Shane Heal
Encyclopedia
Shane Douglas Heal is a retired Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 professional basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player who last played with the Gold Coast Blaze
Gold Coast Blaze
The Gold Coast Blaze is an Australian professional basketball team which competes in the National Basketball League . The Blaze competed in their inaugural season in 2007/08. The club is based on the Gold Coast and joins two other NBL clubs competing from Queensland...

 of the National Basketball League
National Basketball League (Australasia)
The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....

, retiring at the end of the 2008/09 season. During his early years as a player, Heal played for the Brisbane Bullets
Brisbane Bullets
The Brisbane Bullets were, until 2008, a professional basketball team competing in Australia's National Basketball League. The Bullets were one of only two teams that survived since the NBL's inception in 1979; the only surviving team is now the Wollongong Hawks. The team played in Midnight Navy...

 and the Geelong Supercats
Geelong Supercats
The Geelong Supercats are an Australian basketball team, based in the Victorian City of Geelong, that currently plays in the Australian Basketball Association and previously played in the National Basketball League.-NBL History:...

. His career highlights include representing and captaining the Boomers at a number of Olympics (1992
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...

, 1996
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....

, 2000
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 and 2004
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

) and World Championships, brief stints in the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor...

 and San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....

, and winning the 2002/2003 NBL
National Basketball League (Australia)
The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....

 championship with the Sydney Kings
Sydney Kings
The Sydney Kings are a professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. They are the only team to date to win three consecutive championships in the NBL and currently sit third behind the Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers two away from the record five wins...

. Heal retired from basketball after his stint at the Kings. He later continued his career, coming out of retirement to play for the newly formed South Dragons
South Dragons
The South Dragons is a former team in the Australasian National Basketball League . They made their début in the 2006/07 season and played their final season in 2008/09...

 initially as a player. This quickly changed after the coaching position became vacant and he was offered the job as the clubs player/coach, which he accepted. He was sacked from his job at the Dragons during his second season at the club, after multiple poor performances. Heal was signed in May 2008 as a player for the recently formed Gold Coast Blaze
Gold Coast Blaze
The Gold Coast Blaze is an Australian professional basketball team which competes in the National Basketball League . The Blaze competed in their inaugural season in 2007/08. The club is based on the Gold Coast and joins two other NBL clubs competing from Queensland...

. Heal retired the second and last time, on February 14, 2009, playing the last of his 440 NBL matches for the Gold Coast Blaze
Gold Coast Blaze
The Gold Coast Blaze is an Australian professional basketball team which competes in the National Basketball League . The Blaze competed in their inaugural season in 2007/08. The club is based on the Gold Coast and joins two other NBL clubs competing from Queensland...

 and finished on a winning note, the Blaze completing a three-game winning streak despite an otherwise modest season.

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)


Source: www.bullets.com.au

Gold Coast Blaze

Heal returned to basketball after a short stint out of the game with the Gold Coast Blaze
Gold Coast Blaze
The Gold Coast Blaze is an Australian professional basketball team which competes in the National Basketball League . The Blaze competed in their inaugural season in 2007/08. The club is based on the Gold Coast and joins two other NBL clubs competing from Queensland...

 franchise.

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)

South Dragons

On 3 March 2006, it was reported in Melbourne's Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...

newspaper that Heal was considering coming out of retirement to captain the South Dragons
South Dragons
The South Dragons is a former team in the Australasian National Basketball League . They made their début in the 2006/07 season and played their final season in 2008/09...

, a new Melbourne-based NBL franchise to enter the league in the 2006/07 season. He officially signed with the team on April 6 as the Dragons' inaugural captain. On 23 October 2006, Dragons coach Mark Price
Mark Price
William Mark Price is a retired American basketball player who played for 12 seasons in the NBA, from 1986 to 1998...

 resigned his position after the Dragons lost their first five NBL championship season games, citing family reasons. Price was replaced by Heal, who was appointed as player and interim coach for the remainder of the season. After multiple successful performances, his contract was extended to the end of the 2008/2009 season. However, on 1 February 2008, Heal was sacked from his job as player/coach at the Dragons after a poor season left the club struggling at the bottom of the table and himself battling fitness issues.

External links

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