Shane Douglas Heal (born 6 September 1970) is an Australian 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 (appro ...

coach and former player.

Playing career

Heal began playing basketball when he was five years old.

Australian Institute of Sport

Heal held an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

basketball scholarship, and he played youth basketball there, from 1987 to 1988.

NBL

Heal spent most of his professional club career playing in Australia's NBL. He played with the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL ...

, Geelong Supercats,

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

, South Dragons and

Gold Coast Blaze The Gold Coast Blaze were an Australian men's professional basketball team which competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). The Blaze played five seasons in the NBL between 2007 and 2012, and played their home games at the Gold Coast C ...

. He was a member of the Kings' 2003 NBL championship-winning team. Between 2006 and 2008, he served as

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of the Dragons. He played his final season in the 2008–09 NBL season with the Blaze. He retired in February 2009, at age 38, after a 21-year career. In 440 games, he averaged 20.6 points and 6.1 assists. He was named in the Sydney Kings 25th Anniversary Team.

NBL team records and achievements

Brisbane Bullets

*2nd on three-pointers made (477) *2nd on assists (816) *4th on free-throw percentage (84.1%) *7th on points scored (2771) *7th on field goals made (951) *7th on free-throws made (392) *8th on steals (164) *6th on turnovers (387)

NBL league records

*First in assists per game in 1990 (8.3/24 games) *First in assists per game in 2002 (7.5/29 games) *Third in most points in a game (61 in 1994) *Third in most assists in a game (20 in 1990) *Second and third in most three-pointers made in a game (12 in 1994 and 2001)

NBA

Heal also had two stints in the

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

, firstly in the 1996–97 season with the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

, when he averaged 1.7 points per game in 43 games, and secondly in the 2003–04 season with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, when he averaged 3.7 points in six games.

Europe

Heal also played professionally in Europe. He played with the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

's Near East Athens, from 1998 to 2000. With Near East, he played in Europe's third-tier level

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

, in the 1999–00 season, in which he averaged 15.2 points and 2.3 assists per game. Heal played in Italy with the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

club Andrea Costa Imola, during the 2001–02 season. He then played with the Greek club Makedonikos, where he averaged 15.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in Europe's second-tier level EuroCup's 2003–04 season.

National team career

Heal represented Australia's under-19 national team at the 1987 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. Heal's international career highlights include representing the Australian Boomers at the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

editions of the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

. He was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the team in 2004 in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. At the Sydney 2000, where the Boomers finished fourth (equal best result with Atlanta in 1996), Heal was the second highest overall points scorer of the tournament. Heal also represented Australia at both the

1994 FIBA World Championship The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome ...

and the 1998 FIBA World Championship. Many consider Heal's best international game came against the USA "Dream Team" in a warm up match for the 1996 Olympic Games in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. The game, played at the Delta Center in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, was won 118–77 by the US, though Heal topped all scorers with 28 points including hitting 8 of 12 three pointers. Heal had a running battle with

superstar

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...

during the game with the two almost coming to blows at one point, though they hugged in mutual respect on-court after the game.

Coaching career

South Dragons

On 3 March 2006, it was reported in Melbourne's ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'' newspaper that Heal was considering coming out of retirement to captain the South Dragons, a new Melbourne-based NBL franchise to enter the league in the 2006–07 season. He officially signed with the team on 6 April as the Dragons' inaugural captain. On 23 October 2006, Dragons coach

Mark Price William Mark Price (born February 15, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. The last coaching job he held was as head coach of the Charlotte 49ers men's basketball, Charlotte 49ers. As a four-time NBA All-Star and ...

resigned after the Dragons lost their first five regular season games. Price was replaced by Heal, who was appointed as player and interim coach for the remainder of the season. Heal took the club to the NBL playoffs in their first season, but then the team won just four of 26 games in 2007–08, including defeats in their last straight 13 matches. He was sacked by the Dragons on 1 February 2008.

Sydney Kings

On 24 February 2012, Heal was appointed head coach of the

for the rest of the 2011–12 NBL season. In his first game two days later, he guided the Kings to a 71–69 win over the

Townsville Crocodiles The Townsville Crocodiles were an Australian professional men's basketball team based in the North Queensland city of Townsville. They competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at the Townsville Entertain ...

. Heal was named the Coach of the Month for January of the 2013–14 NBL season. In March 2014, Heal parted ways with the Kings.

Wellington Saints

Heal coached the Wellington Saints during the 2014 New Zealand NBL season, and helped them win the championship in his one season.

South East Queensland

In March 2015, Heal was named the inaugural head coach of the South East Queensland Stars on a three-year deal.WNBL: SEQ Stars saved but coach Shane Heal pushed out by sponsor
/ref> He was sacked in February 2016 when the team went into liquidation.

Sutherland Sharks

Heal coached the Sutherland Sharks women's team in the Waratah League for three years between 2018 and 2020. He guided them to a grand final appearance in his first year.

Sydney Uni Flames

In March 2021, Heal was appointed head coach of the Sydney Uni Flames on a three-year deal. He and his daughter left the Flames in January 2023 for reasons not publicly specified, and the departure is accompanied by an investigation from an independent firm.

Personal life

Heal's daughter, Shyla, is also a professional basketball player and has played on multiple teams where her father has been the coach.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Playoffs

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References

External links

Profile
at Basketball-Reference.com
NBL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heal, Shane 1970 births Living people 1998 FIBA World Championship players Australian expatriate basketball people in Greece Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian Institute of Sport basketball players Australian men's basketball coaches Australian men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Melbourne Brisbane Bullets players Geelong Supercats players Gold Coast Blaze players Greek Basket League players Makedonikos B.C. players Minnesota Timberwolves players NBA players from Australia National Basketball League (Australia) coaches Near East B.C. players Olympic basketball players for Australia People educated at Lake Ginninderra College Basketball player-coaches Point guards San Antonio Spurs players South Dragons players Sydney Flames coaches Sydney Kings coaches Sydney Kings players Undrafted NBA players 1994 FIBA World Championship players Sportsmen from Victoria (state)