Blake Schilb at the training of the Czech basketball team.
ČBF / Václav Mudra
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“It is a great pleasure for me to be able to play again in the Czech Republic, where I actually started my professional career. After a year of training in the USA and starting a business outside of basketball, I had a great opportunity to play for USK Prague and finish the season with them. It’s a good combination interests, which will allow me to train well, play, prepare for a national team camp and then be prepared for the Olympic qualification and possibly for the Olympics in Tokyo, “said Schilb in a press release.
A native of Illinois, USA, who accepted Czech citizenship in 2015, he is returning to the top domestic competition after 12 years, when he played for the championship Nymburk. Since then, he has replaced six different foreign clubs.
Czech basketball player Blake Schilb.
Vlastimil Vacek, Right
In Élan Chalon he became the champion of France and the most useful player of the final in 2012, in Galatasaray Istanbul he triumphed in the Eurocup four years later. He also wore the jersey of the Red Star of Belgrade, Real Betis, Paris or most recently Reims. There, he had an average of 11.1 points per game in his last season.
“It is therefore a great honor to welcome players with a profile and experience like Blake. We are glad that we have found the intersection of the interests of both parties together,” said USK manager Petr Jachan. He believes that the 37-year-old veteran will help the otherwise youngest team in the league to develop and move forward. “Such personalities as Blake will significantly help profile new young players. Even though he played his last match last season, we believe that he will get into the rhythm of the game as soon as possible and help us especially in the playoffs,” added Jachan.
Schilb considered the end of his national team career two years after the World Cup in China, where he helped Ronen Ginzburg’s team to a historic sixth place. With an average of 64.7 percent, he became the top scorer in the tournament. However, the prospect of possible participation in this year’s Olympics in Tokyo forced him to reconsider the decision to end.
The Prague team, which was the only NBL to beat sovereign Nymburk this season, gained another valuable reinforcement in Schilb. In recent years, for example, Luboš Bartoň and Jaromír Bohačík have returned to the team from abroad, or players such as Tomáš Satoranský, Ondřej Balvín and Vojtěch Hruban have started their careers at USK.
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