Keith Closs
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Keith Mitchell Closs Jr. (born April 3, 1976) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Santiago Basket Titanes of the Laliga de Campeones (LDC). He played at the center position.
College career
At Script error: No such module "convert". and Script error: No such module "convert"., Closs played collegiately at Central Connecticut State University, leading the nation in blocks his only two years in college, and still holding the NCAA Division I career record for blocks with 5.87 blocked shots per game.[1]
Professional career
Los Angeles Clippers (1997–2000)
After starting playing professionally in the Atlantic Basketball Association with the Norwich Neptunes,[2] Closs moved to the Clippers in 1997. Having logged career highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals during 1999–2000, his NBA career abruptly ended, with a club record for most blocked shots per 48 minutes (4.7).
Closs played three seasons as a backup center for the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Clippers from 1997 to 2000, averaging 3.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game during his spell.
Later career (2001–2008)
Closs played for the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs of the USBL in the 2001 and 2003 seasons.[3]
On December 11, 2004, Closs signed with the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA).[4] He averaged a league-high 4.4 blocks per game as well as 7.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game with the Lightning. On February 1, 2005, Closs was released by the Lightning.[5] He also played in the CBA with the Gary Steelheads during the 2004–05 season.[3]
Closs played for the Butte Daredevils in the CBA during the 2006–07 season but was released after being arrested for public intoxication.[6] He then joined the Buffalo Silverbacks of the American Basketball Association.[6]
Closs was selected with the 11th pick in the 5th round of the 2007 NBA Development League draft by the Tulsa 66ers.[7]
In December 2008, Closs signed with the Chinese league's Yunnan Bulls, and averaged 16.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and 5.9 blocked shots per game.[8]
Closs played for the Santa Barbara Breakers of the West Coast Professional Basketball League in 2012.[6]
Coaching career
On July 21, 2023, Closs was announced as the head coach of the Santiago Basket Titanes in the Dominican Laliga de Campeones.[9]
Career statistics
Template:NBA player statistics legend
NBA
Source[10]
Regular season
Template:NBA player statistics start |- | align="left" | 1997–98 | align="left" | L.A. Clippers | 58 || 1 || 12.8 || .449 || – || .597 || 2.9 || .3 || .2 || 1.4 || 4.0 |- | align="left" | 1998–99 | align="left" | L.A. Clippers | 15 || 0 || 5.8 || .522 || .000 || .800 || 1.7 || .0 || .2 || .6 || 2.1 |- | align="left" | 1999–2000 | align="left" | L.A. Clippers | 57 || 6 || 14.4 || .487 || .000 || .590 || 3.1 || .4 || .2 || 1.3 || 4.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 130 || 7 || 12.7 || .471 || .000 || .606 || 2.9 || .3 || .2 || 1.3 || 3.9 |}
Personal life
Closs is the oldest of six children. His favorite book is Giant Steps by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.[1]
Closs admitted to being an alcoholic, even before joining the Clippers. The pressure of the NBA only led to more drinking and after three DUI offenses, he sought help in 2007. During a 2008 interview, he said he had turned his life around, having given up the addiction for good.[11]
His father, Keith Mitchell Closs Sr. died on December 1, 2017, from a possible heart attack, according to Closs's Twitter account.
Closs also has a son, Keith M. Closs III, born January 21, 2000.
In August 2022, Closs became an assistant coach in the Turkish basketball league[12]
Closs has the fifth lowest BMI of all players in NBA history.[13]
See also
- List of tallest players in National Basketball Association history
- List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 13 or more blocks in a game
- List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season blocks leaders
References
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- ↑ 2007 D-League draft Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Yunnan Honghe Running Bulls roster; Asia Basket
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ The long road back; Tulsa World, 12 February 2008
- ↑ Chris Daleo on Keith Closs; Tulsa World, 12 February 2008
- ↑ Chet Holmgren out for season: What a foot injury means for the Oklahoma City Thunder and their star rookie; ESPN.COM, August 2022
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External links
- Pages with script errors
- 1976 births
- Living people
- African-American basketball coaches
- American expatriate basketball people in China
- American men's basketball coaches
- American men's basketball players
- Basketball coaches from Connecticut
- Basketball players from Hartford, Connecticut
- Buffalo Sharks players
- Centers (basketball)
- Central Connecticut Blue Devils men's basketball players
- Harlem Globetrotters players
- Los Angeles Clippers players
- Rockford Lightning players
- Tulsa 66ers players
- Undrafted NBA players
- 21st-century African-American sportsmen
- 21st-century American sportsmen
- 20th-century African-American sportsmen
- 20th-century American sportsmen
- Yunnan Bulls players