Rolando "Ro" Antonio Blackman (born February 26, 1959 in Panama City, Panama) is a retired basketball player in the NBA. He was an All-Star who spent most of his career with the Dallas Mavericks. He is now the Director of Basketball Development for the Mavericks.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] College basketball

After being raised in Brooklyn, New York, Blackman attended Kansas State University where he played basketball under Jack Hartman. At Kansas State, Blackman had a number of noteworthy achievements:

• In 1980, he was named the Big Eight Conference Player of the Year and All-American.
• He was a three-time unanimous All-Big Eight selection.
• He was three times named the Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year.
• He scored 1,844 career points, the second-highest total in Kansas State history.
• He had a career .517 Field Goal Percentage and a .717 Free Throw Percentage.

Finally, prior to his senior season, Blackman also was a starter for the 1980 Summer Olympics basketball team that did not participate because of the U.S. Olympic boycott by President Jimmy Carter.

Long after his departure from school, in 1996, when the Big Eight Conference expanded to the Big 12, Blackman was named to the AP all-time All-Big Eight basketball team.

Blackman's number 25 jersey was retired by Kansas State in a ceremony at halftime of a game against Iowa State on February 17, 2007.

[edit] NBA

Rolando Blackman was drafted by the Mavericks in the first round (9th overall) of the 1981 NBA Draft. In eleven seasons with the Mavericks, Blackman was named to the NBA All-Star Team four times and played on six Maverick playoff teams. Blackman scored 16,643 points (which was a franchise record he held for 18 years until being broken by Dirk Nowitzki on March 8, 2008)and 6,487 field goals with the Mavericks.

Blackman spent his final two seasons in the NBA with the New York Knicks. When he retired from the league following the 1993–94 NBA season, he had career totals of 17,623 points, 3,278 rebounds and 2,981 assists. Blackman's points total ranks as the 60th-best in NBA history (directly behind Magic Johnson). His number 22 was retired by the Mavericks on March 11, 2000.^[1]

[edit] Europe

Rolando Blackman signed with the Greek League team AEK Athens BC in the middle of the 1994-95 season. The next season he played for Stefanel Milano in the Italian League, and helped them to win both the Italian National Championship and the Italian Cup of the 1995-96 season by averaging 15.3 points per game. His Italian club also reached the final game of the Korać Cup championship that season, which they lost to Efes Pilsen Istanbul.

[edit] Post-playing career

In 2000, Blackman was tapped to be the defensive coordinator for the Mavericks under coach Don Nelson. The next year he served as an assistant coach for the German National team and helped lead them to a bronze medal at the 2002 World Basketball Championships in Indianapolis. During the 2004-05 NBA season, Blackman was hired as one of the Mavericks' television analysts, along with Matt Pinto and Bob Ortegel. For the 2005-06 NBA season, Blackman returned to the Mavericks' bench, serving his first season as a full-fledged assistant coach. In July 2006 he was promoted to the position of Director of Player Development.

During the 2006 NBA Finals, Blackman's former coach with the New York Knicks, Pat Riley, admitted, publicly for the first time, that sitting Rolando Blackman in favor of John Starks during Games 6 and 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals was the biggest coaching mistake in his career and that he has never forgiven himself for it.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

He has four children and resides in Dallas, Texas.

Blackman is on the Board of Directors of the Assist Youth Foundation. The foundation's goal is to advance opportunities for underprivileged kids in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and across the globe.

Rolando Blackman is a prestigious member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity Incorporated. Blackman continues to contribute to his chapter, Beta Psi, as well as the Kansas State University community.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ NBA.com History: This Date in History - March

[edit] External links

• NBA.com Historical Player File
• basketpedya.com
• Basketball Reference: Rolando Blackman
• NBA.com: Rolando Blackman
• Kansas Sports Hall of Fame biography