BC Wolves
BC Wolves is a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in the city of Vilnius. The team competes in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and internationally in the EuroCup. The team plays its home games at the 10,000-seat Avia Solutions Group Arena.
BC Wolves | |
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Nickname | Vilkai |
Leagues | LKL EuroCup |
Founded | 2 June 2022 |
History | BC Wolves (2022–present) |
Arena | ASG Arena |
Capacity | 10,000 |
Location | Vilnius, Lithuania |
Team colors | |
President | Rimantas Kaukėnas |
Head coach | Kęstutis Kemzūra |
Ownership | Basketball Holding Company |
Website | bcwolves.com |
History
The organisation was founded on 2 June 2022, with the name Wolves referring to the mythical Iron Wolf and the founding legend of the city of Vilnius.[1] The license of BC Dzūkija was used to play in LKL starting from the 2022-23-season.
It so coinsided, with the creation of the club, LKL league expanded to 12 teams again, and a second basketball club appeared in the capital after for more than a decade. Nevertheless, the club is viewed with skepticism by some Lithuanian basketball fans and part of community. Some of them do not like the new club because it appeared in Lithuanian top basketball league, based on monetary and not playing principles- rising to a higher league after winning the NKL championship. Others, because of the club owner's alleged connection with the Russian business, or due to the unclear future position and plans move club to another country. There is also a lot of hatred from the fans of the other Vilnius city basketball team- Rytas. What so ever club claims its main objectives to be strengthening of Lithuanian basketball, attracting solid players and raising co-competition between the clubs in the LKL, also upholds big ambitions to reach the level of an elite European basketball club. After only two years of existence, Wolves have reached a place in Europe's second-tier club tournament, the EuroCup, but this was also achieved through a monetary agreement rather than a game principle.
2022–23
On 5 July, Rimas Kurtinaitis was officially announced as the head coach of the club. On 6 July, Adas Juškevičius became the first player signed in the history of the club. Wolves also signed Lithuanian men's national basketball team players Eigirdas Žukauskas, Kristupas Žemaitis, solid LKL players like Regimantas Miniotas, Vitalijus Kozys, Arnas Beručka and longtime veteran, holder of multiple Lithuanian league records and former star of Rytas Vilnius, the Iron man Mindaugas Lukauskis. Marcos Delia became the first foreign player to sign contract with the team, soon after the next one was signed with Ahmad Caver. Signing of Juan Gomez de Liano caused quite a stir in the homeland, as well as in Lithuania; he became the first Filipino basketball player to officially represent a European basketball club.
Wolves started with their first official game in the Lithuanian Basketball League with an away win over Nevėžis Kėdainiai 81:76. The club participated in the 2022–23 FIBA Europe Cup qualifying round, the club's first ever participation in a European competition - Wolves defeated the legendary Greek team Aris Thessaloniki 88:77 in the first round, but lost in the second round to Bulgarian champion BC Rilski Sportist 76:91, losing chance to qualify for the tournament. In the LKL, the club had struggles, but by December-January, in large part due to the signings of long-time Real Madrid player Jeffery Taylor, later Eric Buckner from Sigortam.net İTÜ BB, Wolves had risen to the standings in the LKL. Wolves started a rivalry with the LKL champions and long-time Vilnius team BC Rytas, had competitive matches with long-time LKL champions and Euroleague participants BC Žalgiris - scoring wins over both teams in February and the beginning of March. Wolves also defeated Eurocup Basketball participants Lietkabelis Panevėžys in the regular season series - which helped Wolves reach third place in the LKL standings, behind league-leader Žalgiris and Rytas. Ahmad Caver in particular shined - as he was named the LKL MVP of the regular season. Wolves also made late season signings: Rashard Kelly and Jerai Grant to strengthen the team before the playoffs.
In the King Mindaugas Cup, Wolves had a solid run, but finished second in the qualifying round standings behind BC Neptūnas. The second place finish, however, meant that during the draw for the quarterfinals, Wolves drew BC Žalgiris - Žalgiris easily beat Wolves both in Alytus, 95:79, and in Kaunas, 91:72.
On March 28, 2023, in a shocking moment, Wolves fired head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, along with assistant Aurimas Jasilionis. The firing came just after Wolves qualified for the ENBL final four. Wolves hired Kęstutis Kemzūra to replace Kurtinaitis, also hiring Marius Leonavičius and Nedas Pocevičius as his new assistants.
The club also got their second chance in a European competition, participating in the 2022–23 European North Basketball League, which started in November, 2022. Wolves became one of the best teams of the competition, defeating Budivelnyk Kiev in the quarterfinals, qualifying for the final four of the competition, while still under coach Kurtinaitis. Under coach Kemzūra, Wolves entered the final four as favorites - in the semifinals, Wolves beat Wilki Morskie Szczecin 58:55 in the semifinals. In the finals, despite being heavy favorites, Wolves blew a double-digit lead at the end of the fourth quarter and suffered a heart-breaking loss, 66:70, to Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski, denying the team to win their first championship.
Entering the LKL playoffs, Wolves faced CBet Jonava - the club struggled against CBet during the regular season, winning only one of their matches. Before the start, Wolves were still thought of as the heavy series favorite - however, CBet defied expectations - winning against the shocked Wolves team 80:76 in an away series opener, and then finishing the Wolves off in Jonava, 80:75. Wolves lost the quarterfinal series 0:2.
Due to the reconstruction of its Avia Solutions Group Arena, the team played some home games in Alytus Arena. Wolves drew big crowds and quickly became very popular within the city.
2023–24 season On 24 May 2023, Jeffery Taylor renewed his contract with the club until 2025, with an option for an additional year. By joining the remaining core of the team: Adas Juškevičius, Eigirdas Žukauskas, Regimantas Miniotas, Kristupas Žemaitis, Vitalijus Kozys, Arnas Beručka.
On 17 August 2023, Jonas Valančiūnas joined the investors of the club.
Players
Current roster
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.
BC Wolves roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Updated: September 20, 2023 |
Depth chart
Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench | Bench 3 |
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C | Christian Mekowulu | Regimantas Miniotas | Đorđe Gagić |
PF | Eigirdas Žukauskas | Vitalijus Kozys | |
SF | Tre'Shawn Thurman | Arnas Beručka | Jeffery Taylor |
SG | Rasheed Sulaimon | Adas Juškevičius | |
PG | Kristupas Žemaitis | Vaidas Kariniauskas | Artūrs Žagars |
In
No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Moving from | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 | C | Christian Mekowulu | Basket Zaragoza | ||
15 | SF | Tre'Shawn Thurman | Filou Oostende | ||
14 | C | Đorđe Gagić | Borac Čačak | ||
1 | G | Rasheed Sulaimon | Konyaspor | ||
8 | PG | Vaidas Kariniauskas | M Basket Mažeikiai | ||
32 | PG | Artūrs Žagars | Nevėžis Kėdainiai | ||
55 | C | Egidijus Mockevičius | Athletic Constanța |
Out
No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Moving to | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | G | Juan Gómez de Liaño | Seoul SK Knights | ||
27 | SF | Tomas Pačėsas Jr. | Arka Gdynia | ||
33 | SG | Herkus Kumpys | Peñas Huesca | ||
12 | C | Marcos Delia | APU Udine | ||
20 | C | Eric Buckner | Free agent | ||
2 | C | Jerai Grant | Fuerza Regia | ||
7 | PG | Ahmad Caver | Hapoel Holon | ||
8 | SF | Mindaugas Lukauskis | Jurbarkas-Karys | ||
11 | PF | Rashard Kelly | Free agent | ||
55 | C | Egidijus Mockevičius | VL Pesaro |
Season by season
Season | Tier | League | Pos. | Regional competitions | Pos. | KMT Cup | European competitions | |
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2022–23 | 1 | LKL | 5th | ENBL | 2nd | Quarterfinals | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | QR2 |
Head coaches
- Rimas Kurtinaitis: 2022–2023
- Kęstutis Kemzūra: 2023–present
References
- "The name of the new Vilnius basketball club revealed". bcwolves.com. 30 June 2022.