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NewsvineIf senior guard Dan Grunfeld needs any advice or inspiration before battling Arizona and Arizona State this weekend, he needs to look no further than to his own father.
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Dan’s father, Ernie Grunfeld, is the Washington Wizards’ president of basketball operations. Before taking his current post, he served as the general manager of two other NBA squads — the New York Knicks and the Milwaukee Bucks.
But for Ernie, 51, basketball success has come not only in the front office, but on the hardwood as well. He averaged 22 points per game at Tennessee before spending nine seasons in the NBA.
For Dan, being raised in a basketball household has left an indelible mark.
“Just growing up around basketball has given me not only great experiences, but also a fond appreciation for the game,” said the younger Grunfeld, whose 6-foot-6, 220 pound frame is nearly identical to his father’s. “All the memories I have growing up are going to practices, going to games, hanging out with some of the players who were my idols.”
Ask Dan about those memories, and his voice rises, his pace quickens, he leans forward in his chair and a smile breaks across his face.
He tells first of being a ball boy for a Chicago Bulls squad that played against one of his dad’s teams. Back in the 1990s, all-time greats Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen grabbed the headlines and led Chicago to six NBA Championships. On that particular night, though, the player who would make the biggest impression on Grunfeld was Stacey King, a 6-foot-11, 230-pound power forward.
“I was rebounding for the players,” said Dan, who estimates he was nine at the time. “It was a big deal for me, so I’m running out there, probably interrupting their shooting to get balls. Stacey King was playing one-on-one with one of his teammates. He went to the hoop and just ran me over. I got knocked out — I remember people were huddled around me, and I was in the locker room. My dad just said ‘What were you doing?’ That was funny.”
Though he wouldn’t get knocked out again, Dan had a similarly traumatic experience a few years later, in a one-on-one contest against his favorite player at the time — the Knicks’ Allan Houston.
“I remember I did a move where I kind of dribbled backwards and made a jump shot on him,” the younger Grunfeld said. “Then, I tried it the next time. He blocked it all the way to the other end of the court.”
Dan adds that his childhood experiences aren’t just good for laughs. Somewhere between getting knocked out by King and getting swatted by Houston, Grunfeld has picked up valuable morsels of knowledge about the game. Even today, those messages stick.
“I think anytime you’re around something a lot, you kind of have an instinct for it,” Grunfeld said. “So, for me, when I’m playing basketball, I just feel like it’s just something very natural because it’s just something I’ve done and focused on my whole life.”
Indeed, as Grunfeld tells one last game story, one can’t help but think that his on-court play and passion today were molded in a two-on-two game against complete strangers a dozen years ago. Naturally, Dan’s teammate — both for that game and for the countless obstacles that have come since — is his father.
“My dad kind of gave me a look,” Dan said, recreating his last story. “I made a backdoor cut, and he hit me for a lay-up. I just knew what to do. I think that’s a product of being around the game and doing something I love.”