NICKNAME/S: Yuns G

BIO: a athletic, slashing, driving, defensive wing who can guard multiple positions, Daniel Grida was born in Perth (WA) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Lakeside Lightning as a junior before accepting a scholarship to Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence. Grida received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2017. He spent three years year there and played for the program’s state league team (2017, 2018).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Daniel Grida made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 20 years of age. He scored four points in his first game.

After falling short of making the playoffs by only a few games in 2018, the Hawks lost several key players, including Demitrius Conger (to Serbia), Rotnei Clarke (to Greece), Nicholas Kay (to Perth), Delvon Johnson (to Slovakia), and Cody Ellis and Rhys Martin, who both retired. To strengthen their roster, Illawarra added Jordair Jett (via NZNBL), Brian Conklin (via France), David Andersen (via Melbourne), Cedric Jackson (via USA), and rookies Emmett Naar and Daniel Grida. The team also retained key players AJ Ogilvy, Tim Coenraad, Nic Pozoglo and team captain Kevin Whiteu, aiming to build on their existing core.

Illawarra began the season with a dramatic quadruple-overtime thriller, narrowly losing to Melbourne (122–123). They followed this heartbreaking defeat with a heavy loss to Perth (101–61) but rebounded with a road win against Cairns (104–93). A brief two-game win streak later in October saw the Hawks secure victories against Brisbane (86–78) and Adelaide (120–109), momentarily seeing them sit in fifth place. However, inconsistency plagued the team, and they later endured a four-game losing streak in November, including defeats to Perth (81–90), Sydney (81–90), and Adelaide (79–104). Despite showing flashes of potential, the Hawks couldn’t maintain a consistent level of play, missing the playoffs with a 12-16 record.

As a rookie, Daniel Grida ( 5.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists) made an impact, showcasing his potential on both ends of the floor. Grida’s athleticism and defense helped him earn valuable minutes off the bench, and he provided a spark when called upon. His top performances included a 17-point game against the New Zealand Breakers (14 Feb 2019), where he added 1 assist, a 13-point, 2-rebound, and 2-assist effort against Brisbane (7 Feb 2019), and an 11-point, 3-rebound game against Cairns (4 Feb 2019). His ability to score and defend added depth to the Hawks’ rotation, and saw him finish third in the league’s Rookie of the Year voting.

Alongside Grida, Illawarra was led offensively by Brian Conklin (14.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists), Todd Blanchfield (13.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists), who was named the Hawks’ MVP, Jordair Jett (11.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists), and AJ Ogilvy (9.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks). Despite strong individual performances, the team struggled to find consistency and ultimately missed the playoffs in what was one of the most competitive NBL seasons.

Grida’s strong performances off the bench marked him as a promising young player to watch for the future. Despite Illawarra’s struggles, his development as a reliable contributor provided a bright spot in an otherwise challenging season.

2019/20
Grida would play in 27 games, averaging 4.7 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists for the Hawks, helping the team finish in ninth place (5-23)

2020/21
In April 2020, the Hawks’ season began with the team falling into voluntary administration, with creditors voting to liquidate the Hawks one month later. The NBL, however, vowed to keep the club alive, and on 17 June 2020, the NBL announced that Dorry Kordahi, Bryan Colangelo and Michael Proctor had been awarded the license for the club.

Under the agreement with the new ownership, the team has renamed The Hawks in a effort to broaden the team’s appeal in New South Wales and shortly after, it was announced the team had added Brian Goorjian as its head coach.

With all players having to renew their contracts with the new ownership, Sam Froling and Emmett Naar were the only players from the previous season’s full-time roster to return as the new ownership looked to build a almost entirely new roster. This began with the signing of Deng Adel, who had just finished a short stint with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and Cam Bairstow, who had just returned to Australia after spending a season in Lithuania which was cut short due to COVID-19, who were both part of the Australian Boomers national squad. Justinian Jessup, who had signed a Next Star deal with the NBL, was also added to the roster and was placed in Illawarra on a two-year contract, while imports Tyler Harvey and Justin Simon were also brought in to be the focal points of the team’s offence and defence respectively.

The Hawk’s season began with plenty of off-court drama. First, it was the omission of AJ Ogilvy and Tim Coenraad, both fan-favourite players and key players from last season. As a result of injuries, both players were later added to the squad as injury replacements.

Next was the outpouring of fans calling for the return of ‘Illawarra’ to the team’s name, something which was front page news in Wollongong, clearly outweighing the Hawk’s 4-0 start to the season.

In early February, after a campaign by the new ownership group where more membership numbers and corporate support contributed, the NBL reinstated the Illawarra name ahead of the club’s first home game.

While the Hawks fought for, and retained their name, they faced several further challenges, the first being Bairstow, who after missing nine games with a minor hip issue was ruled out for the rest of the season and Daniel Grida, who ruptured the ACL in his right knee whilst playing in the state league. Add to that the struggles of Adel (5.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2 assists), who was never able to make a impact in the NBL, requested a release from his contract mid-way through the season, in a attempt to prevent any harm to his future NBA chances.

From round 16, the Hawks took flight and won eight of their last 10 matches to cement a spot in the finals, qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2017.

Scoring didn’t come easy to the Hawks, who fell from averaging 90.5 over the first 10 games to finishing with the league’s lowest points average in the league with 81.5. Only four Hawks players averaged points in the double-digits, Tyler Harvey (20 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.4 steals), Justinian Jessup (13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.2 steals), Cam Bairstow (11.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) and Sam Froling (11.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks). The Hawks also had the worst field goal percentage of the league, sitting at 42.5 percent on the season (47.8 percent from the two-point range and 33.2 percent from deep). Illawarra’s free throw shooting also came in at 69.4 percent.

Grida would continue to see limited playing opportunities with the Hawks, appearing in only 18 games and averaging 3.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.7 steals.

Despite the challenges, Illawarra didn’t fall below fifth place for the entire season and eventually finished third (20-16).

The club powered through and made their first finals series in four years, a semifinals series against defending champions Perth. In four regular-season meetings against the Wildcats this season, the Hawks won one game – in Round 21 by two points. Otherwise, it was double-digit margins the way of Perth. Illawarra took Game 1 of the series by two points again, but unfortunately for the club, it would lose Game 2 and 3, each by eight-point margins, to end their playoff campaign.

Grida would unexpectedly return to Hawks in round 12 and played second half of the season, averaging 3.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.7 steals in the team’s last 18 games. Grida would then re-injure the same ACL again at pre-season training in September 2021 and missed the entire 2021/22 season.

2022/23
After two straight seasons of reaching the NBL semi finals, head coach Brian Goorjian would exit the Hawks, signing a deal to coach the Bay Area Dragons in the newly established East Asia Super League. Goorjian’s longtime assistant Jacob Jackomas would be elevated in the role of the head coach and look to continue the success of the prior two seasons. However, this wasn’t to be, as Illawarra would see a mass exodus of talent after the coaching change, retaining only Tyler Harvey and Sam Froling from the Hawk’s main rotation. Duop Reath (to Lebanon) and Justinian Jessup (to Spain) heading overseas, Antonius Cleveland (to Adelaide), Xavier Rathan-Mayes (to Melbourne), Harry Froling (to Brisbane) signing with other NBL team’s and the retirement of longtime Hawk, AJ Ogilvy.

Illawarra would replace the outgoing talent with locals Deng Deng (via Brisbane), Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (via Perth) and Mangok Mathiang, who had been playing in the NBL1 state competition as he recovered from a long-term injury before finalising the roster with imports Justin Robinson and George King.

The Hawks would split their opening games, losing to rivals Sydney (97–106) and then defeating South East Melbourne (85–72) behind a strong showing from Tyler Harvey (22 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists). The Hawks would then embark on a injury-riddled season which would see Justin Robinson require surgery on a meniscus tear in his knee, suffered in the Hawks opening game. Kevin White (via Perth) was brought in as a short-term injury replacement. Nine games later, Illawarra also made the decision to release George King (10.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.9 assists), who had struggled to overcome a persistent lower leg injury.

Former New Zealand guard Peyton Siva (9.3 points, 6.3 assists and 1.6 steals) would be brought in as a replacement for import Justin Robinson but managed only 11 games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury against Adelaide, adding further salt into the wounds for the struggling Hawks.

After two injury-interrupted seasons, Grida returned to the court in round 11 and immediately impacted the side with the Hawks relying on Grida, Lachie Dent (4.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists), Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (4.9 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) and injury replacement player Davo Hickey (4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.0 steals). Shortly after, former Perth Wildcats import Michael Frazier II was signed to help cover the load.

In December, the Hawks were able to snap their nine-game losing streak and defeat Melbourne (93-79), who entered the game on a 0-4 losing streak. Sam Froling (29 points) dominated for the Hawks, scoring 16 in the first quarter at a efficient 64% from the field. Michael Frazier II (16 points) and Tyler Harvey (15 points) also played key roles in the win.

After appearing in 8 games, Frazier suffered a broken arm during a game against Adelaide, after colliding with two 36ers players and miss the remainder of the season. Frazier (17.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists) was the Hawk’s highest-scoring player at the time.

It wasn’t until the third last game of the season that Illawarra registered another win, knocking off New Zealand in a nail-biter (78–76). A final minute Tom Abercrombie steal and dunk put the Breakers up with just seconds remaining, but a Tyler Harvey (25 points and 3 steals) match-winning heave sealed the win and produced one team’s highest moments of the season.

Illawarra (3-25) would finish the year with the worst record in club history. Tyler Harvey (18.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.5 steals) led the team in scoring, Sam Froling (14 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists) won the Hawk’s MVP award, while Grida appeared in 14 games and averaged 5.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 0.4 assists. He would also win the club’s Community Award.

2023/24
Dan Grida had a player option for the 2023/24 season, but he and the Club agreed to a new two-year deal to see him remain in Hawks colours through the NBL25 season.

“Dan provides us with a real x-factor, and his athleticism is a difference-maker on both ends of the floor. With a full off-season under his belt, we expect Dan to play a pivotal role for us in the NBL24 season.” said Hawks GM of Basketball Mat Campbell on re-signing Grida.

Daniel Grida currently plays for the Illawarra Hawks and has played 103 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 4.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.4 assists since entering the league in 2018.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

Illawarra Hawks – 2 Year Deal (2023-25)

HIGHLIGHTS:

Dan Boyce (811 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.