jewish athletic event similar to the Olympics held in Israel every four years under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation, affiliated with the Maccabi World Union. The Maccabiah Games is the third largest international sports competition in the world...

 in 1997.

Before high school, Blu attended Palms Junior High.

College

He attended the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

, which was founded by his great-great-great-grandfather, Isaias Hellman. 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. He averaged 12.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He graduated in 2002.

Israel

After graduation, he went to Europe and signed with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i professional team Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israel League. During two years with Maccabi Tel Aviv (2003–04) he lifted team to the Euroleague
Euroleague
Euroleague Basketball, commonly known as the Euroleague, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–2011, it is...

 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
Fortitudo Bologna
Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna is an Legadue Basket professional basketball club that is based in Bologna. It's currently sponsored by Conad.-History:...

.

NBA

He then tried his luck in the NBA's summer league, and was signed by the Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...

 on August 7, 2004, as a forward, but was released in November before the 2004–05 season started.

Russia

Following his release from Sacramento, he received an offer from the Russian team Dynamo Saint Petersburg
Dynamo Saint Petersburg
Dynamo Saint Petersburg was a Russian professional basketball club that was based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The club was founded in the year 2004, and within only a year, it won the FIBA Europe League championship in 2005, against Kyiv. After another year, the club went bankrupt in 2006....

 that just signed David Blatt
David Blatt
David Blatt is an American-Israeli professional basketball coach, and a former professional basketball player. Today, Blatt is one of the most successful American coaches in European basketball, and is currently the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Russia national basketball team.-Playing...

, 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.

Italy

After only two months in Russia, he went to Italy to play for Benetton Treviso
Pallacanestro Treviso
Pallacanestro Treviso, more often known by its sponsorship name of Benetton Basket, or Benetton Treviso, is an Italian Serie A League professional basketball club from Treviso, the headquarters city of its longtime owner Benetton Group...

. He shot over 60% from 2-point range, and over 51% from 3-point range.

In the summer of 2005, he signed with Virtus Bologna
Virtus Bologna
-Notable players: Marco Bonamico 9 seasons: '75-'76, '77-'78, '80-'86, '88-'89 Carlo Caglieris 6 seasons: '75-'81 Pietro Generali 6 seasons: '75-'76, '78-'83 Gianni Bertolotti 5 seasons: '75-'80 Terry Driscoll 3 seasons: '75-'78 Eric Luc Leclerc 1 season: '75-'76 Luigi Serafini 2 seasons: '75-'77...

, 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
Local derby
In many countries the term local derby, or simply just derby means a sporting fixture between two, generally local, rivals, particularly in association football...

 Fortitudo
Fortitudo Bologna
Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna is an Legadue Basket professional basketball club that is based in Bologna. It's currently sponsored by Conad.-History:...

. 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.

Back to Israel

On June 15, 2007, he returned from Fortitudo to Maccabi Tel Aviv. He averaged 8.7 points and 2.4 rebounds in 25 Euroleague
Euroleague 2007-08
The Euroleague is an international basketball club competition for elite clubs throughout Europe. The 2007–2008 season featured 24 competing teams. The Euroleague Regular Season drew was held on 30 June 2007 in the Jesolo, Italy, during the inaugural Euroleague summer league...

 games for Maccabi as they advanced to the Euroleague final against winners CSKA Moscow
PBC CSKA Moscow
PBC CSKA Moscow is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Moscow, Russia. The club is a member of the VTB United League. It is often referred to in the West as "Red Army" for its past affiliation with the Soviet Army. CSKA has won two titles between 2006 and 2009 in Europe's...

.

Again Israel

Before the 2009–2010 season Blu yet again returned to Israel and signed for Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. for one season finishing the season with averages of 9.3 points and 3 rebounds in the Euroleague, and 11.1 points and 4 rebounds in the Winner League.
On July 2010 Maccabi extended Blu contract for another year.

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
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and made his first appearance against Portugal on July 19, 2010. Blu competed with the Israeli national team in Eurobasket 2011
Eurobasket 2011
EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time Eurobasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the 1939 championship. FIBA Europe asserted that Lithuania managed to...

 averaging 12.8 PPG and 3.2 RPG.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK