Majerle in 2015 as Grand Canyon head coach
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Grand Canyon Antelopes | ||||||||||||||||
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Position | Head coach | |||||||||||||||
League | Western Athletic Conference | |||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
Born |
Traverse City, Michigan |
September 9, 1965 |||||||||||||||
Nationality | American | |||||||||||||||
Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | |||||||||||||||
Listed weight | 222 lb (101 kg) | |||||||||||||||
Career information | ||||||||||||||||
High school | Central (Traverse City, Michigan) | |||||||||||||||
College | Central Michigan (1984–1988) | |||||||||||||||
NBA draft | 1988 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall | |||||||||||||||
Selected by the Phoenix Suns | ||||||||||||||||
Playing career | 1988–2002 | |||||||||||||||
Position | Shooting guard / Small forward | |||||||||||||||
Number | 9 | |||||||||||||||
Coaching career | 2008–present | |||||||||||||||
Career history | ||||||||||||||||
As player: | ||||||||||||||||
1988–1995 | Phoenix Suns | |||||||||||||||
1995–1996 | Cleveland Cavaliers | |||||||||||||||
1996–2001 | Miami Heat | |||||||||||||||
2001–2002 | Phoenix Suns | |||||||||||||||
As coach: | ||||||||||||||||
2008–2013 | Phoenix Suns (Associate HC) | |||||||||||||||
2013–present | Grand Canyon | |||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||||
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Career NBA statistics | ||||||||||||||||
Points | 10,925 (11.4 ppg) | |||||||||||||||
Rebounds | 4,265 (4.5 rpg) | |||||||||||||||
Assists | 2,755 (2.9 apg) | |||||||||||||||
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | ||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Daniel Lewis Majerle (/ˈmɑːrliː/; born September 9, 1965), also known by the nickname "Thunder Dan", is an American retired professional basketball player and current coach of the Grand Canyon Antelopes. He played 14 years in the NBA, primarily with the Phoenix Suns, also with the Miami Heat and, briefly, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won a bronze medal with the US national team at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and won a gold medal at the 1994 FIBA World Championship.
Majerle was born in Traverse City, Michigan. He starred for Traverse City High School (now Traverse City Central High School) and Central Michigan University, where he played for four years with averages of 21.8 points and 8.9 rebounds a game.
Majerle's great-grandfather Frank Majerle Sr. emigrated from Yugoslavia in 1901 at age 20. Frank Sr. settled in Haring, Michigan and married American-born Anna Suhorepec (anglicised to Suhropetz) whose parents were also from Yugoslavia, more specifically Slovenia.
The Phoenix Suns selected Majerle with the 14th pick of the 1988 NBA draft, which the Suns acquired (along with Kevin Johnson) in a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers for Larry Nance. During the draft, he was promptly booed when his name was announced over the public address system. Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons publicly chastised the Suns fans and told them "you'll be sorry you ever booed this young man". In his rookie season Majerle only played in 54 games and started in 5, averaging 8.6 points as a bench player. The Suns would win 55 games and make the playoffs, and Majerle increased his scoring average to 14.3 points a game as Phoenix advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.