Joel Bruce Kramer (born November 30, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player. Listed at and , he played the power forward and center positions. After playing college basketball at San Diego State University, he had a five-season career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1978–1983 with the Phoenix Suns.
Early life Kramer was born in San Diego, California, and is Jewish.Day by Day in Jewish Sports History – Bob WechslerThe 100 Greatest Jews in Sports: Ranked According to Achievement – B. P. Robert Stephen Silverman He attended Patrick Henry High School in San Diego. There, he played for the basketball team and was League Player of the Year and All-California Interscholastic Federation his senior season.Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home
Basketball career Kramer played college basketball on a basketball scholarship at San Diego State University, during which he averaged 9.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while shooting .521 from the field. After recovering from a broken foot, he averaged over 9 rebounds per game his last two seasons.GoAztecs.com In 1977–78, he set a school consecutive free throw record of 33."BYU Hands the Aztecs a Bitter Loss: College basketball: SDSU's conference opener slips away in the second half. Cougars win, 73–61." – latimes As a senior, he was named 1978 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Player of the Year.
He played basketball for Team USA at the 1977 Maccabiah Games, winning a gold medal.
Kramer was selected with the 19th pick of the third round by the Phoenix Suns in the 1978 NBA draft. He had a five-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1978–1983, primarily at center and power forward. In his rookie season, he played in 82 games, tying for the NBA lead, and in 1980–81 he was third in the NBA with 82 games played.
After playing for the Suns, Kramer continued his playing career in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv, for whom he played for just a few months after signing for a reported $100,000 a year.AJHS honors state's Jewish athletes , January 5, 2001"Tel Aviv Basketball Team Releases Highly Touted Player from the U.S." | Jewish Telegraphic Agency He was released in January 1984.
Post-playing career Kramer was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. He was inducted into the San Diego Aztecs Hall of Fame in 1997.
Kramer has held executive roles with CBIZ, an American accounting and financial services firm, working as the managing director of the Phoenix office's tax division .
Career statistics
NBA Source
Regular season
| style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | style="background:#cfecec;|82* || || 17.1 || .489 || || .710 || 4.1 || 1.1 || .5 || .3 || 5.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 54 || || 13.2 || .469 || .000 || .800 || 2.8 || 1.4 || .5 || .1 || 3.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 82 || || 13.0 || .527 || .000 || .692 || 2.8 || 1.1 || .4 || .2 || 4.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 56 || 0 || 9.8 || .414 || – || .786 || 1.9 || .9 || .3 || .2 || 2.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 54 || 4 || 8.5 || .423 || .000 || .875 || 1.6 || .7 || .3 || .1 || 1.9 |-class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Career | 328 || 4 || 12.8 || .479 || .000 || .737 || 2.8 || 1.0 || .4 || .2 || 3.8
Playoffs {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !3P% !FT% !RPG !APG !SPG !BPG !PPG |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1979 | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 15 || 17.1 || .542 || || .722 || 3.8 || 1.3 || .6 || .5 || 6.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1981 | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 7 || 14.4 || .520 || – || .500 || 2.3 || .6 || .3 || .3 || 3.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1982 | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 4 || 5.0 || .714 || – || .667 || 1.3 || .3 || .3 || .0 || 3.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1983 | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 2 || 3.0 || .000 || – || – || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 |-class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Career | 28 || 13.7 || .538 || – || .707 || 2.8 || .9 || .4 || .3 || 4.6
See also List of select Jewish basketball players
Notes
External links NBA stats @ basketballreference.com