February 09, 2010
Countdown
Zalgiris
President Arvydas Sabonis
Address Naglio ST. 4A LT-52367 Kaunas - Lithuania
Tel. +370 37 452 459
Fax +370 37 452 349
Arena S.DARIUS AND S.GIRENAS SPORT CENTER
Roster
No.PlayerCountryPos.HeightBorn
4 VASILIAUSKAS, SARUNAS Lithuania Guard 1.88 1989
5 BROWN, MARCUS USA Guard 1.91 1974
6 CAPIN, ALEKSANDAR Slovenia Guard 1.86 1982
7 POCIUS, MARTYNAS Lithuania Forward 1.96 1986
8 JUSKEVICIUS, ADAS Lithuania Guard 1.94 1989
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS Lithuania Guard 1.95 1986
12 KLIMAVICIUS, TADAS Lithuania Forward 2.04 1982
13 DELAS, MARIO Croatia Center 2.07 1990
14 BUTKEVICIUS, POVILAS Lithuania Forward 2.03 1987
15 BEGIC, MIRZA Slovenia Center 2.20 1985
20 SALENGA, DAINIUS Lithuania Forward 1.97 1977
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS Lithuania Guard 1.95 1986
22 VENE, SIIM-SANDER Estonia Forward 2.03 1990
32 CUKINAS, POVILAS Lithuania Center 2.10 1983
35 WATSON, TRAVIS USA Forward 2.03 1981
 Head Coach    
  BUTAUTAS, RAMUNAS Lithuania    
The Club
Zalgiris Kaunas aims to bounce back from a rare title-free season and return to its rich tradition from the last three decades. Zalgiris did not manage to make it to the Top 16 and lost four finals – the Lithuanian League, Lithuanian Cup, Baltic League and Baltic President's Cup – to archrival Lietuvos Rytas. With a legend like Arvydas Sabonis as team president and a solid organization always taking care of its young players, Zalgiris should be back where it belongs in the 2009-10 season. Zalgiris stands as a true representative of a basketball-crazy country due to its long and prosperous tradition. The best basketball players from Kaunas formed the club in 1944, and just three years later they won their first Soviet Union title. Zalgiris would be Soviet League champion five times (1947, 1951, 1985-87) and runner-up seven times. A new international chapter began for Zalgiris in 1981, when it reached the quarterfinals of the Saporta Cup. With legends like Sabonis, Rimas Kurtinaitis and Valdemaras Homicius, Zalgiris reached the Euroleague title game in 1986, only to lose the crown to Cibona and Drazen Petrovic. Following independence in 1990, Zalgiris took the first nine Lithuanian League championships home to Kaunas, creating a dynasty that extended into Europe. In 1998, the team captured its first-ever European trophy, the Saporta Cup. A year later, it shocked the continent by storming to the 1999 Euroleague title, not to mention those of the Lithuanian League and the Northern European Basketball League, with an new-found offensive style that influenced the sport heading into the new century. Players like Tyus Edney, Saulius Stombergas, Anthony Bowie, Eurelijus Zukauskas and Jiri Zidek helped Zalgiris show that fun-to-watch basketball could also win Euroleague titles. Zalgiris was seconds away from the Euroleague Final Four in 2004 until eventual champion Maccabi Tel Aviv won their dramatic do-or-die Top 16 finale in overtime. Zalgiris also won three consecutive Lithuanian League crowns between 2003 and 2005, the year in which the club also added the first-ever Baltic League title. With a basketball hero like Sabonis setting high goals and standards, the entire club has found success, like the junior team, which won the 2007 Nike International Junior Tournament at the Final Four in Athens. In 2007-08 Zalgiris swept a trio of titles, lifting the Baltic League crown, winning its 15th Lithuanian League title since the country became independent in 1991 and also claiming the Lithuanian Cup. Despite coming off a title-free season last year, Zalgiris will once again challenge for every domestic trophy and try to return to the Top 16 in the Euroleague as stage one in the proud club’s return to glory.
Trophy Case
Euroleague
1999
Saporta Cup
1998
Baltic League
2005 | 2008
NEBL
1999
Lithuanian National League
1949-50, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08
Lithuanian Federation Cup
2007, 2008
Soviet Union National League
1946-47, 1950-51, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87
Intercontinental Cup
1986
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