Žydrūnas Urbonas (born October 4, 1976, in

Zarasai Zarasai () is a city in northeastern Lithuania, surrounded by many lakes and rivers: to the southwest of the city is Lake Zarasas, to the north – Lake Zarasaitis, to the southeast – Lake Baltas, and the east – Lake Griežtas. Lakes Zaras ...

Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

) is a former

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

professional basketball player, who is the current head coach of Juventus Utena.

Playing career

Urbonas made his professional debut in the 1993–94 season and continued to play for various teams in the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

for another eight years, playing for

BC Lietkabelis BC Lietkabelis ( lt, Krepšinio klubas Lietkabelis), also currently known as BC 7bet-Lietkabelis or 7bet-Lietkabelis for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian professional basketball team based in Panevėžys, Lithuania, participating in the Lithu ...

, BC Lavera, being one of the team leaders there, before signing with

BC Šiauliai BC Šiauliai ( lt, Krepšinio klubas Šiauliai) is the professional basketball club of Šiauliai, Lithuania. The club competes in the Lithuanian Basketball League. It has won the 3rd place award (behind Lithuanian basketball giants Lietuvos Rytas ...

, where he reached his biggest success, helping the team finish in 3rd place in 2000 and 2001, and becoming the LKL MVP in the 2001 season. In 2001, he moved to

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They a ...

of the

Russian Basketball Super League 1 The Russian Basketball Super League 1, or Super Liga 1, (russian: Баскетбольная Cуперлига 1), formerly known as the Russian Basketball Super League A or the Russian Basketball Super Liga A, is a men's professional basketball ...

, however, after the season he returned to BC Šiauliai and spent the 2002–03 season there before signing with AGE Chalkida of the

Greek A2 Basket League The Greek A2 Basket League ( el, Ελληνική Α2 Μπάσκετ Λιγκ, link=no), is a professional basketball league in Greece. It is the 2nd-tier level of pro competition, among clubs in the country. It is organized by the Hellenic Baske ...

for a brief time in 2003, though he returned to BC Šiauliai again to finish the 2003-2004 season and played a full 2004–05 season. He helped the team to win 3rd place in the LKL in 2004, and helped them win the LKL, BBL and FIBA Euro Cup Conference North 3rd places. In the 2005–06 season Urbonas signed with Barons Riga of the

Latvian Basketball League Latvian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Latvia **Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region **Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish **Latvian cuisine **Latvi ...

and then moved to

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintain ...

of the

Cyprus Basketball Division A The Cypriot Basketball Division A is currently the top-tier level men's professional basketball competition of the Cypriot basketball league system. It is run and governed by the Cyprus Basketball Federation. Format At present, six clubs compete ...

for the 2006–07 season. Urbonas returned to Lithuania in 2007 and played there until autumn 2008 before signing with

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

of the

Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague The Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague (USL) ( uk, Українська баскетбольна суперліга) is the first-tier level of professional basketball league in Ukraine. Established in 1992, the league is currently contested by 10 c ...

for the 2008–2009 season. He finished his career playing for Juventus Utena from 2009 to 2012.

Coaching career

In 2009, Urbonas became a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

and the team's president when he joined Juventus Utena, and then became the assistant coach when he retired in 2012. He served as head coach under

Rytis Vaišvila Rytis Vaišvila (born May 23, 1971) is a retired Lithuanian basketball player and current coach. He currently serves as head coach of BC Sūduva. National team career Vaišvila was a member of the Lithuanian national team which won bronze medal ...

, Vitoldas Masalskis, Virginijus Sirvydis and

Antanas Sireika Antanas Sireika (born May 11, 1956
FIBA.co ...

, who coached and mentored him back during his playing days in

. He was still assistant coach, this time under Gediminas Petrauskas, in the 2017-2018 season, but became head coach by October, after Petrauskas resigned due to poor results.

National team career

Urbonas won a gold medal with the Lithuanian under-18 national team in

1994 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 1994 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְ� ...

Career statistics

, - , align="left" , 2008–09 , align="left" ,

, 10 , , , , 21.37 , , .35 , , .25 , , .7 , , 4.5 , , 1.00 , , 0.7 , , .0 , , 7.2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbonas, Zydrunas 1976 births Living people AEL Limassol B.C. players BC Juventus players BC Lietkabelis players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Greece Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Russia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Lithuanian men's basketball players People from Zarasai Small forwards