View source for Uwe Blab

{{Short description|German basketball player (born 1962)}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name            = Uwe Blab
| image           =
| width           =
| caption         =
| height_ft       = 7
| height_in       = 2
| weight_lb       = 252
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|1962|03|26}}
| birth_place     = [[Munich]], [[West Germany]]
| high_school     = Effingham ([[Effingham, Illinois]])
| college         = [[Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball|Indiana]] (1981–1985)
| draft_year      = 1985
| draft_round     = 1
| draft_pick      = 17
| draft_team      = [[Dallas Mavericks]]
| career_start    = 1985
| career_end      = 1993
| career_number   = 33
| career_position = [[Center (basketball)|Center]]
| years1          = {{nbay|1985|start}}–{{nbay|1988|end}}
| team1           = [[Dallas Mavericks]]
| years2          = {{nbay|1989|full=y}}
| team2           = [[Golden State Warriors]]
| years3          = {{nbay|1989|end}}
| team3           = [[San Antonio Spurs]]
| years4          = 1990
| team4           = [[S.S. Basket Napoli|Basket Napoli]]
| years5          = 1991–1993
| team5           = [[ALBA Berlin]]
| highlights      =
*First-team All-[[Big Ten]] (1985)
*Fourth-team [[Parade All-America Boys Basketball Team|''Parade'' All-American]] (1981)
}}
'''Uwe Konstantin Blab''' (born March 26, 1962) is a German former professional [[basketball]] player who had a five-year career in the [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA). Due to his red hair, Blab was nicknamed “Burning Skyscraper”, especially after becoming the first German for many years to join the NBA in North America.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/5739 |publisher=Olympedia |title=Olympedia – Uwe Blab }}</ref>
== High School and College ==
Blab attended [[Effingham, Illinois|Effingham]] High School in [[Illinois]], which won second place in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Basketball tournament in 1980. He played [[college basketball]] for the [[Indiana University]] [[Indiana Hoosiers|Hoosiers]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rjkdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3aUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3091,926365&dq=uwe-blab&hl=en|title=Gophers can't stop Blab; Hoosiers roll |date=February 6, 1983|newspaper=[[The Tuscaloosa News]]|access-date=January 13, 2010}}</ref> averaging 16 points per game in his senior season. He helped IU win the Big Ten championship in 1983 and then advance to the NCAA Tournament's "Elite Eight" the following season.
== National team career ==
Blab was first selected to the [[Germany men's national basketball team|West Germany national team]] for the [[EuroBasket]] in [[EuroBasket 1983|1983]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Uwe Blab – EuroBasket 1983 tournament statistics|url=https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/9717/sid/2259/tid/288/_//index.html|publisher=Archive.fiba.com|accessdate=16 June 2018}}</ref> He was also part of the team at the [[Basketball at the 1984 Summer Olympics|1984 Summer Olympics]], after graduating from Indiana University.<ref>{{cite web|title=Uwe Blab – 1984 Olympic tournament statistics|url=https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/9717/sid/2941/tid/288/_//index.html|publisher=Archive.fiba.com|accessdate=16 June 2018}}</ref> A year later, he helped the team to a fifth-place finish at [[EuroBasket 1985]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Uwe Blab – EuroBasket 1985 tournament statistics|url=https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/9717/sid/2260/tid/288/_//index.html|publisher=Archive.fiba.com|accessdate=16 June 2018}}</ref> Seven years later, Blab was able to participate in the [[Basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Summer Olympics]], this time for a unified Germany.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bl/uwe-blab-1.html|title=Uwe Blab|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417080636/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bl/uwe-blab-1.html|access-date=February 22, 2022|archive-date=2020-04-17}}</ref>
== NBA ==
Drafted 17th overall by the [[Dallas Mavericks]] in the [[1985 NBA draft]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/22/sports/sports-people-wennington-in-accord.html|title=Wennington in Accord|date=August 22, 1985|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 13, 2010}}</ref> he never proved to be a significant contributor.  His first four seasons were with the Mavericks, and he played for both the [[Golden State Warriors]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/24/sports/sports-people-warriors-sign-blab.html|title=Warriors Sign Blab|date=September 24, 1989|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 13, 2010}}</ref> and the [[San Antonio Spurs]] in his final year.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nba.com/news/deadline_8708.html|title=Two Decades of Deadline Deals|date=February 20, 2009|work=[[NBA.com]]|access-date=January 13, 2010}}</ref> He finished with NBA career averages of 2.1 points and 1.8 rebounds per game at the center position. His career high was with the Dallas Mavericks when he scored 14 points in Dallas's road loss against [[Cleveland Cavaliers|Cleveland]] on December 22, 1985. Off the court Blab later admitted that he just kind of fell into the basketball world and never really considered it to be a great passion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thesportster.com/basketball/top-15-worst-foreign-nba-players-ever/|title=Top 15 Worst Foreign NBA Players Of All Time|date=June 29, 2016|website=TheSportster}}</ref>
== European career ==
After his stint in the NBA, Blab went back overseas to play for [[S.S. Basket Napoli|Napoli Basket]], then known as [https://www.proballers.com/basketball/team/13600/jcoplastic-napoli Jcoplastic Napoli.] He played his best basketball in 1990 for Jcoplastic Napoli averaging 11.1 points and 7.1 rebounds. On October 21, 1990, Uwe Blab set his career high in points in an Italy - LBA Serie A game. That day he scored 31 points in Napoli's home win against Torino, 98–85. He also had 15 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 steals and 2 blocks. He shot 13/16 from two, shooting at 81.3% from the field. He also shot 5/5 from the free-throw line.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.proballers.com/basketball/player/5504/uwe-blab |publisher=proballers |title=Uwe Blab, Basketball Player }}</ref> He finished up his basketball career in his home country playing for the [[Alba Berlin|ALBA Berlin]] during 1991–1993.
==Career statistics==
{{NBA player statistics legend}}
===NBA===
====Regular season====
{{NBA player statistics start}}
|-
| align="left" | {{nbay|1985}}
| align="left" | [[1985–86 Dallas Mavericks season|Dallas]]
| 48 || 0 || 8.5 || .468 ||   || .537 || 1.9 || .4 || .1 || .3 || '''2.6'''
|-
| align="left" | {{nbay|1986}}
| align="left" | [[1986–87 Dallas Mavericks season|Dallas]]
| 30 || 0 || 5.3 || .392 ||   || .464 || 1.2 || .4 || .1 || .3 || 1.8
|-
| align="left" | {{nbay|1987}}
| align="left" | [[1987–88 Dallas Mavericks season|Dallas]]
| '''73''' || 1 || 9.0 || .439 ||   || .708 || 1.8 || .5 || .1 || .4 || 2.2
|-
| align="left" | {{nbay|1988}}
| align="left" | [[1988–89 Dallas Mavericks season|Dallas]]
| 37 || 0 || 5.6 || .462 ||   || '''.800''' || 1.2 || .3 || .1 || .4 || 1.8
|-
| align="left" | {{nbay|1989}}
| align="left" | [[1989–90 Golden State Warriors season|Golden State]]
| 40 || '''33''' || '''12.0''' || .379 ||   || .548 || '''2.5''' || '''.6''' || 0 || '''.6''' || 2.1
|-
| align="left" | {{nbay|1989}}
| align="left" | [[1989–90 San Antonio Spurs season|San Antonio]]
| 7 || 0 || 7.1 || '''.545''' ||   || .500 || 1.3 || .1 || 0 || .0 || 2.1
|- class="sortbottom"
| align="center" colspan="2"| Career
| 235 || 34 || 8.4 || .433 ||  || .608 || 1.8 || .4 || .1 || .4 || 2.1
{{S-end}}
====Playoffs====
{{NBA player statistics start}}
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|[[1986 NBA Playoffs|1986]]
|style="text-align:left;"|[[1985–86 Dallas Mavericks season|Dallas]]
|1||0||6.0||.667||–||–||1.0||.0||.0||.0||'''4.0'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|[[1987 NBA Playoffs|1987]]
|style="text-align:left;"|[[1986–87 Dallas Mavericks season|Dallas]]
|1||0||'''10.0'''||'''1.000'''||–||.250||'''3.0'''||.0||'''1.0'''||'''1.0'''||3.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|[[1988 NBA Playoffs|1988]]
|style="text-align:left;"|[[1987–88 Dallas Mavericks season|Dallas]]
|'''3'''||0||2.7||.000||–||'''1.000'''||.3||'''.3'''||.0||.0||.7
|-
|align=left|[[1990 NBA Playoffs|1990]]
|align=left|[[1989–90 San Antonio Spurs season|San Antonio]]
|2||0||2.5||.000||–||.500||1.0||.0||.0||.0||1.5
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
|7||0||4.1||.429||–||.500||1.0||.1||.1||.1||1.7
{{s-end}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
*{{Basketballstats|bbr=b/blabuw01}}
{{1985 NBA draft}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blab, Uwe}}
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alba Berlin players]]
[[Category:Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Centers (basketball)]]
[[Category:Dallas Mavericks draft picks]]
[[Category:Dallas Mavericks players]]
[[Category:German expatriate basketball people in the United States]]
[[Category:Golden State Warriors players]]
[[Category:Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players]]
[[Category:NBA players from Germany]]
[[Category:German men's basketball players]]
[[Category:Olympic basketball players for Germany]]
[[Category:Olympic basketball players for West Germany]]
[[Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)]]
[[Category:San Antonio Spurs players]]
[[Category:Basketball players from Munich]]