Lance Blanks Explained

Lance Blanks
Height Ft:6
Height In:4
Weight Lb:190
Birth Date:9 September 1966
Birth Place:Del Rio, Texas, U.S.
Death Place:Dallas, Texas, U.S.
High School:McCullough (The Woodlands, Texas)
College:
Draft Round:1
Draft Pick:26
Draft Year:1990
Draft Team:Detroit Pistons
Career Start:1990
Career End:1999
Career Number:32, 21
Career Position:Point guard / shooting guard
Years1:
Team1:Detroit Pistons
Team2:Minnesota Timberwolves
Years3:1993
Team3:Quad City Thunder
Years4:1993–1994
Team4:Oklahoma City Cavalry
Years5:1994–1995
Team5:Gießen 46ers
Years6:1997–1998
Team6:Albacomp Fehérvár
Years7:1998–1999
Team7:Keravnos
Stats League:NBA
Stat1label:Points
Stat1value:289 (2.0 ppg)
Stat2label:Rebounds
Stat2value:110 (0.8 rpg)
Stat3label:Assists
Stat3value:117 (0.8 apg)
Highlights:

Lance Blanks (September 9, 1966 – May 3, 2023) was an American professional basketball player and executive who worked as an analyst for ESPN. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves. Blanks also spent several seasons playing in Europe. Blanks worked as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns from 2010 to 2013.

Early life

Blanks was born on September 9, 1966, in Del Rio, Texas, to Sid Blanks, a football player who played in the American Football League and National Football League. Lance Blanks attended McCullough High School in The Woodlands, Texas, and was named Texas Mr. Basketball and a third-team Parade All-American in 1985.[1]

College career

Blanks played collegiately at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas at Austin. Blanks and Texas Longhorns teammates Travis Mays and Joey Wright were known as the "BMW Scoring Machine" during the 1989–90 season. That team finished third in the Southwest Conference and advanced to the Elite Eight in the 1990 NCAA tournament.[2] Blanks drew strong criticism and gained many detractors for his on-court antics and unsportsmanlike, excessive celebration, such as at the Elite Eight of the 1990 tournament.[3]

With 1,322 points, Blanks holds the record for the highest number of points by a two-year player and is the eighth-leading scorer in University of Texas history. Blanks ended his career at Texas as the all-time leader in steals and ranked fourth in career scoring average with 20.0 points per game.

Blanks was inducted into Texas Athletics' Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2007.[4]

Pro playing career

A guard, Blanks was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft with the 26th overall pick. He had an undistinguished career as a player, playing 142 games in three NBA seasons with the Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves. Afterwards, he played one season in the Continental Basketball Association and another three seasons in Europe,[5] leading teams in Hungary and Cyprus to league titles.

Post-playing career

Blanks joined the San Antonio Spurs in 2000 as a scout and was elevated to director of scouting in September 2002. He served as the Spurs' television analyst during the 2004–05 season.[6]

Blanks worked five seasons as assistant general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2010.[7] From 2010 to 2013, Blanks served as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns.[5] [8]

From 2020 until his death in 2023, Blanks served as a television analyst for the Texas Longhorns on Longhorn Network.[9]

Personal life

Blanks's daughter, Riley, was a four-star recruit for the University of Virginia tennis team.[10] His cousin Larvell Blanks was an infielder in Major League Baseball.[7]

In 2019, Blanks hosted a symposium on concussive injuries, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), at the University of Texas's Center for Sports Communication & Media. His father had Parkinson's disease after playing professional football for years.[11] Participants at the symposium discussed the effect of football on the human brain and the symbolic importance of the sport in American life.[12] Blanks also worked with Basketball Without Borders.[13]

Blanks died by suicide in Dallas, Texas, on May 3, 2023, at age 56.[14] [15] [16]

Career statistics

NBA

Source[17]

Regular season

|-| align="left" | | align="left" | Detroit| 38 || 0 || 5.6 || .426 || .125 || .714 || .5 || .7 || .2 || .1 || 1.7|-| align="left" | | align="left" | Detroit| 43 || 0 || 4.4 || .455 || .375 || .727 || .5 || .4 || .3 || .0 || 1.5|-| align="left" | | align="left" | Minnesota| 61 || 2 || 10.5 || .433 || .256 || .625 || 1.1 || 1.2 || .3 || .1 || 2.6|- class="sortbottom"| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career| 142 || 2 || 7.6 || .436 || .253 || .667 || .8 || .8 || .3 || .1 || 2.0

Playoffs

|-| align="left" | 1992| align="left" | Detroit| 1 || 0 || 10.0 || .500 ||  - ||  - || 1.0 || 3.0 || 3.0 || .0 || 2.0

Notes and References

  1. News: Haskell. Cohen. Parade's All-America High School Boys Basketball Team. Parade. March 17, 1985. 18. May 8, 2023. Newspapers.com.
  2. Web site: 2014–15 Texas Basketball Fact Book . 91. texassports.com . May 2, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205019/http://texassports_com.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/2014/11/12/2014_15_Texas_Basketball_Fact_Book.pdf. March 3, 2016.
  3. News: Nuhn . Gary . March 24, 1990 . Blanks shoots, hoots & hollers for Longhorns . Dayton Daily News. B1. May 9, 2023. .
  4. Web site: Longhorn legends: Basketball Hall of Honor inductee Lance Blanks. October 9, 2007. texassports.com. November 18, 2019.
  5. Web site: Chris. Broussard. Suns hire Lance Blanks as GM. August 5, 2010. ESPN. May 8, 2023.
  6. http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/chat/blanks_chat_050901.html Cavaliers: Lance Blanks Chat Transcript
  7. http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/front_office.html Cavaliers: Front Office
  8. Web site: Suns and Blanks Part Ways . 2024-02-02 . www.nba.com . en.
  9. Web site: Ufnowski . Amy . November 24, 2020 . Longhorn Network Set to Televise 20 Texas Basketball Games During the 2020-21 Season . November 22, 2022 . ESPN Press Room U.S. . en-US.
  10. Web site: Raised to Shine. uvamagazine.org. February 15, 2020.
  11. Web site: Texas football legend Sidney Blanks dies at 80 . KVUE . December 13, 2021 . December 22, 2021.
  12. Web site: Head Trauma and the Future of Football. https://Moody College of Communication. November 18, 2019.
  13. Web site: Mike. Finger. Former Texas star Lance Blanks leaves legacy beyond basketball. May 4, 2023. San Antonio Express-News. May 8, 2023.
  14. Web site: Former Men's Basketball great Lance Blanks passes away . University of Texas Athletics . May 10, 2023 . en . May 4, 2023.
  15. Web site: Former Pistons guard Lance Blanks passes away at age 56 . detroitnews.com . May 4, 2023 . May 4, 2023.
  16. News: Blanks Reed . Riley . Remembering the man, my father Lance Blanks . May 9, 2023 . ESPN.com . May 9, 2023 . en.
  17. Web site: Lance Blanks NBA stats. Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. 12 June 2023.