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BC Žalgiris

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BC „Žalgiris“
BC „Žalgiris“ logo
LeaguesLithuanian Basketball League,
Baltic Basketball League,
VTB United League,
Euroleague
Founded1944
ArenaKaunas Sports Hall
(capacity: 5,000)
LocationKaunas, Lithuania
Team colorsGreen and White
   
PresidentLithuania Arvydas Sabonis
Head coachGreece Ilias Zouros
ChampionshipsLithuanian League: 12
Euroleague: 1
Intercontinental Cup: 1
Baltic League: 3
LKF Cup: 3
Websitezalgiris.lt

BC „Žalgiris“ (Basketball Club Žalgiris) is a professional basketball team that is based in Kaunas, Lithuania. It is one of the oldest teams in the Euroleague and plays domestically in the Lithuanian Basketball League (Lietuvos Krepšinio Lyga). Žalgiris is one of 13 European clubs that currently hold ULEB A Licenses, which provide their holders with a guaranteed place in the Euroleague.

Logo design: A green and white shield with the sign "BC Žalgiris", a basketball, and the letter "Ž". The club's name commemorates the victorious Battle of Žalgiris (Battle of Grunwald) (both names: Žalgiris and Grunwald are translated as "green grove").

History

1944–1982: Early dominance

Since 1944, BC Žalgiris is the main Lithuanian basketball team to produce top-flight talents for European basketball, such as the Olympic champions Modestas Paulauskas, Arvydas Sabonis, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Valdemaras Chomičius, and many others. The club was first formed from KKI Kaunas players and they won the first Soviet Union title with that name. Club at that time was led by Steponas Butautas, Kazys Petkevičius, Justinas Lagunavičius, Vincas Sercevičius later came Stanislovas Stonkus, Arūnas Lauritėnas. They won the second Soviet Union championship in 1951 and had to wait for 34 years to do it again. Modestas Paulauskas, Romualdas Venzbergas, Algirdas Linkevičius later Sergėjus Jovaiša, were the stars of the team in the 1970s but they only managed to finish third couple of times in the Soviet Union championship.

1983–1987: The True Fame

Žalgiris became the dominant force in Soviet Union and in Europe when they added new talents to the team first came Valdemaras Chomičius then Rimas Kurtinaitis, Vladas Garastas became new team coach, but everything changed when the team noticed a talented young kid named Arvydas Sabonis, who was 17 years old 209 cm and he debuted in the club in 1981. He grew about 12 more cm in the next couple of years and could do everything on the court: play defence, assist his teammates with all kind of passes, shoot 3 pointers, dominate inside the paint and was like player from another planet. In the mid-1980s, the finals between BC Žalgiris Kaunas and CSKA Moscow (Central Sports Club of Army) served as a major inspiration for Lithuanian national revival that contributed to the emergence of the Sąjūdis national movement and re-establishment of state independence.

During the 1980s, Žalgiris was competing in the top competitions with top clubs in Europe, such as FC Barcelona Bàsquet and Cibona Zagreb. Stars Sabonis, Kurtinaitis, Chomičius and Jovaiša led the team to three consecutive Soviet Union National League championships from 1985 till 1987, beating CSKA Moscow in the finals. In 1985 the four stars led the team to the Saporta Cup final, but Žalgiris lost to FC Barcelona. Despite the loss, Žalgiris participated in Euroleague the next year as the Soviet Union champions, reaching the finals and losing to the rival Cibona Zagreb. In 1986, Žalgiris won the William Jones Intercontinental Cup, defeating Dražen Petrović's Cibona Zagreb in the semifinals and Ferro Carril Oeste in the finals. Žalgiris was emerging as one of the top clubs in Europe at the time.

1987–1989: Setbacks

In 1987, however, Žalgiris suffered a setback. One of the stars of the club, Arvydas Sabonis, suffered a torn achilles tendon. Three months later, he tore it again, causing him to miss most of the 1987-88 season. That season, Žalgiris won a silver medal, losing to CSKA Moscow in the Soviet League finals. The next season, Sabonis came back, and the club managed to reach European Cup Winners Cup semifinals and win a silver medal in Soviet League finals.

Just before the start of 1989-90 season, Žalgiris lost all of its leaders and half of its team: Sabonis, Kurtinaitis, Jovaiša, Chomičius and head coach Garastas all left the club, free from the Iron Curtain that barred Lithuanian basketball talent from becoming international.

1989–1997: New generation

Following the mass emigration, Žalgiris renewed their roster with youngsters, such as Gintaras Einikis, Darius Lukminas, Arūnas Visockas and later Saulius Štombergas now became the leaders of the team. The team, led by Einikis and Lukminas, won their first LKL title in 1994, cruising past Atletas Kaunas 3-1 in a four game series. For Next two years, Žalgiris again dominated LKL tournament and had success participating in the Saporta Cup for the 1995-96 season when Rimas Kurtinaitis returned to play for him home team. After finishing with a 9-3 record in the regular season, Žalgiris advanced to the semifinals, but fell to PAOK.

1998–1999: Biggest success

Žalgiris enjoyed the biggest success as a club during 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. Led by great Lithuanian talents Saulius Štombergas, Dainius Adomaitis, Eurelijus Žukauskas, Tomas Masiulis, Mindaugas Žukauskas and experienced foreign players Franjo Arapovic and Ennis Whatley and coached by Jonas Kazlauskas they defeted Olimpia Milano 82:67 in the Saporta Cup final in Belgrade in 1998. Saulius Štombergas scored 35 points in the final.

In 1998-99 season they surprised all Europe. Again coached by Jonas Kazlauskas and led by former NBA players Tyus Edney, Anthony Bowie, George Zidek and great Lithuanian talent they went through FIBA Euroleague with 18-4 record and defeted Kinder Bologna 82:74 in the final in Munich. Tyus Edney was named Euroleague Final Four MVP. Žalgiris allso won LKL and NEBL titles that same season. After these two great seasons best players of the club went to the richest European clubs and Žalgiris tried to duplicate that feat ever since.

2003–2004: Sabonis comes back

Sabonis became the principal owner of the club in 2003, after having played for many years in the Spanish ACB League and the NBA. He also came back to play for the club for one last season in 2003-04. He again dominated European competition winning ULEB Euroleague regular season and Top-16 MVP. Žalgiris almost made it to the Euroleague Final Four, but were stopped by Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C., who defeated Žalgiris through Derrick Sharp's last second three-pointer witch tied the game in the last seconds of play.

2009–present: V.Romanov becomes the new owner of the club

Before the 2008-2009 season Žalgiris had a lot of financial difficulties and were looking for the new investor, in 2009 Sabonis sold most of his stake to a local investment group, Ūkio banko investicinė grupė (ŪBIG) which is headed by Vladimir Romanov, which now holds a 75% interest in the club. Sabonis retained a 21.5% stake in the club; 3% is owned by a minority group, and the remaining 0.5% is owned by the Kaunas City municipality.

Titles

National:

  • Lithuanian Championships (22): 1946, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
  • Soviet Union Championships (5): 1947, 1951, 1985, 1986, 1987
  • Soviet Union Cups (1): 1953

International:

Roster

Template:BC Žalgiris

Depth Chart

Pos. Starter Bench Bench Reserve Inactive
C Travis Watson Trent Plaisted Boban Marjanović Omar Samhan
PF Paulius Jankūnas Tadas Klimavičius
SF Martynas Pocius Mindaugas Kuzminskas
SG Tomas Delininkaitis Marcus Brown Artūras Milaknis
PG Mantas Kalnietis DeJuan Collins Aleksandar Ćapin

Squad Changes for the 2010-2011 Season

In

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
10 {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Tomas Delininkaitis (from PAOK BC)
13 {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Paulius Jankūnas (from BC Khimki)
19 {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Mindaugas Kuzminskas (from BC Šiauliai)
41 {{{pos}}} United States USA DeJuan Collins (from Kavala B.C.)
50 {{{pos}}} United States USA Omar Samhan (from St. Mary's Gaels)
22 {{{pos}}} Serbia SRB Boban Marjanović (loan from CSKA Moscow)
44 {{{pos}}} United States USA Trent Plaisted (from KK Cedevita)

Out

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
15 {{{pos}}} Slovenia SVN Mirza Begić (to Real Madrid)
20 {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Dainius Šalenga (suspended)

Out On Loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
-- {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Šarūnas Vasiliauskas (to KK Kaunas)
-- {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Adas Juškevičius (to KK Rūdupis)
-- {{{pos}}} Croatia CRO Mario Delaš (to BC Šiauliai)
-- {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Povilas Butkevičius (to KK Rūdupis)
-- {{{pos}}} Estonia EST Siim-Sander Vene (to EnBW Ludwigsburg)
-- {{{pos}}} Lithuania LTU Povilas Čukinas (to KK Kaunas)

Players of note

Template:Famous players (Mostly former players)

Head coaches

Template:LKL Teams

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