Dan Grida: Ready to Help

Written for nbl.com.au by Tom Hersz

A year is a long time to wait to get back something you love. But they say anything good is worth waiting for and that was certainly true for Dan Grida.

Grida, who tore his ACL just over 12 months ago, hadn’t played since the Hawks final game of NBL20. He made his return on Saturday night when the Hawks travelled to Adelaide to take on the Sixers. 

It’s been a long road back for the talented wing, who after signing a fresh two-year deal with the Hawks during the offseason, has been biding his time to get back into game action.

Grida has been training with the team since late December, but wasn’t completely ready yet. He then faced delays with a minor ankle injury, needing to have his wisdom teeth out and then a roster crunch meant there wasn’t a spot for him just yet. He wasn’t sure if he’d get to play this season, even though he felt ready, so when he found out he was going to play in this game, it took him a little by surprise.

“It was real quick,” Grida told NBL Media on Sunday. 

“We were on the bus to the airport when Jacob [Jackomas] texted me and said I’m in, so I didn’t really get much time to think about it, which is probably a good thing. 

“But, I’m just super happy, super happy. I didn’t think it was going to be this long, but how the season ended up getting pushed back so long and us already having a full squad, it was probably pretty good. It meant I had a lot more time to get completely back to 100%. 

“So, I was just super excited. I’m ecstatic about it. I really missed playing; it was getting to the point where I was sitting on the bench really, really getting jittery and thinking ‘oh man, I can help these guys right now’ and I couldn’t. So, it’s a huge relief to finally be back in.”

Hawks Coach Brian Goorjian wasted little time in throwing Grida into the game. He was subbed in with 3:17 to go in the first quarter and 26 seconds later, he was on the board with a reverse layup. 

Comeback complete. He had made it back and was already contributing. It was at that moment that it started to sink in that he was playing again.

“Yeah it was nice,” admitted Grida. 

“I don’t know how I ended up that open under there, but it was nice to flip one up and get it in. It was great, it was a great feeling to get onto the scoreboard early on as well, first touch, which was cool.”

That would be the only basket Grida would score in his return game, but he chipped in with a rebound and a steal in his 10 minutes of action. Grida didn’t turn the ball over either and just tried to keep it simple, focusing on the ways he can contribute; things he’s done well to this point in his career.

“I just wanted to play as good defence as I can, rebound and shoot open threes,” Grida explained. 

“That was all I was trying to do, and just run, just run. Goorj is big on us getting up and down the floor, so I think that’s definitely something I can bring. 

“So I was just trying to focus on those sorts of things and I felt really good. I thought I was going to feel a little heavy-legged or something, but I felt really good. So, super excited.”

In fact, Grida’s trademark athleticism was on full display.

He flew in for a big defensive rebound, he attacked the rim against hard close outs and he ran the floor hard. He doesn’t seem to have lost a step when compared to how he was pre-injury and if anything, he’s feeling more athletic and stronger than he was before.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Grida agreed. 

“Before I hurt my knee, I probably didn’t train my legs in the gym, I didn’t put as much focus on it as I probably should have before my knee [injury], so I really honed into that side of things. 

“I feel quicker and more explosive than I ever have. I feel a lot stronger, but I’m lighter. I just feel really good so that’s been a huge silver lining for me.”

It’s a sign of how he attacked his rehab, which wasn’t easy. 

Grida was back home in Perth when he injured himself. With COVID getting worse at that time and him being out of contract, he stayed in Western Australia without access to any Hawks staff, teammates or facilities.

Rehabbing from an ACL injury is tough at the best of times, but doing it during a global pandemic, when everyone is feeling somewhat isolated, can really test one’s mental resolve. Grida though, managed to stay focussed on what he had to do.

“I kept in my head that people are going through a lot worse than what I am,” he explained. 

“I had enough confidence in myself that I was going to get a job even though I’d done my knee and I was a free agent. I was pretty confident that I was going to get a gig somewhere. 

“So I just put my head down, got stuck into rehab, talked to a lot of people, talked to Angus [Glover] a lot – obviously he’s been through it. He was a big help for me.”

Grida also leaned on some friends who were back home in Perth at the same time.

“It was a good in a way because I was at home in Perth, a lot of my college friends from Perth were back home as well because of COVID, so Andrew Ferguson, Corey Shervill and Kyle Bowen – they’re like three of my best mates; Rhys Vague as well before he went to Japan,” Grida said. 

“So it was awesome, I was with all of them throughout the whole process. So seeing at least one of them every single day, they’d come work out with me or we’d go shoot; even if I could just shoot form shots, they’d come with me and we’d get some reps up. 

“That was a huge help for me, being able to see familiar guys every single day and really work out pretty hard as well, considering there wasn’t a lot going on at the time. So, it was actually a lot of fun, I really enjoyed that whole season even though I was kind of out of it with my knee. It was cool.”

Of course, having someone who can relate to what you’re going through is a massive help and Grida, who was teammates with Angus Glover at the Hawks last season, leaned on his friend. 

Glover, now with the Sydney Kings, has recovered from three separate ACL injuries in the past, so there’s no better person to get advice from. Grida and Glover spoke often and it really helped to keep Grida focussed on the path ahead.

 “We’d talk about what stage of rehab I was up to and everything in that sense,” Grida described. 

“But, a lot of it wasn’t even him talking to me, it was just me working out or rehabbing and just thinking ‘man, Angus has done this three times, I can do this once. I can get through this right now cos he’s had to do this a million times’. 

“So, it was more of that side and me having that in the back of my mind. He’s done it this many times and he’s come back just as good as ever, and I know he will from his current injury as well, so that was massive motivation to me. 

“And we were talking all the time about stages of rehab; he’d give me tips and different things to do. It was awesome. It was great to have him in my corner.”

Someone else who is now firmly in Grida’s corner is Goorjian. Speaking post-game on Saturday, it was clear that he likes what the soon-to-be 23 year old can add to his team.

Grida was brought back this week because Tyler Harvey and Cam Bairstow were out hurt, but to add him back to the roster permanently, would mean someone else would need to go.

“I’m sure we’re going to have to move somebody along, cos I’m not messing with that any more,” said Goorjian of Grida’s return to his roster. 

“I like that energy to the team; he’s rusty, but he’s fresh, he’s alive, he’s full of energy. He hasn’t played in a game in a year, so there’s a lot of excitement there and we’re just gonna have to wait and see what happens with the next four or five games, who we move along. But, somebody’s gonna have to roll, because I’m definitely bringing him into the group.”

Goorjian went on to talk about how Grida’s combination of athleticism, defence and shooting is exactly what his team needs right now, after losing four of their last five games.

“Right now, it’s pretty obvious that Justin [Simon] and [Deng] Adel are struggling from the perimeter, so another guy that’s athletic, but maybe he can get that perimeter shot rolling,” continued Goorjian. 

“I think it would really loosen up if we get a guy in there that we don’t go backwards defensively or lose that energy and athleticism, but also can consistently knock down a perimeter shot. There are shots there for the taking and I’m hoping that Grida physically can be that guy and we don’t lose there, and also give us some relief on the perimeter.”

The fact is that with Harvey not 100%, Adel struggling offensively and the looming possibility of Justinian Jessup being signed by the Golden State Warriors, Goorjian needs Grida right now and he recognises what Grida could bring to this team. 

So for Grida to hear that from his coach – after only one game back where he played limited minutes – was big. 

“That’s a huge compliment from Goorj to hear him say that,” said Grida. 

“That gives me a lot of confidence and it really excites me for the rest of the season to get me going. Obviously, I didn’t know whether this was a one off game because Cam and Tyler are out, so to hear that, it’s really encouraging and it just gets me going.”

Grida is really looking forward to being that guy that Goorj is looking for. He’s always been a player that tries to bring a lot of energy, play solid defence, get after loose balls and run the floor, with the ability to make shots when open.

“If I can knock those corner threes down that would be awesome, which I’d love to do,” admitted Grida. 

“Just run, play defence and shoot threes, that’s all I want to do and I’m really looking forward to bringing that.”

He’ll have another chance on Wednesday night when the Hawks host the Brisbane Bullets at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

It will be Grida’s first game in front of the Hawkheads in over 14 months and he’s really looking forward to playing in front of his home fans again.

“I am super excited,” Grida said. 

“Hopefully they come out a bit on Wednesday night. They were really good the last few games and we let them down the last game at the WEC, so hopefully we can go out there and smack Brisbane, which would be awesome. I’m really, really looking forward to that game.” 

In the meantime, he’s happy to be an active member of the Hawks once more. It’s been a long road back, and while he loved being back on court and competing, he readily admitted that the best part of his return was being back with his teammates as a part of the team again.

“Just the team camaraderie,” explained Grida. 

“I love being a part of a team. This team’s super special; we all get along so well. There’s no dickheads on our team, we’re all super-invested and I really missed that when I was out. 

“I missed that kind of team environment, all of us working toward one goal – I missed that immensely. So that was great to just be a part of that. Even on the bench, just getting around the boys, that’s the best part of team sport, so I’d really missed that.”

Anything good is worth waiting for, but thankfully for Grida, the wait is over.