Derrick Sharp

Derrick Sharp

Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Born	October 5, 1971 (1971-10-05) (age 40) Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	American-Israeli
College	University of South Florida
Pro career	1993–2011
Career history	Maccabi Hadera (1993–94) Hapoel Migdal-HaEmek (1994–96) Maccabi Tel Aviv (1996-2011)

Derrick Sharp (born October 5, 1971) is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player, and current basketball assistant coach for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Sharp was born in Orlando, Florida. He played college basketball with the University of South Florida, and then went to Israel to play basketball in 1993.

He played for the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club for 15 years, part of the time as team captain, and now serves as assistant coach under David Blatt. With Maccabi, he won a record 27 trophies. In July 2011, Sharp retired as a player.^[1] He will remain with Maccabi Tel Aviv as an assistant coach.^[1]

Early life

Sharp played basketball at Evans High School in Orlando, and at Brevard Community College, before playing for the University of South Florida.^[2]

Pro career

Sharp joined Maccabi Hadera from Leumit Bet (the second league at the time) in 1993. From 1994 to 1996 he played for Hapoel Migdal-HaEmek, also a Leumit Bet team, and then made the big jump to the most well-known team in Israel – Maccabi Tel Aviv.

With Maccabi, Sharp won 13 national championships, 11 national cups, 2 league cups, and 3 European titles (2001 Suproleague, 2004 and 2005 Euroleague).^[1][3] He quickly became a crowd favorite for his tough defense, three-point shooting, and clutch plays. The most memorable example of the latter came on April 8, 2004, against Zalgiris Kaunas.^[3] With 2 seconds remaining and Maccabi trailing by 3 points and facing elimination from the finals series, Sharp caught a long pass from Gur Shelef, turned to the basket and fired a game-tying three-pointer, forcing overtime. Maccabi won that game, advanced to the Final Four (held in Tel Aviv that year) and became Euroleague Champion.

He played basketball in Israel for 18 years, 15 of them with Maccabi Tel Aviv.^[1] His 195 games played were the fifth-most in the league since the turn of the century, and he was seventh in the league all-time in free throw accuracy at 88.9%.^[3] He finished his career seventh all-time on the team's scoring list, with 1,749 points.^[3]

In July 2011, Sharp retired as a player at the age of 39.^[1][3] He will continue with the team as an assistant coach, and had taken a coaching course at Wingate Institute in 2010.^[1]

Israeli national team

Sharp is a naturalized Israeli citizen. He has played for the Israeli national team (2000–03), including appearances at Eurobasket 2001 and Eurobasket 2003.

Personal

Sharp married an Israeli citizen, with whom he had a son. The marriage ended in divorce, and he later remarried, and went on to have three children with his second wife.

Honors and awards

• Maccabi Tel Aviv
  • EuroLeague Championships: (2001, 2004, 2005)
  • Israeli Championships: (1997–2007, 2009, 2011)
  • Israeli State Cups: (1998–2006, 2010–11)
  • Israeli League Cups: (2007, 2010)
    • Triple Crowns: (2001, 2004-05)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Efrat, Maayan (April 2, 2008). "Sharp, symbol of Maccabi Tel Aviv, retires". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/sports/basketball-sharp-symbol-of-maccabi-tel-aviv-retires-1.374342. Retrieved July 21, 2011. 
2. ^ ".". Orlando Sentinel. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/keyword/derrick-sharp. Retrieved July 21, 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Yarone Arbel (July 20, 2011). "Maccabi's Sharp retires, named assistant coach". Euroleague. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/86800/180. Retrieved July 21, 2011. 

External links

• Euroleague.net Profile
• Maccabi Tel-Aviv profile

Persondata
Name	Sharp, Derrick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 5, 1971
Place of birth	Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death