Glen Grunwald

Glen Grunwald (born June 13, 1958) is currently the senior vice president for basketball operations of the New York Knicks of the NBA. He is best known as the former general manager of the Toronto Raptors, a role he filled from March 1998 until April 2004.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Grunwald was a high-school All-American basketball player from East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Illinois. He is the only player selected All-Chicago area four times, and was player of the year in the state his senior year, 1976.^{[citation needed]} He was injured prior to his freshman year at Indiana University, and although he was a team captain in 1981 when Indiana won the national title, and was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 5th round of the NBA Draft, he never played professional basketball.

Grunwald instead focused on his education, earning a law degree, an MBA and an Honours business degree in marketing. He went on to become a successful corporate attorney for major law firms, business founder and operator, and legal counsel to a television network, before joining the basketball world again as a VP of the Denver Nuggets.^{[citation needed]}

NBA

Toronto Raptors

Shortly after Grunwald was hired by Isiah Thomas as assistant General Manager for the Toronto Raptors, he replaced the recently resigned General Manager after Thomas' majority ownership bid had failed. He would oversee some of the Raptors' greatest years of success, including orchestrating a trade for Vince Carter, drafting Tracy McGrady, and their first, and to date only, trip to the NBA conference semi-finals. They also managed three straight playoff berths from 2000–2002, record attendance, and Grunwald's moves earned praise from NBA Commissioner David Stern.^{[citation needed]}

However, the injury-plagued Raptors missed the playoffs in the 2002–03 season and Grunwald shook up the roster. During the 2003–04 season, despite inconsistency, they went 25–25 and were on track to return to the playoffs. Grunwald traded away starting center Antonio Davis in December, which led to tension with coach Kevin O'Neill, who publicly complained about the lack of a starting center and roster depth. Two weeks before narrowly missing the playoffs by three games, Grunwald was fired on April 1, 2004, and replaced by Jack McCloskey as interim GM. Rob Babcock was later appointed as the permanent replacement.

City work

Grunwald later became the President and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade, the largest local business organization in Canada, and is heavily involved in both the business and social communities of Toronto. In addition to his work at the Board of Trade, he sits on the Board of Governors at George Brown College, the Board of Directors at the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance, and the Board of the Toronto City Summit Alliance. He is further involved with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, as well as Canada Basketball.^{[citation needed]}

An accomplished speaker, Mr. Grunwald has addressed a wide range of organizations including the Rotary Club, the Canadian Property Tax Association, the Toronto Industry Network, the American Business Awards, and the Canadian Society of Club Managers.^{[citation needed]}

NBA return

On September 28, 2006, Grunwald accepted a job as an assistant GM of the New York Knicks under Isiah Thomas. Officially, his title was senior vice president of basketball operations. Glen Grunwald was promoted to the interim GM for the New York Knicks on June 4, 2011, to take over for Donnie Walsh.

Personal

Grunwald came to Toronto in 1994 and obtained his Canadian citizenship in 1999. He is married and has three children.

References

Preceded by Isiah Thomas

Toronto Raptors General Manager 1998–2004

Succeeded by Jack McCloskey (interim)

External links

• Glen Grunwald's blog
• Knicks hire Glen Grunwald