BC Lietuvos Rytas

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Lietuvos Rytas

Founded	1997
Arena	Lietuvos Rytas Arena Siemens Arena
Team Colors	Black, White and Red
LKL Championships	3
ULEB Cup Champions	1
President	Gedvydas Vainauskas
Head Coach	Aleksandr Trifunović

BC Lietuvos Rytas is the major basketball club of Vilnius, Lithuania and one of two clubs from Vilnius participating in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL).

1 Key facts
2 History
3 Achievements
4 Tournaments
5 Current squad
6 Former famous players
7 External links

[edit] Key facts

Founded in 1997 officially or 1964 historically.
Home arena for LKL games: "Lietuvos Ryto arena" (capacity: 1,700).
Home arena for Euroleague and ULEB Cup games: "Siemens Arena" (capacity: 11,000).

[edit] History

The major basketball team Statyba was established in 1964 in the Soviet Union. That team managed to win Bronze medals in 1979 at the Soviet Union championship. In 1997 it was renamed Lietuvos Rytas Statyba, then just Lietuvos Rytas as the club was bought by major Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvos Rytas. The newspaper's investment helped establish the club as one of two best in Lithuania, the other being BC Žalgiris from the country's second-largest city Kaunas. These have been the only two LKL champions since the restoration of Lithuanian independence, and their matches effectively constitute the national derby, always fiercely contested and attracting large crowds. Lietuvos Rytas has won the LKL championship three times. The first success came in 2000, when Vilnius' side was led by so called "big three" — Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Andrius Giedraitis and Eric Elliott, also combined with youngsters Arvydas Macijauskas and Robertas Javtokas. After two years Lietuvos Rytas repeated their triumph, this time in a dramatic seven-game final series with the last game decided in overtime. The team played without center Robertas Javtokas, who was seriously injured in a motorbike crash. The third title came in 2006, when Lietuvos Rytas won their easiest final series, crushing Žalgiris 4-0.

The home game in Siemens Arena

In 2005 they won the ULEB Cup, granting them a place in the Euroleague, the continent's primary basketball club tournament. However, midway through the season, team leader Frederick House suffered a season-ending injury; shortly afterward, head coach Vlade Djurovic resigned and was replaced by Slovenian Tomo Mahoric. But newcomer Tyrone Nesby, Latvian playmaker Roberts Štelmahers and inspirational Lithuanian trio Robertas Javtokas, Simas Jasaitis and Tomas Delininkaitis led the team and managed to overcome all opponents domestically and in the Baltic League.

Croatian specialist Neven Spahija became the head coach of the team in 2005. Lietuvos Rytas started the Euroleague season of 2005-2006 well, winning seven consecutive Euroleague fixtures after losing their first two, defeating such teams as FC Barcelona, Maccabi (twice) and Efes Pilsen. In the Euroleague, they were able to advance to the Top 16 phase, winning three times of six. Despite the Lithuanian title, Lietuvos Rytas did not acquire the country's spot for 2006-07 that was reserved to archrival Žalgiris.

Although the coach and three leading players, Robertas Javtokas, Simas Jasaitis and Frederic House have left the team during the interseason, the 2006-2007 season in the ULEB Cup has been rather successful for Lietuvos Rytas as well, despite that two coaches were replaced during the season, Sharon Drucker from Israel and Slovenian Zmago Sagadin. The roster was strengtened during the season inviting a promising NBA player Kareem Rush, who has significantly contributed to major victories.