Jānis Blūms
 Blūms with Bilbao Basket | |
| No. 45 – VEF Rīga | |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard / Shooting guard |
| League |
LBL VTB |
| Personal information | |
| Born |
April 20, 1982 Saldus, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Latvian |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career information | |
| NBA draft | 2004 / Undrafted |
| Playing career | 1999–present |
| Career history | |
| 1999–2001 | BK Brocēni |
| 2001–2003 | Skonto |
| 2003–2004 | Anwil Włocławek |
| 2004–2006 | Ventspils |
| 2006–2007 | Lietuvos rytas |
| 2007–2008 | Basket Napoli |
| 2008–2012 | Bilbao Basket |
| 2012–2013 | Lietuvos rytas |
| 2013–2014 | Astana |
| 2014–2015 | Panathinaikos |
| 2015–2016 | Sidigas Avellino |
| 2016–present | VEF Rīga |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Jānis Blūms (born April 20, 1982) is a Latvian professional basketball player who plays for VEF Rīga of the Latvian LBL. Standing at 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in), Blūms plays both point guard and shooting guard positions. He also serves as the captain of the Latvian national basketball team.
Player career
Blūms started his career with Brocēni and later continued to play in their successor Skonto. In 2003, he signed with Polish club Anwil Włocławek, where he spent one season before returning to Latvia, where he joined BK Ventspils. After two years in Ventspils, Blūms joined Lithuanian powerhouse BC Lietuvos rytas. In 2007, Blūms accepted offer from Italian side Eldo Napoli where he had a decent season.
In 2008, Blūms signed a two-year contract with Bilbao Basket of Spain's ACB League.[1] Totally he played four very good seasons in Bilbao. Some of highlights with Bilbao includes making Liga ACB finals, Euroleague quarterfinals and Eurocup Final Four (twice). During his tenure with Bilbao Blūms developed reputation as a fierce competitor who can be deadly from three-point range and can play lock-down defense, because often he would guard best player of the opposite team. Due to his passion and effort he became one of the city's fan favorites.
After his experience in Basque Country, Jānis moved back to Lietuvos Rytas, which played Euroleague that season. In July 2013, Blūms signed a one-year contract with BC Astana.[2]
On October 1, 2014, he signed with the Greek club Panathinaikos.[3] On April 5, 2015 he won the Greek Cup.
In July 2015, Janis signed with the Italian team Sidigas Avellino, making a comeback to Italy after seven years.[4]
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.
Euroleague
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | Bilbao Basket | 17 | 6 | 16.2 | .413 | .400 | .706 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 6.0 | 3.4 |
| 2012–13 | Lietuvos rytas | 9 | 5 | 19.8 | .309 | .316 | .875 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 5.9 | 4.7 |
| 2014–15 | Panathinaikos | 27 | 0 | 11.6 | .410 | .424 | .714 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 1.6 |
| Career | 53 | 11 | 14.6 | .384 | .390 | .744 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 4.8 | 2.7 |
Trivia
Blūms has said that his favorite players and idols growing was Roberts Štelmahers and Ainars Bagatskis.[5] Later on he played together with Štelmahers in Latvian national basketball team and in Lietuvos Rytas (2006-07 season).
In 2010-11 season Blūms didn't miss a single practice or game with Bilbao Basket. He reported to training camp by mid-August and his season ended in mid-June. That was one of his best seasons as his team made Liga ACB finals.
Latvian national team
Blūms also plays for the Latvian national basketball team and serves as the captain of the team.