BC Žalgiris
BC Žalgiris | |||
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BC Žalgiris logo | |||
Nickname | Green and White | ||
Leagues | Lithuanian Basketball League Euroleague VTB United League | ||
Founded | 1944 | ||
History | BC Žalgiris (1944–present) | ||
Arena | Žalgiris Arena (capacity: 15,688) | ||
Location | Kaunas, Lithuania | ||
Team colors | Dartmouth green and white | ||
Team manager | Vitalijus Vasiliauskas | ||
Head coach | Joan Plaza | ||
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: 5 LKL: 14 Stepas Butautas Cup: 1 | ||
Website | zalgiris.lt | ||
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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, Real Madrid 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 the 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 the 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, experienced foreign players Franjo Arapović and Ennis Whatley and coached by Jonas Kazlauskas, they defeated Olimpia Milano 82–67 in the 1998 Saporta Cup final in Belgrade. Saulius Štombergas scored 35 points in the final.
In the 1998–99 season were the biggest surprise in Euroleague. Coached again by Jonas Kazlauskas and led by former NBA players Tyus Edney, Anthony Bowie, George Zidek and great Lithuanian talents, they made it to the Euroleague Final Four in Munich for a first time in their history, where they were crowned European champions defeating front runners Olympiacos Piraeus and Kinder Bologna in the semifinal and the final respectively. Tyus Edney was named Euroleague Final Four MVP. Žalgiris also 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 is trying 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, who tied the game on Derrick Sharp's last second three-pointer at the end of regulation and went on to win in overtime.
2004–2009: Downfall
After the departure of Sabonis at the conclusion of the 2003–04 season, Žalgiris faced a series of ups and downs. Although the team dominated in LKL for the next four season, never again was it close to achieving a spot in the Euroleague Final Four. Following the 2007–08 Euroleague season, all but one foreigner ((Loren Woods) left the team. By the middle of the season, however, Woods left as well, leaving Žalgiris 100% Lithuanian. This new team faced rival Lietuvos rytas in BBL, LKF Cup and LKL, losing all three trophies to the Eurocup champions for the first time in its history.
2009–present: V. Romanov becomes the new owner of the club
Before the 2008–09 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.
Players
Current roster
Depth chart
Squad changes for the 2012–13 season
In
Template:Basketball squad start
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Darjuš Lavrinovič (from CSKA Moscow)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | SG | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Tremmell Darden (from Unicaja Malaga)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | SG | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Rimantas Kaukėnas (from Montepaschi Siena)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | PF | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Kšyštof Lavrinovič (from Montepaschi Siena)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | PG | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Oliver Lafayette (from Anadolu Efes)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Adas Juškevičius (from Rūdupis)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Jeff Foote (from Springfield Armor)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | -- | style="text-align:center;" | PG | style="padding-right:15px;" | USA |Ibrahim Jaaber |} |}
Out
Template:Basketball squad start
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 4 | style="text-align:center;" | PG | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Žygimantas Janavičius (to Rūdupis)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 9 | style="text-align:center;" | PG | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Mantas Kalnietis (to Lokomotiv-Kuban)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 10 | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Tomas Delininkaitis (to TBD)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 11 | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | SRB |Milovan Raković (to Gescrap Bizkaia)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 20 | style="text-align:center;" | SF | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Dainius Šalenga (to Budivelnik) |} |}
Out on loan
Template:Basketball squad start
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | 22 | style="text-align:center;" | SF | style="padding-right:15px;" | EST |Siim-Sander Vene (VEF Rīga)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Vaidas Čepukaitis (Pieno žvaigždės)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Vytenis Čižauskas (Valladolid)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | SF | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Edgaras Ulanovas (Pieno žvaigždės)
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | F/C | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Gediminas Žylė (Kėdainiai Triobet))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LVA |Kaspars Vecvegars (Lietkabelis)
|- 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 (Lietkabelis))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | G | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Mantas Kadzevičius (to Sakalai (before 2011/12))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | F | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Tauras Jogėla (Lietkabelis))
|- class="vcard agent" | style="text-align:center;" | – | style="text-align:center;" | SF | style="padding-right:15px;" | LTU |Arnas Butkevičius (Lietkabelis) |} |}
Honours
Domestic competitions
League
- LKL: 14
- 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012
- Soviet Union Championships: 5
- 1947, 1951, 1985, 1986, 1987
Cup
- LKF Cup: 4
- 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012
- Soviet Union Cup: 1
- 1953
European competitions
Official titles
- Euroleague: 1
- [[FIBA Euroleague 1998-99|1999] 2012-13|2013]
- 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, 2012
- BBL Cup: 1
- 2009
- 2009–10 3rd place
Friendly competitions
- Gomelsky Cup: 1
Season-by-season
Players of note
- Vytautas Kulakauskas(5 seasons: 1944/49)
- Stepas Butautas(12 seasons: 1944/56)
- Justinas Lagunavičius(9 seasons: 1945/54)
- Vincas Sercevičius(7 seasons: 1944/45,46/51 )
- Kazys Petkevičius(12 seasons: 1947/54, 1958/63)
- Stasys Stonkus(8 seasons: 1950/58)
- Arūnas Lauritėnas(10 seasons: 1952/62)
- Henrikas Giedraitis (15 seasons: 1957/72)
- Romualdas Venzbergas(13 seasons: 1962/75)
- Modestas Paulauskas (14 seasons: 1962/76)
- Algirdas Linkevičius(13 seasons: 1969/82)
- Vitoldas Masalskis(13 seasons: 1972/85)
- Sergėjus Jovaiša (17 seasons: 1972/89)
- Valdemaras Chomičius (5 seasons: 1984/89)
- Raimundas Čivilis (11 seasons: 1977/88)
- Arvydas Sabonis (9 seasons: 1981/89, 2003/04)
- Algirdas Brazys (13 seasons: 1982/91, 1992/95)
- Rimas Kurtinaitis (7.5 seasons: 1983/89, 1992, 1995/96)
- Gintaras Krapikas (15 seasons: 1985/90)
- Arūnas Visockas (9 seasons: 1985/90, 1992/96)
- Gintaras Einikis (8 seasons: 1987/95, 2002/03)
- Darius Lukminas (7 seasons: 1989/96)
- Saulius Štombergas (5 seasons: 1991/93, 1997/99, 2002/03)
- Tomas Masiulis (7 seasons: 1995/2002, 2008)
- Darius Sirtautas (3 seasons: 1995/98)
- Dainius Adomaitis (3 seasons: 1996/99)
- Eurelijus Žukauskas (5 seasons: 1997/2000, 2007/09)
- Mindaugas Žukauskas (3 seasons: 1997/2000)
- Donatas Slanina (3 seasons: 1999/2002)
- Mindaugas Timinskas (4 seasons: 1999/2000, 2002/05)
- Dainius Šalenga (9 seasons: 2000/05, 2007/11-present)
- Tadas Klimavičius (4.5 seasons: 2002/01-2003, 2008–present)
- Paulius Jankūnas (8 seasons: 2003/09, 2010–present)
- Darjuš Lavrinovič (3 seasons: 2003/06)
- Jonas Mačiulis (4 seasons: 2005/09)
- Mantas Kalnietis (6.5 seasons: 02-2006–present)
- Donatas Motiejūnas (0.5 season: 2008)
- Martynas Pocius (2 seasons: 2009/11)
- Tomas Delininkaitis (2 seasons: 2010–2012)
- Robertas Javtokas (1 season: 2011–present)
- Gert Kullamäe (1 season: 1993/94)
- Torgeir Bryn (1 season: 1995/96)
- Franjo Arapović (2 seasons: 1996/98)
- Veljko Mršić (1 season: 1996/97)
- Ennis Whatley (1 season: 1997/98)
- Anthony Bowie (1 season: 1998/99)
- Tyus Edney (1 season: 1998/99)
- George Zidek (2 seasons: 1998/2000)
- Grigorij Khizhnyak (2 seasons: 2000/02)
- Steve Woodberry (2 seasons: 2000/02)
- Sherman Hamilton (1 season: 2001/02)
- Ed Cota (2.5 seasons: 2002/04, 09-2005–01-2006)
- Kornél Dávid (1 season: 2002/03)
- Ainārs Bagatskis (2 seasons: 2003/05)
- Tanoka Beard (5 seasons: 2003/08)
- Miroslav Berić (1 season: 2003/04)
- Robert Pack (1 season: 2004/05)
- Kenny Anderson (1 season: 2005/06)
- Larry Ayuso (1 season: 2005/06)
- Reggie Freeman (1 season: 2005/06)
- DeJuan Collins (4 seasons: 2006/08; 2010–present)
- Marcelo Machado (1 season: 2006/07)
- Hanno Möttölä (1 season: 2006/07)
- Kirk Penney (1 season: 2006/07)
- Marko Popović (3 seasons: 2006/08, 2011–present)
- Loren Woods (1.5 seasons: 03-2007–06-2007, 2008/09)
- Marcus Brown (3 seasons 2007/08, 2009/11)
- Goran Jurak (1 season: 2007/08)
- Damir Markota (1 season: 2007/08)
- Mamadou N'Diaye (1 season: 2007/08)
- Mirza Begić (1.5 seasons: 2009/10-2011)
- Travis Watson (2 seasons: 2009/11)
- Ty Lawson (half season: 2011)
- Milovan Raković (1 season: 2011–present)
- Sonny Weems (1 season: 2011/12)
Head coaches
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