Doron Sheffer (; born 12 March 1972) is an Israeli former 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 ...

player. He spent most of his club career playing with Maccabi Tel Aviv. During his playing career he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

and

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

positions. During his playing days, his nickname was "The Iceman".

Early career

Sheffer first gained fame at age 21, in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

, when he led Hapoel Galil Elyon to a victory in the Israeli League semifinals, over powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv, in 1993.

College career

Following fellow Israeli Nadav Henefeld, Sheffer then played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

, under head coach Jim Calhoun, at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, with the

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of ...

, from 1993 to 1996. In the 1993–94 season, Sheffer was the Big East Conference Rookie of the Year. While at UConn, Sheffer formed a trio with fellow starters

Ray Allen Walter Ray Allen Jr. (born July 20, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Allen played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a play ...

and Kevin Ollie, that won the Big East basketball championship in three straight years. He is the only player from UConn with 1,000 points and 500 assists, in three varsity seasons. He was named to the school's All-20th Century team.

Professional career

Sheffer was selected in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th NBA draft, draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996–97 NBA season, 1996, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns s ...

, by the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

, with the 36th overall pick, but he chose to sign with Maccabi Tel Aviv. After four years with Maccabi, where he won four straight Israeli League championships and played in the 2000 EuroLeague Final Four, Sheffer retired suddenly, walking away from the public's eye, to travel the world, to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. During this time, he had a

cancerous tumor Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal ...

removed from his testicle. Despite the illness, and the time away from basketball, Sheffer decided to make a comeback. After finishing his contract with Maccabi, he signed with Hapoel Jerusalem. In 2004, he won the ULEB Eurocup ( EuroCup) championship with Hapoel.Sheffer Biography
UconnHoopLegends.com Sheffer retired again in 2005, and then made another comeback in 2006. He then retired again in 2008. 5 years later, in 2013, he made a final comeback to the game, before finally retiring in 2014.

National team career

Sheffer was a member of the senior Israeli national basketball team. With Israel, he played at the

1993 EuroBasket The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

, the

1995 EuroBasket The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to e ...

, the

1997 EuroBasket The 1997 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1997, was the 30th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1998 FIBA World Championship, giving a ber ...

, and the 1999 EuroBasket.

References

External links

*
FIBA profile

Euroleague.net profile

Israeli League profile

Mccabi Tel Aviv profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheffer, Doron 1972 births Living people Baalei teshuva Israeli Orthodox Jews Point guards Shooting guards Israeli men's basketball players Sportspeople from Petah Tikva Hapoel Galil Elyon players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C. players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli expatriate basketball people in the United States Israeli expatriate sportspeople in the United States All-American college men's basketball players Los Angeles Clippers draft picks UConn Huskies men's basketball players