Daniel Leslie Grunfeld ( he, דן גרונפלד; born February 7, 1984) is an American 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, who last played as a
small forward
The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...
for
Bnei Herzliya
Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It ...
in the
Israeli Basketball Premier League
Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...
. He played briefly for
Hapoel Holon
Hapoel Holon Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל הפועל חולון), known for sponsorship reasons as Hapoel Atsmon Playgrounds Holon (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli B ...
, but left the team due to its financial problems, and signed a two-year contract with Hapoel Jerusalem starting at the beginning of November 2011.
He is the son of former
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
guard, and
former Washington Wizards executive,
Ernie Grunfeld
Ernest Grunfeld (born April 24, 1955) is a Romanian-American former professional basketball player and former general manager in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In college at the University of Tennessee, he set a new record as the sch ...
. In high school, he averaged 23.9 points per game and was the MVP of his conference. In college, at Stanford University, he was first team All
Pacific-10 Conference
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...
as a junior. He has also played professionally for
EWE Baskets Oldenburg
Baskets Oldenburg, for sponsorship reasons EWE Baskets Oldenburg, is a professional basketball club that is based in the city of Oldenburg, Germany. The club plays in the Bundesliga. The club's name is derived from the team's main sponsor EWE AG, ...
,
Aguas de Valencia Gandía Bàsquet,
CB Valladolid
Club Baloncesto Valladolid, S.A.D. was a professional basketball team based in Valladolid, Castile-León, Spain. CB Valladolid was member of the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB). Famous players that have played for the team include Arvydas ...
, and
Bnei Hasharon
Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It ...
.
Early life
Grunfeld is Jewish.
[http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/43940730/ns/sports/ ] His grandmother is a Holocaust survivor whose life was saved twice by Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...
―once as a beneficiary of the false citizenship documents that Wallenberg issued to Jews in Hungary, and later when he convinced Nazi guards not to gun down the 80,000 Jews left in the Budapest Ghetto at the end of World War II.
"My grandma was hiding in a burnt-out building, crammed into a small attic space with her fellow prisoners. She was 17. Her parents and five of her siblings never came home," he write
Basketball career
High school
Grunfeld grew up in
Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
Franklin Lakes is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,079, an increase of 489 (+4.6%) from the 2010 census count of 10,590, which in turn reflected a ...
, while his father was the GM of the
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
. Due to this, Grunfeld grew up a die-hard Knicks fan, but was just an average player on his middle school team during the late 1990s. When his father became the
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...
GM, Grunfeld moved to
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. It was there that he developed his game and shot up in height.
In high school, he averaged 23.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game during his senior season at
Nicolet High School
Nicolet High School is a public secondary school located in Glendale, Wisconsin. It is the only school in the Nicolet Unified School District, which serves Glendale, Fox Point, Bayside, and River Hills. Primary schooling is administered by th ...
.
He shot 61% from the floor.
That season, he was conference MVP, all-league first team, first team all-area (''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel''), first team all-state (Associated Press), CNI Suburban Player of the Year, and WCBA first team all-state.
He was also named by ''
The Sporting News
The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...
'' as the Best Shooter, out of more than 3,000 players.
College
Grunfeld went on to play at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, where he had a successful college career. While playing for the
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...
and leading the team in scoring (17.0 ppg; # 5 in the
Pac-10
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
), in February 2005 he tore his right knee
anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...
(ACL), forcing him to sit out the team's final nine games. He took the time on the sidelines to "observe what certain people do to be successful," and improve his basketball awareness.
As a junior in 2004–05, he was named first team All-Pacific-10 Conference, to the
National Association of Basketball Coaches
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...
(NABC) District-14 first team, and to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American University Division Second Team, to the District-8 ESPN The Magazine University Division All-Academic First Team, and to the Pac-10 Academic first team.
In his senior year in 2005–06, he was a first-team Pac-10 All-Academic selection, and a first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American selection.
Professional career
After going undrafted out of Stanford in 2006, he played his first two professional seasons with the
EWE Baskets Oldenburg
Baskets Oldenburg, for sponsorship reasons EWE Baskets Oldenburg, is a professional basketball club that is based in the city of Oldenburg, Germany. The club plays in the Bundesliga. The club's name is derived from the team's main sponsor EWE AG, ...
in the German
Basketball Bundesliga
The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...
, then with Aguas de Valencia Gandía in Spain's
LEB Oro League. In September 2008, his childhood dream came true when the
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
signed him to the team under undisclosed terms.
On October 23, 2008, Grunfeld was waived by the team.
In January 2009 he received Romanian citizenship in order to be eligible for playing for the
Romania national basketball team
The Romania men's national basketball team ( ro, Echipa națională de baschet a României) represents Romania in international basketball competition. The team is administered by the Romanian Basketball Federation (FRB).
Romania has qualified ...
.
He played for
Bnei Hasharon
Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It ...
in the
Israeli Basketball Super League
Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball co ...
in 2010–11, averaging 14.1 points per game on 56.9% shooting.
[החתמה חדשה!!!](_blank)
In 2010, he made
aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
, becoming an
Israeli citizen
Israeli citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Israel. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law.
Every Jew in the world has ...
.
In July 2011, he signed a two-year deal with Israel's
Hapoel Holon
Hapoel Holon Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל הפועל חולון), known for sponsorship reasons as Hapoel Atsmon Playgrounds Holon (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli B ...
. Due to the team's financial problems at the beginning of the 2011 season, he was released and signed a two-year contract with
Hapoel Jerusalem
Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's leadi ...
.
He is one of a number of American Jews who played in Israel, including
Jon Scheyer
Jonathan James Scheyer (, born August 24, 1987) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Scheyer led his high school team to an Illinois ...
,
Sylven Landesberg
Sylven Joshua Landesberg (born April 10, 1990) is an American-Israeli-Austrian professional basketball player for the Shandong Hi-Speed Kirin of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Standing at , he plays at the shooting guard and small forw ...
,
Glenn Consor
Glenn Consor is a National Basketball Association (NBA) and NCAA basketball analyst and studio host who played collegiate and pro basketball. He was also an NBA scout, which led to his broadcasting career. He played professional basketball for Mac ...
, and
David Blu
David Blu (born David Bluthenthal; July 18, 1980) is an American–Israeli former professional basketball player, who spent 10 seasons playing in the EuroLeague. Standing at , he played at the small forward and power forward positions. He is co ...
.
Maccabiah Games
Grunfeld played in the
Maccabiah Games
The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...
for the United States, in 2009.
He led the U.S. to a
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
, with 25 points and 12 rebounds in the final overtime game against Israel.
Post-Basketball Life
After retiring from basketball, Grunfeld received an
MBA degree
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and began a career as a technology executive in Silicon Valley. He also comments on social issues and politics.
References
External links
*
Eurobasket bioACB.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunfeld, Dan
1984 births
Living people
American emigrants to Romania
Basketball players from New Jersey
Bnei HaSharon players
CB Valladolid players
Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games
American expatriate basketball people in Germany
American expatriate basketball people in Spain
EWE Baskets Oldenburg players
Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players
Israeli men's basketball players
Israeli Basketball Premier League players
Jewish American sportspeople
Jewish men's basketball players
Liga ACB players
Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States
Citizens of Israel through Law of Return
People from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
People with acquired Romanian citizenship
Romanian emigrants to Israel
Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey
Stanford Cardinal men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Maccabiah Games medalists in basketball
Small forwards
Shooting guards
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Jewish Romanian sportspeople
21st-century American Jews