Dan Shamir (; 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 ...

. 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 lead ...

to consecutive

Israeli State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''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 involves clubs of all standards p ...

titles, and in 2018 he led

Hapoel Holon Hapoel Holon Basketball Club (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League (the top tier of Israeli basketball), and internationally in the Basketball Champions League. The ...

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, which is the top-tier level men's profe ...

Early life and personal life

Shamir grew up in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, 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 that is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to a religion – a form of human fanaticism that 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 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 ...

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 ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

Coaching career

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

after completing his military service with the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

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

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (; born September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach who is the head men's basketball coach at St. John's University (New York City), St. John's University. He was also the head coach of Greece national basketball t ...

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, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, which according to him affected him profoundly. 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. In 2003, Shamir was named the assistant coach of

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () 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 as football, basketball, j ...

under head coach

Pini Gershon Pinhas "Pini" Gershon (; 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 won the FIBA SuproLeague champions ...

. He won two

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

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" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

, under head coach

David Blatt David Michael Blatt (; 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 played in the Maccabiah Games for ...

. 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 central Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. History The club w ...

. 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 () represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 39th in the FIBA World Ranking. Israel has qualifi ...

Eurobasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's 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 the 1939 champions ...

. In 2013, Shamir was named the assistant coach of

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () 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 the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

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 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 ...

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 to 18 May 2014. All of the games were played at the Mediolanum Forum, in Milan. Maccabi Tel Avi ...

, 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 () 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, Basketball, Weightl ...

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 2018–19 European ...

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

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

, 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 again 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