Josh Asselin (born December 24, 1978) is a former basketball player who primarily played in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

during the 2000s to 2010s. Before playing in Spain, Asselin was on the

Michigan Wolverines men's basketball The Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team is the College basketball, intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

team from 1997 to 2001. As part of his 879 career points, Asselin's 136 blocks remained in the top ten for most career blocks at Michigan for almost twenty years. During his time with multiple teams in the

Liga Española de Baloncesto The Primera FEB, formerly known as LEB or LEB Oro, is the second basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system after the Liga ACB. It is run by the FEB. The FEB leagues are divided into three categories (the other two are the Segu ...

duiring the 2000s, Asselin and

Bàsquet Manresa Club Bàsquet Manresa S.A.D., also known as Baxi Manresa for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Manresa, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Champions League. It home arena is the Pavelló Nou Congost. In ...

won the 2006–07 LEB season playoffs. As a

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

player from 2007 to 2015, Asselin had the 2007-2008 league season record in blocks and reached the Eurocup Basketball 2010–11 Quarterfinals with Asefa Estudiantes. Outside of Spain, Asselin was on the

Roanoke Dazzle The Roanoke Dazzle were an NBA Development League team based in Roanoke, Virginia, U.S. In operation from the inaugural D-League season of 2001–02 through the 2005–06 season, the Dazzle marked the return of professional basketball to Roanoke ...

with the

National Basketball Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

from 2003 to 2004. During the season, he held the season record for most free throws and was part of the All-NBDL First Team. With the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, Asselin and his team reached the quarterfinals of the

2005 FIBA Americas Championship The 2005 FIBA Americas Championship, later known as the FIBA AmeriCup (also known as The Tournament of the Americas), was hosted by the Dominican Republic, from August 24, to September 4, 2005. The games were played in Santo Domingo. This FIBA Amer ...

. He was also on the Dominican Republic basketball team that did not obtain a qualifying spot into the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

after the

2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men The 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament was a men's basketball tournament that consisted of 12 national teams, where the top three teams earned a place in the Basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Olympics basketball tournament. It ...

. Other countries that Asselin has played for include

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Early life and education

Asselin was born in

Caro, Michigan Caro is a city in and the county seat of Tuscola County, Michigan, Tuscola County, Michigan, United States. The population was 4,328 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census and 4,145 at the United States Census, 2000, 2000 census (an incre ...

on December 24, 1978. Growing up, Asselin played various sports until basketball became his specialty during his teenage years. Asselin was raised by his parents before his mother died on the day he turned 18. For his post-secondary education, Asselin was asked by multiple universities to enroll with them including

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

and

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. In 1997, Asselin joined the

team. Asselin injured his thumb while training with Michigan in 1998 and continued to play with his thumb injury in 1999. He was a candidate to play basketball for the United States at the 1999 World University Games but did not make the final roster. At the

1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1998, and ended with the champio ...

, Asselin and Michigan were defeated by UCLA in the second round. Asselin also competed with Michigan in the first round of the

2000 National Invitation Tournament The 2000 National Invitation Tournament was the year 2000's staging of the annual National Invitation Tournament, an NCAA college basketball competition. Selected teams Below is a list of the 32 teams selected for the tournament.scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

. Apart from basketball, Asselin studied

telecommunications engineering Telecommunications engineering is a subfield of electronics engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication eng ...

. During his years with Michigan, Asselin was a co-captain of the basketball team from 1999 to 2001. After his final year in 2001, Asselin had 136 blocks during his 121 games. With his blocks, Asselin was in the top ten for most career blocks for almost twenty years by 2020. From 1999 to 2001, Asselin held the season record for most blocks at Michigan. He also had the highest

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gene ...

in 1999 and 2000 for Michigan. In other statistics, Asselin had 592 rebounds as part of his 879 career points.

Career

2001 to 2004

Between 2001 and 2002, Asselin was a member of the

CI Rosalía de Castro Club Instituto Rosalía de Castro is a basketball team based in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia and plays in the Pavillón Instituto Rosalia de Castro, in Liga EBA. History The club was born in the Rosalía de Castro High School and it played pro ...

team in

. With the

team, Asselin had 143 points after 15 regular season games and 3 playoff games. From 2002 to 2003, Asselin played in

with

Stade Clermontois Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the west of Hamburg and b ...

in the

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the second-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since the year 1987. The regular se ...

. During his 29 games with Clermont, Asselin had 152 rebounds and 243 field goals while accumulating 343 points. As a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, Asselin was picked to train with the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

in 2003. After practicing with the Warriors, Asselin was cut from the team. During the 2003 National Basketball Development League draft, Asselin was picked by the

in the first round. With the Dazzle from 2003 to 2004, Asselin played in 46 games and has 664 points. Of these points, Asselin had 238

field goals A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, a ...

and 242

free throws In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

. With his 242 free throws, Asselin had the 2003–2004 season record for most scored free throws. That season, Asselin was selected as part of the All-NBDL First Team.

2004 to 2007

Starting in 2004, Asselin spent a season each in the LEB with the Caceres Club Baloncesto,

Cantabria Baloncesto Cantabria Baloncesto was a professional basketball team who played during five seasons in Liga ACB. The team was also known as Cantabria Lobos. From 1975 to 2004 the team was based and played in Torrelavega, but after the 2003-04 season the Cant ...

and

. During these seasons, Asselin reached the quarterfinals with Baloncesto during the

2004–05 LEB season The 2004–2005 LEB season was the 9th season of the Liga Española de Baloncesto, second tier of the Spanish basketball. LEB standings LEB Oro Playoffs The two winners of the semifinals are promoted to Liga ACB. Relegation playoffs '' Clu ...

. Asselin named Most Valuable player while he and Manresa won the playoffs in the 2006–07 LEB season. After ending his time at the LEB in 2007, Asselin had 894 rebounds and 684 field goals while amassing 1791 points in his 128 games with the four teams. In between this time period, Asselin went to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in 2004 to play in the

Liga Profesional de Baloncesto The Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto, commonly known as the SPB, is the Venezuelan first division national professional basketball league. Founded in 1974 as the Liga Especial de Baloncesto, it adopted the name Liga Profesional de Baloncesto i ...

with

Trotamundos de Carabobo Trotamundos B.B.C. (), also known as Trotamundos de Carabobo, is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, located in the Venezuelan Carabobo State. The team currently plays in the Venezuelan SuperLiga. The team has won the Venezuelan cham ...

. After a month in the LPB, Asselin moved to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

to join

Gallitos de Isabela Gallitos de Isabela is a professional basketball team based in Isabela, Puerto Rico. They play their home games at the José Abreu Coliseum, refurnished in 2023 in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. History In 1984, the Gallitos reached the BSN ...

for another month stint. As part of the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. T ...

, Asselin scored 114 points with Gallitos de Isabela. In 2005, Asselin returned to France as part of the

Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez Elan Corporation plc was a major drugs firm based in Dublin, Ireland, which had major interests in the United States. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ELN, the Irish Stock Exchange as ELN.I, and the London Stock Exchange as ELN. ...

team as part of the

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

. During his seven games with Pau-Orthez, his team reached the semi-finals during the 2005–06 Pro A season. The following year, he expanded his basketball career to the

as a member of the Naco team.

2007 to 2015

As a member of the

from 2007 to 2014, Asselin played in two seasons each with Ricoh Manresa and La Bruixa d'Or. During this time period, Asselin was also with

CB Murcia UCAM Murcia Club Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball club based in Murcia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Champions League. Their home venue is Palacio de Deportes. The team ...

, Asefa Estudiantes and Assignia Manresa for one season and briefly played for Cajasol. With Asefa Estudiantes, Asselin and his team reached the Eurocup Basketball 2010–11 Quarterfinals. With his combined statistics, Asselin had 2,279 points and 900 rebounds during his 216 games in the ACB. He also had the 2007–2008 season block record in the ACB with 69 blocks. In the duration of his ACB career, Asselin briefly played for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in 2009 as part of the

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

team. In his only

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

game, Asselin amassed five points. In 2013, Asselin returned to Puerto Rico for a few months to play with the Brujos de Guayama. With the BSN team, Asselin had 47 points. During his 21 games with Guayama, Asselin and his team made the semifinals of the league's playoffs. That year, Asselin was signed by Foolad Mahan Isfahan as a temporary player for the

team. During the 2014-15 Greek Basket League, Asselin played in four games with

Panionios B.C. Panionios B.C. (Greek (language), Greek: Πανιώνιος KAE), known in European competitions as Panionios Athens is the Greece, Greek professional basketball club that is based in Nea Smyrni, and that plays its home games in Glyfada, Greece ...

FIBA events

Asselin was part of the Dominican Republic team that reached the quarterfinals of the

. He was tied for fifth for the highest block percentage at the tournament with 1.4. With Donetsk, Asselin and the Ukrainian team competed in the regular season of the

2009–10 FIBA EuroChallenge 2009–10 FIBA EuroChallenge was the seventh edition of Europe's third-tier level transnational men's professional club basketball FIBA EuroChallenge Tournament, organized by FIBA Europe. Teams Regular season The Regular Season begins from No ...

. In 2012, Asselin was selected for Dominican Republic before qualification for the men's basketball event at the

started. After the

, Asselin and his team did not gain a qualifying spot into the Olympics. With the Dominican Republic, Asselin and his team won the

2012 Centrobasket The 2012 Men's Central American and Caribbean Basketball Championship, also known as 2012 Centrobasket, was the regional championship of FIBA Americas for Central America and Caribbean subzone, played June 18–24, 2012. The top four teams qua ...

tournament. During the 2013 FIBA Asia Champions Cup, Asselin had a dislocated shoulder during the quarterfinals. With Foolad Mahan Isfahan, Asselin and the Iran team won the 2013 Asian Cup final. At the 2015 FIBA Americas League, Asselin and

Malvin Malvin is a naturally occurring chemical of the anthocyanin family. Malvin reacts in the presence of H2O2 to form malvone. The ortho-benzoyloxyphenylacetic acid esters reaction product is dependant of the pH: it is obtained under acidic conditio ...

reached the preliminary round played for

Honors and personal life

Throughout the years with Michigan, Asselin won multiple basketball awards with the team. These included the Rudy Tomjanovich Most Improved Player in 1999 and the Loy Vaught Rebounding Award in 2001. In 2018, ''

MLive MLive Media Group, originally known as Booth Newspapers, or Booth Michigan, is a media group that produces newspapers from the state of Michigan in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded by George Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold t ...

'' chose Asselin as one of the best 25 centers at Michigan high schools between 1993 and 2018. Asselin studied

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

in university and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

while he was married.

References