Unfold the red carpet. 980 NBA games. Eleven seasons with the Mavericks, from 1981 to 1992. Two with the Knicks, from 1992 to 1994. Sixty-nine playoff games. Four selections for the All-Star Game. In this year 1996, the man joined Limoges after a spell in Greece (AEK Athens) and Italy (Olimpia Milano). It's quite simply the best track record ever seen in France. We said “prize lists”. No “leftovers”… “Those who think that I have come to take a golden retirement in France are wrong,” he proclaims a few hours after setting foot in Limousin.
Rolando Blackman – since it is about him – is intended to be reassuring and optimistic. “The main thing for me is to still be competitive at 37 years old. I will prepare well and from the start of the season you will see that there is no difference between a 24 or 25 year old player and me. »
The difference, this native of Panama City, February 26, 1959, learned to tame it from an early age. From this ease was born one of the most beautiful stories of public prosecutors. “Ro” – as he is nicknamed – is 8 years old when the first shock of his life occurs. One evening, upon his return to the “casa”, his father brutally announces to him that the whole family is going to migrate to New York. Rolando's usually laughing eyes fill with tears. Sadness of a kid who wanders around freely, taking himself for the idol that everyone worships here: Pelé.
Rolando doesn't even imagine that we can play any sport other than football. In Panama, the official language is Spanish. In New York, he no longer understands anything. The change of scenery is total. Incomprehension too. In Brooklyn, the only green spaces are a few trees and flower pots. Big hassle. And that's just the beginning. Here, no one uses their feet to juggle the ball. It is either too small – and we use a bat to move it – or too big and we use our hands to bury it in a high basket. Here, soccer has no voice. When “Ro” mentions Pelé, all his new friends widen their eyes. Unknown to the battalion. Little Blackman has no choice but to take up basketball. “I liked it straight away but I didn’t know how to do anything. My friends advised me to watch them and count the points…”
Retained with the USA… without being American
Once the matches are over, everyone goes off on a tangent. Rolando does his scales alone, daily. At school, he wants to play. He is offered a spectator seat. “I wasn't clumsy but I didn't know how to dribble with my left hand. I was unable to make a good pass. And then I didn't know anything about defense. »
Over time, it asserts itself. He is often the one who sets the tone at Ditmas Park, around 6 p.m. From now on, Rolando easily juggles both languages. He quickly learns his lessons and finally displays his nerve. He asks an instructor, Ted Gutsus, to correct his gesticulations. He is 13 years old. And now it's the others who count his points. A beginning without end.
William E. Grady High School falls under the spell of this whipping boy with his silky, precise shots. And when you make a name for yourself in the Big Apple, you become someone nationwide, even if you're still in high school. Every day, the mailbox at the family home brings its share of university scholarship proposals. Rolando puts crosses here and there. “I didn’t want too big a university. I wasn't going to spend my coursework sitting on the bench. »
He has already had this experience on a playground, he does not want to relive that. In the NCAA, Blackman wants to run, score, win. His choice will be Kansas State University and Jack Hartman's program. Judicious. For four years, the member of the Kappa Alpha Psi brotherhood reaped good grades and distinctions. He was notably named All-American Third Team and best player in the Big Eight Conference in 1980, at the end of his junior season. Peak of recognition, he was selected for the USA team for the Moscow Olympic Games… even though he had not even obtained American citizenship! The boycott decreed by President Jimmy Carter will solve the problem.
“Ro” left the university courts in 1981 with a career average of 15.2 points (at 51.7%), 5 rebounds and 2.7 assists. Three times he was voted Big Eight Conference Defender of the Year. His 1,844 points are the second-best total in Wildcats history. His number 25 will be retired in February 2007. In 1997, after the end of his professional career, he returned to university to complete his degree in sociology and marketing. At the time, we were still talking about the successful shot 2 seconds before the buzzer to eliminate the No. 2 seed, Oregon State, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament during his senior year. “The Shot.” A murderous shot which propelled him onto the front page of “ Sports Illustrated »…
Nonchalance, courage, faith and pride
This starry passport evaporated in the cold of Moscow, he obtained it four years later, during the All-Star Game in Indianapolis (1985). In the meantime, the exile from New York becomes a known face. A body that the NBA dreamed of seeing set one of its prestigious floors ablaze. Draft 1981. First round. Ninth choice. The Mavericks do not hesitate for a single moment. It will be this rear of 1.98 m and 86 kg. From his Panamanian origins, Rolando inherited a certain nonchalance and unfailing pride. From his American upbringing, courage and faith. Whether in defense or attack, we find him at the forefront. “It all starts with defense. And I always want to lead by example. »
His points and his exceptional skill on the perimeter will do the Mavericks a lot of good for a decade. After his rookie season and until his departure in 1992, “Ro” never dropped below 17 pawns per game. His mentality makes him the emblematic figure of the region. On four occasions, he was invited to the February festivities (Indianapolis, but also Dallas in 1986, Seattle in 1987 and Miami in 1990).
Come April, he quickly went on vacation. Except on three occasions. In the spring of 1984, Mark Aguirre's teammates enjoyed the thrill of a Conference semi-final against the Lakers (1-4). Two years later, again (2-4 against Los Angeles, still in the semis). In 1988, the Mavericks pushed the Lakers to a Game 7 in the Western Conference finals. This team has good looks (Aguirre, Blackman, Harper, Perkins, Tarpley, Schrempf…). Paradoxically, she will miss the playoffs with the reinforcement of Adrian Dantley. And will gradually fall into line.
Goodbye, postseason. Rolando discovers the simplicity of everyday life. He can spend time with his wife and four children (Valerie, Brittany, Briana, Vernell), and satisfy his other passions. Television as a producer for a Dallas channel. The deep blue, dolphins, the seabed and the films of Commander Cousteau. “Ro” will go so far as to learn scuba diving: “I went down to about 50 m depth. »
Premonitory: the Mavericks are sinking and getting bogged down in the depths of the ranking. It was in these circumstances that the New York Knicks, the city where he arrived as a kid, called on the mature man and accomplished athlete that he had become. It is June 24, 1992. Dallas trades its emblematic No. 22 (whose jersey will be retired in March 2000) in exchange for a first round of the 1995 draft.
Blackman takes #20. And take on the role of the wise man. At 33, Rolando dreams of resurrection. For two seasons, Pat Riley gave him a first-class funeral. Just 24 minutes of playing time the first year (9.7 pts), 17.6 the second (7.3). We are far from the 18.3 points posted during his last season in Texas. He suffers from a herniated disc but that doesn't explain everything.
The ax fell on July 6, 1994, the day after an eighth and final playoff campaign: cut. Nothing on the horizon. Except for a job offer in Greece during 1994-95. AEK Athens gives him a golden bridge. “Ro” crosses the Atlantic, leaving his family behind. Homesickness is felt despite an honorable season.
Pat Riley's Biggest Coaching Mistake
Then it's Milan's turn to fall in love with his eternal boyish smile. Blackman will offer Stefanel the title of Italian champion, the Italian Cup and a Korac Cup final, lost 68-76 against Efes Pilsen. During the summer of 1996, the Bosnian Bogdan Tanjevic left Lombardy for Limousin. He set as a precondition for his signing at CSP Limoges the arrival of Rolando, the ideal leader. Both display boundless confidence. “I come to Limoges because it’s a big club, with a big track record,” explains the former Maverick. “I know exactly how the coach wants me to play. So there will be no surprises. And then Limoges did everything so that I could live here with my family. »
Four children, a partner, friends on and off the floor. In the CPS management, we want to believe that at 37 years old, Rolando Blackman is still as green as ever. But it will only fly by. Not a single Pro A match under the Limougeaud jersey. An adventure ended before it even began. The legend of Ditmas Park remains. This little corner of Brooklyn where a Panamanian teenager learned to play basketball by counting others' points. A field that is now called Rolando Blackman Park.
Retired from the prosecution, “Ro” begins a second life on the bench as an assistant. He supported Don Nelson in Dallas and joined the management of the German selection for the 2002 World Cup in Indianapolis, winning a bronze medal. For the world championship last summer, he supported an old acquaintance, Bogdan Tanjevic, within the Turkish selection.
Rolando Blackman, who remarried in 2004, remained the leading scorer in Mavs history for 18 years. His 16,643 points were beaten by Dirk Nowitzki on March 9, 2008 against New Jersey.
Pat Riley considers that the biggest coaching mistake of his career was preferring John Starks to Rolando Blackman for the last two rounds of the 1994 Finals against the Rockets (3-4)…
| Rolando Blackman | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Party | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 1981-82 | DAL | 82 | 24 | 51.3 | 25.0 | 76.8 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 13.3 |
| 1982-83 | DAL | 75 | 31 | 49.2 | 20.0 | 78.0 | 1.4 | 2.5 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 17.7 |
| 1983-84 | DAL | 81 | 37 | 54.6 | 9.1 | 81.2 | 1.5 | 3.1 | 4.6 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 22.4 |
| 1984-85 | DAL | 81 | 35 | 50.8 | 30.0 | 82.8 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 19.7 |
| 1985-86 | DAL | 82 | 34 | 51.3 | 13.8 | 83.6 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 21.5 |
| 1986-87 | DAL | 80 | 35 | 49.6 | 33.3 | 88.2 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 20.9 |
| 1987-88 | DAL | 71 | 36 | 47.3 | 0.0 | 87.3 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 18.7 |
| 1988-89 | DAL | 78 | 38 | 47.6 | 35.3 | 85.4 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 19.7 |
| 1989-90 | DAL | 80 | 37 | 49.8 | 30.2 | 84.4 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 19.4 |
| 1990-91 | DAL | 80 | 37 | 48.2 | 35.1 | 86.5 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 19.9 |
| 1991-92 | DAL | 75 | 34 | 46.1 | 38.5 | 89.8 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 18.3 |
| 1992-93 | NYK | 60 | 24 | 44.3 | 42.5 | 78.9 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 9.7 |
| 1993-94 | NYK | 55 | 18 | 43.6 | 35.7 | 90.6 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 7.3 |
| Total | 980 | 33 | 49.3 | 34.3 | 84.0 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 18.0 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.
