Keith Mitchell Closs Jr. (born April 3, 1976) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played at the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

position.

College career

At and , Closs played collegiately at

Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University (Central Connecticut, CCSU, Central Connecticut State, or informally Central) is a public university in New Britain, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1849 as the State Normal School, CCSU is Connecticut ...

, leading the nation in blocks his only two years in college, and still holding the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I career record for blocks with 5.87 blocked shots per game.

Professional career

Los Angeles Clippers (1997–2000)

Closs played three seasons as a backup

for the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, averaging 3.9 points, 2.9

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and 1.3 blocks per game during his spell. After starting playing professionally in the Atlantic Basketball Association with the Norwich Neptunes, 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).

Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs (2003–2007)

Closs later played for the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs of the

USBL The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

in 2003, subsequently moving to the CBA.

Buffalo Silverbacks (2007)

In January 2007, as he led the latter league in blocks per game at 2.9, he left and signed with the Buffalo Silverbacks of the ABA.

Tulsa 66ers (2007)

Closs was selected with the 11th pick in the 5th round of the 2007

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

draft by the

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

Yunnan Bulls (2008)

In December 2008, Closs signed with the Chinese league's

Yunnan Bulls Yunnan Honghe Running Bulls () or Yunnan Honghe or Yunnan Running Bulls were a basketball team in the Southern Division of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), based in Mengzi, Honghe, Yunnan (). They won the 2004 Chinese Basketball League ...

, and averaged 16.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and 5.9 blocked shots per game.

Personal life

Closs is the oldest of six children. His favorite book is ''Giant Steps'' by

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

. Closs admitted to being an

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

, even before joining the Clippers. The pressure of the NBA only led to more drinking and after three

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

offenses, and he finally sought help in 2007. During a 2008 interview, he said he had turned his life around, having given up the addiction for good. 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 Closs has the fifth lowest BMI of all players in NBA history.Chet Holmgren out for season: What a foot injury means for the Oklahoma City Thunder and their star rookie
ESPN.COM, August 2022

References

External links

NBA.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Closs, Keith 1976 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in China American men's basketball players Basketball players from Hartford, Connecticut Centers (basketball) Central Connecticut Blue Devils men's basketball players Chinese Basketball Association players Harlem Globetrotters players Los Angeles Clippers players Rockford Lightning players Tulsa 66ers players Undrafted National Basketball Association players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople