BC Žalgiris
BC Žalgiris | |||
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BC Žalgiris logo | |||
Leagues | Lithuanian Basketball League, VTB United League, Euroleague | ||
Founded | 1944 | ||
History | BC Žalgiris (1944–present) | ||
Arena | Žalgiris Arena (capacity: 15,442) | ||
Location | Kaunas, Lithuania | ||
Team colors | Dartmouth green and white | ||
President | Arvydas Sabonis | ||
Team manager | Jonas Stadalninkas | ||
Head coach | Aleksandar Trifunović | ||
Championships | Euroleague: 1 Saporta Cup: 1 Intercontinental Cup: 1 Soviet Union championship: 5 Soviet Union Cup: 1 NEBL: 1 Profbasket: 1 Lithuanian League: 13 LKF Cup: 3 Baltic League: 4 BBL Cup: 1 | ||
Website | zalgiris.lt | ||
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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 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL), and regionally in the VTB United League. Žalgiris is one of 14 European clubs that currently hold ULEB A Licenses, which provide their holders with a guaranteed place in the regular-season phase of the Euroleague.
Since the 2011/12 season, Žalgiris plays its home games in the new Žalgiris Arena, built just before the EuroBasket 2011.
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 and Vladas Garastas became the 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, KK Partizan 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. Biggest star 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, losing a dramatic finals to BC Budivelnik 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. Žalgiris, 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 his home team. After finishing with a 9-3 record in the regular season, Žalgiris advanced to the semifinals, but fell to PAOK in the two games series.
1998–1999: Biggest success
Žalgiris enjoyed the biggest success as a club during 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. Led by a new generation of great Lithuanian talents Saulius Štombergas, Dainius Adomaitis, Eurelijus Žukauskas, Tomas Masiulis, Mindaugas Žukauskas and experienced foreign players Franjo Arapović 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 talents 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 tied Žalgiris on Derrick Sharp's last second three-pointer at the end of regulation and went on to win in overtime.
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. Since the 2011/12 season, Žalgiris plays its home games in the new Žalgiris Arena, built just before the EuroBasket 2011. Close to 16 000 people can watch basketball games in this new modern gym.
Roster
Depth Chart
Pos. | Starter | Bench | Bench | Reserve | Inactive |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Robertas Javtokas | Milovan Raković | |||
PF | Paulius Jankūnas | Reeves Nelson | Tadas Klimavičius | ||
SF | Sonny Weems | Mindaugas Kuzminskas | |||
SG | Marko Popović | Tomas Delininkaitis | Vytenis Lipkevičius | ||
PG | Mantas Kalnietis | DeJuan Collins |
Squad Changes before the 2011/12 season
In
Template:Basketball squad start
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 15 | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Robertas Javtokas (from Valencia BC)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 24 | style="text-align:center;" | G/F | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Sonny Weems (from the Toronto Raptors)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 11 | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | SRB |Milovan Raković (from Montepaschi Siena)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 4 | style="text-align:center;" | PG | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Ty Lawson (from the Denver Nuggets)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 6 | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | CRO |Marko Popović (from UNICS Kazan)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 7 | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Vytenis Lipkevičius (from Kauno Baltai)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 14 | style="text-align:center;" | F/C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Povilas Butkevičius (from Prienų Rūdupis)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 22 | style="text-align:center;" | PF | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Reeves Nelson (from UCLA Bruins) |} |}
Out
Template:Basketball squad start
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 6 | style="text-align:center;" | PG | style="padding-right:15px;" | SVN |Aleksandar Ćapin (to Union Olimpija)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 35 | style="text-align:center;" | F/C | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Travis Watson (to)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 44 | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Trent Plaisted (to)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 22 | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | SRB |Boban Marjanović (to BC Nizhny Novgorod)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 7 | style="text-align:center;" | G/F | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Martynas Pocius (to Real Madrid)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 5 | style="text-align:center;" | SG | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Marcus Brown (retired)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 50 | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Omar Samhan (to) |} |}
Out on Loan
Template:Basketball squad start
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 10 | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Žygimantas Janavičius (to Aisčiai (January, 2010); Šiauliai (before 2010/11); Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 13 | style="text-align:center;" | PF | style="padding-right:15px;" | CRO |Mario Delaš (to Cibona (before 2010/11); Šiauliai (December, 2011); Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 8 | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Adas Juškevičius (to Rūdupis (before 2010/11); Baltai (before 2011/12); Rūdupis (09-2011))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 4 | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Šarūnas Vasiliauskas (to Techasas (before 2010/11))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 22 | style="text-align:center;" | SF | style="padding-right:15px;" | EST |Siim-Sander Vene (to Kaunas Triobet (before 2010/11); EnBW Ludwigsburg (December, 2010); Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Vaidas Čepukaitis (to Techasas (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Vytenis Čižauskas (to Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | F/C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Adomas Drungilas (to Techasas (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Vytas Šulskis (to Triobet (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | SF | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Edgaras Ulanovas (to Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | F/C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Gediminas Žylė (to Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | EST |Kaspars Vecvegars (to Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | F/C | style="padding-right:15px;" | SRB |Uros Petrovic (to Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Augustas Pečiukevičius (to Sakalai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | F | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Osvaldas Matulionis (to Techasas (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Mindaugas Kupšas (to Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G/F | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Paulius Sorokas (to Baltai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Mantas Kadzevičius (to Sakalai (before 2011/12)) |} |}
Honours
Domestic competitions
League
- LKL: 13
- 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011
- Soviet Union Championships: 5
- 1947, 1951, 1985, 1986, 1987
Cup
- LKF Cup: 3
- 2007, 2008, 2011
- Soviet Union Cup: 1
- 1953
European competitions
Official titles
- Euroleague: 1
- 1999
- Runners-up (1): 1986
- Saporta Cup: 1 (Predecessor to the ULEB Cup)
- 1998
- Runners-up (1): 1985
Worldwide competitions
- 1986
Regional competitions
- NEBL: 1
- 1999
- 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011
- BBL Cup: 1
- 2009
- 2009–10 3rd place
Friendly competitions
- Gomelsky Cup: 1
Season-by-season
Players of note
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Head coaches
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External links
- The official website
- Club's profile at euroleague.net
- Club's profile at lkl.lt
- Club's profile at bbl.net
- Club's profile at vtb-league.com