Dan Shamir ( he, דן שמיר; born 2 February 1975) is an Israeli professional

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

. He was most recently the head coach for the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Sky Sport Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at ...

of the Australian National Basketball League. In 2007 and 2008 he led

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 ...

to consecutive

Israeli State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

titles, and in 2018 he led

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 ...

to the Israeli State Cup title. In 2018, Shamir was also named the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Coach of the Year The Israeli Basketball Premier League Coach of the Year, or Israeli Basketball Super League Coach of the Year, is an award given to the best head coach of each season of the Israeli Basketball Premier League (IBPL), which is the top-tier level men' ...

Early life and personal life

Shamir grew up in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, where his family is from. He is Jewish, and some of his family is

ultra-religious Religious fanaticism, or religious extremism, is a pejorative designation used to indicate uncritical zeal or obsessive enthusiasm which is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to a religion – a form of human fanaticism which cou ...

. He played for the Maccabi Jerusalem youth team as a 5' 11"

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

until he was 17 years old. He started his coaching career in the

youth program at the age of 16. Shamir is married, and has three children. He and his family now live in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Coaching career

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

after completing his military service with the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

, at 24 years of age Shamir spent one-year training under

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...

at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

, which according to him affected him dearly. He then led the Hapoel Jerusalem U-16 team to the state championship, and worked with the U-18 team. In 2001, Shamir was named the assistant coach of

under head coaches Yoram Harush and

Erez Edelstein Erez Edelstein (born August 23, 1961) is an Israeli basketball coach. Coaching career In 2014, Edelstein was hired as a head coach of the Israel national basketball team. On June 9, 2016, Edelstein was announced as the new head coach of Maccabi ...

. In 2003, Shamir was named the assistant coach of

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

under head coach

Pini Gershon Pinhas "Pini" Gershon ( he, פנחס "פיני" גרשון, born 13 November 1951), is an Israeli former professional basketball player and coach. He won three top-level European-wide club championships as the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv. He wo ...

. He won two EuroLeague titles in 2004 and 2005, and reached the Euroleague's championship game in 2006. In 2006, Shamir was named the head coach of Hapoel Jerusalem, and signed a two-year contract. He led the team to two consecutive

titles, in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, Shamir was named the assistant coach of

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

, under head coach

David Blatt David Michael Blatt ( he, דוד מיכאל בלאט; born May 22, 1959), is an Israeli-American professional basketball executive. He is also a former coach and player. Blatt played point guard at Princeton University from 1977 to 1981 and p ...

. In 2009, Shamir was named the head coach of

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 2011, Shamir was named the head coach of

. He also served as assistant coach of the

Israeli national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בכדורסל) represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 33rd in the ...

Eurobasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted t ...

. In 2013, Shamir was named the assistant coach of

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

under head coach

Ettore Messina Ettore Messina (born 30 September 1959) is an Italian professional basketball coach who is the head coach of Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He has won four EuroLeague championships as a head coach. Messina is regarded a ...

. Shamir helped CSKA win the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...

title, and reach the

2014 Euroleague Final Four The 2014 Euroleague Final Four was the concluding EuroLeague Final Four tournament of the 2013–14 Euroleague basketball season. It was held from 16–18 May 2014. All of the games were played at the Mediolanum Forum, in Milan. Maccabi Electra ...

, where they eventually lost to his former team Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 2014, Shamir was named the new head coach of Hapoel Eilat, signing a two-year deal. On November 27, 2015, Shamir returned to Hapoel Holon for a second stint, replacing Elad Hasin. In the 2016–17 season, Shamir led Holon to the 2017 Israeli League Playoffs as the first seed, but they eventually were eliminated by

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

in the Quarterfinals. On March 5, 2017, Shamir signed a two-year contract extension with Holon. In the 2017–18 season, Shamir led Holon to the 2018 Israeli State Cup title, and it reached the 2018 Israeli League Finals. On June 14, 2018, Shamir was named the

. In the 2018–19 season, Shamir led Holon to the 2019 Israeli League Playoffs and the 2019 FIBA Europe Cup Semifinals, where they eventually lost to

Dinamo Sassari Polisportiva Dinamo, commonly known as Dinamo Sassari and currently known as Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Sassari, Sardinia. They are the current European Cu ...

. In July 2019, Shamir was appointed Director of Basketball at the

, joining them as head coach and in an off-the-court role. In the 2019-20 NBL season, the Breakers finished with a 15–13 record and did not qualify for the Playoffs. In the 2020-21 NBL season, the Breakers finished with a 12–24 record and did not qualify for the Playoffs. Despite missing the Playoffs in both of his first two seasons as Head Coach, Shamir was offered a two-year contract extension in July 2021 to remain at the club until at least the 2023-24 Australian NBL season. In the 2021-22 NBL season, the Breakers finished at the bottom of the league with a 5–23 record, which was the Breakers' worst finish in franchise history. On May 11, 2022, Shamir resigned as head coach of the New Zealand Breakers, with lead assistant coach Mody Maor being named as his replacement later that day.

References

External links

Basket.co.il profile

"Basketball: A Q+A with Sky Sport Breakers coach Dan Shamir,"
February 13, 2020, audio. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shamir, Dan 1975 births Living people BC Dynamo Moscow coaches PBC CSKA Moscow coaches Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. coaches Israeli basketball coaches Jewish Israeli sportspeople Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. coaches New Zealand Breakers coaches Sportspeople from Auckland Sportspeople from Jerusalem