Jānis Blūms
Jānis Blūms (born April 20, 1982) is a former Latvian professional basketball player. Standing at , Blūms played both point guard and shooting guard positions. He also served 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. 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. On October 1, 2014, he signed with the Greek club Panathinaikos. 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. On August 23, 2017, he signed with Spanish club Tecnyconta Zaragoza. On July 28, 2020, he has signed with Pallacanestro Reggiana of Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) but, by mutual agreement with  the team, resigned after eight games played after the start of the season. On August 30, 2021, Blums announced his retirement from professional basketball. Trivia. Blūms has said that his favorite players and idols growing was Roberts Štelmahers and Ainars Bagatskis. 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.