BC Avtodor (russian: БК «Автодор» Саратов), commonly known as simply Avtodor and internationally as Avtodor Saratov, is a Russian professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
club based in
Saratov
Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...
. It plays in the
FIBA Europe Cup
The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA's European-wide second level. Clubs mainly qualify for the competition based on their performance in nation ...
and in the
VTB United League
VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...
, the highest level of Russian basketball. In early 2022, after the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Americans
D. J. Funderburk and
Grant Jerrett
Grant Alexander Jerrett (born July 8, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Utsunomiya Brex of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the University of Arizona.
Early life
Jerrett was born to Lamont and Barba ...
and Canadians
Kenny Chery
Kenny Fred Chery (born January 24, 1992) is a Canadian professional basketball player for Petkim Spor of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He competed with State Fair Community College and then Baylor at the collegiate level.
Early years
Chery w ...
and
Philip Scrubb
Philip Alexander Scrubb (born November 27, 1992) is a Canadian–British professional basketball player for Monbus Obradoiro of the Liga ACB. He is a 6'4½" (1.94 m) tall guard. During his college basketball career, he won five CIS championshi ...
left the team.
History
Establishment and growth (1960–1992)
Founded in 1960 as Spartak Saratov, former player
Vladimir Rodionov
Vladimir may refer to:
Names
* Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name
* Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name
* Volodymyr for the Ukr ...
became its head coach in the 1982. The club was later renamed into Avtodorozhnik (road engineer) - shortened to Avtodor in 1996 - in reference to a late benefactor.
Scaling the heights (1992–2004)
Joining the
Russian League at its creation in 1992, the club competed with
CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...
(being the first club to defeat them in the league) for national supremacy during the rest of the decade, finishing in second place four times between 1994 and 1999.
It would win the regular season in both 1997 and 1998, but lost both finals series against CSKA 2–3,
and 1–3 respectively.
The Russian outfit regularly took part in European competitions during that period, reaching the semifinals of the
1998 second-tier EuroCup and playing in the
1999 top-tier EuroLeague (exiting at the first group stage).
Avtodor defeated CSKA in the 2001–02 playoff quarterfinals,
the only team to have prevented the Army men from reaching the top four in Russian basketball history to this day.
Demise and rebuilding (2004–2014)
After threatening to do so for years because of disputes with the local administration, especially regarding the lack of a convenient arena,
Rodionov moved the organisation to
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
during the 2004 summer. He would form
Dynamo Saint Petersburg, transferring some of Avtodor's best players such as
Vladimir Veremeenko
Vladimir Veremeenko (born July 21, 1984) is a Belarusian professional basketball player who last played for Tsmoki-Minsk of the VTB United League.
Professional career
The son of professional basketball players, Veremeenko was an early bloomer a ...
, and
its place in the Super League.
Meanwhile, a cash-strapped Avtodor voluntarily relegated itself to the second division for 2004–05, fielding an noncompetitive side made of youngsters,
before moving down to the third division in 2005.
Avtodor would win the second division in 2009 but did not have the financial means to return to the Super League. It did return to the Super League in 2012 but by that time the league had become the domestic second division. Winning that league in 2014, in large part thanks to the play of league MVP
Courtney Fortson
Courtney Fortson (born May 23, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for Spójnia Stargard of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
High school
Fortson attended Jefferson Dav ...
and promising youngster
Artem Klimenko
Artem Anatolevich Klimenko (russian: Артём Анатольевич Клименко; born January 10, 1994) is a Russian professional basketball player for Zenit Saint Petersburg of the VTB United League.
Professional career
In 2011, Klimenko ...
, the club received an invitation to play in the top-tier
VTB United League
VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...
and the European third-tier
EuroChallenge
FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...
for 2014-15.
The club was able to fund its participation thanks to increased support from the local administration, who reduced the funding of the city's
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
club
Kristall Saratov
Kristall Saratov is an ice hockey team in Saratov, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internation ...
to compensate.
Back at the top (2014–2019)
After losing seven of its first nine VTB League games, Avtodor regrouped with the help of November acquisition
Kyrylo Fesenko
Kyrylo Anatoliyovych Fesenko ( uk, Кирило Анатолійович Фесенко; born 24 December 1986) is a Ukrainian professional basketball player for Al-Nasr SC of the Libyan Division I Basketball League. Standing at , he plays the ce ...
and the play of December league MVP Fortson (who had no problem adapting to the league) to contend for a playoffs place.
Despite three coaching changes, with Vladimir Antsiferov replaced by his assistant Sergey Mokin in late October before Rodionov fired Mokin and took the coaching reins himself on 3 March 2015, the club reached the
EuroChallenge quarterfinals where they lost to
Trabzonspor
Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...
.
In the league, Avtodor beat major sides CSKA Moscow, Khimki Moscow Region, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and Unics Kazan to reach the
playoffs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
,
though they lost three contested games against Khimki to exit at the quarterfinal stage.
2020-present
In early 2022, after the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Americans
D. J. Funderburk and
Grant Jerrett
Grant Alexander Jerrett (born July 8, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Utsunomiya Brex of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the University of Arizona.
Early life
Jerrett was born to Lamont and Barba ...
and Canadians
Kenny Chery
Kenny Fred Chery (born January 24, 1992) is a Canadian professional basketball player for Petkim Spor of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He competed with State Fair Community College and then Baylor at the collegiate level.
Early years
Chery w ...
and
Philip Scrubb
Philip Alexander Scrubb (born November 27, 1992) is a Canadian–British professional basketball player for Monbus Obradoiro of the Liga ACB. He is a 6'4½" (1.94 m) tall guard. During his college basketball career, he won five CIS championshi ...
left the team.
Arena
Avtodor formerly played in the Yunost arena, seating only a few hundred and unable to accommodate television broadcasts,
which meant the side had to play its European games in Moscow.
During the 1997–98 season, the club played its regular-season games in the Yunost arena before moving for its playoffs games to an indoor-football arena whilst a new arena was being refurbished.
It moved to the newly reopened 1,500 seat Zvezdny Sports Palace in May of that year, though this arena also proved too small as 2,000 fans packed the venue during a 21 May 1998 game against CSKA (albeit the league title decisive game), with some hanging from the balcony.
Calls for the club to move in the larger
Kristall Arena (an ice hockey arena built in 1969),
were finally heeded in 2014. Avtodor remodeled the arena for basketball play, which also raised the capacity from 5,450 to 6,100 seats,
playing their first game there on November 11.
Honours
Domestic competitions
*
Russian First Division
The Russian First League (russian: Первая лига, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division (russian: Первый дивизион) and Russian Football National League (FNL) (russian: Первенство Футбольн ...
**''Runners-up (4):'' 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999
**''Regular season champions (2):'' 1997, 1998
*
Russian Second Division
The Russian Second League (russian: Первенство России II дивизиона ФНЛ), formerly Russian Professional Football League is the third level of Russian professional football (soccer), football.
History
In 1998–2010, it ...
**Champions (2): 2009, 2014
Season by season
Current roster
Notable players
2020s
*
Evgeny Kolesnikov 4 seasons: '15–'17, '21–
*
Nikita Mikhailovskii 5 seasons: '17–'21, '22–
*
Kenny Chery
Kenny Fred Chery (born January 24, 1992) is a Canadian professional basketball player for Petkim Spor of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He competed with State Fair Community College and then Baylor at the collegiate level.
Early years
Chery w ...
1 season: '21–'22
*
Jaron Johnson
Jaron Johnson (born May 5, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Varese of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He played college basketball for Tyler Junior College and Louisiana Tech.
High school career
Johnson attende ...
1 season: '21–'22
2010s
*
Justin Robinson 1 season: '17–'18
*
Coty Clarke
Coty Clarke (born July 4, 1992) is an American professional basketball who played for Nagoya Diamond Dolphins of the B.League. He played college basketball for Lawson State CC and Arkansas.
College career
After attending Pinson Valley High Sch ...
1 season: '17–'18
*
Nick Minnerath
Nicolas Lake Scott Minnerath (born August 11, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Shabab Al Ahli of the UAE National Basketball League. He played college basketball for Jackson Community College and the University of Detro ...
1 season: '16–'17
*
Artem Zabelin 4 seasons: '15–19
*
Kyrylo Fesenko
Kyrylo Anatoliyovych Fesenko ( uk, Кирило Анатолійович Фесенко; born 24 December 1986) is a Ukrainian professional basketball player for Al-Nasr SC of the Libyan Division I Basketball League. Standing at , he plays the ce ...
1 season: '14–'15
*
Courtney Fortson
Courtney Fortson (born May 23, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for Spójnia Stargard of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
High school
Fortson attended Jefferson Dav ...
2 seasons: '13–'15
*
Ivan Strebkov
Ivan Vitalevich Strebkov (russian: Иван Витальевич Стребков, born July 27, 1991) is a Russian professional basketball player for Nizhny Novgorod of the VTB United League. Standing at , he plays the point guard position.
Prof ...
seasons: '13–'14
*
Artem Klimenko
Artem Anatolevich Klimenko (russian: Артём Анатольевич Клименко; born January 10, 1994) is a Russian professional basketball player for Zenit Saint Petersburg of the VTB United League.
Professional career
In 2011, Klimenko ...
3 seasons: '12–18
2000s
*
Semyon Antonov
Semyon Sergeyevich Antonov (russian: Семён Сергеевич Антонов, born July 18, 1989) is a Russian professional basketball player for PBC CSKA Moscow, CSKA Moscow of the VTB United League. He also represents the senior Russia nati ...
3 seasons: '06–'09
*
Artem Zabelin 3 seasons: '03–'07, '15-present
*
Yaroslav Korolev
Yaroslav Igorevich Korolev (russian: Ярослав Игоревич Королёв; born 7 May 1987) is a Russian former professional basketball player.
Professional career
Korolev began his pro career with the Russian club Avtodor Saratov. Ko ...
1 season: '03–'04
*
Beno Udrih
Beno Udrih (born July 5, 1982) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player who serves as a player development coach for the New Orleans Pelicans. He previously played in the NBA for the San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Buck ...
1 season: '03–'04
*
Vladimir Veremeenko
Vladimir Veremeenko (born July 21, 1984) is a Belarusian professional basketball player who last played for Tsmoki-Minsk of the VTB United League.
Professional career
The son of professional basketball players, Veremeenko was an early bloomer a ...
2 seasons: '02–'04
*
Nikita Morgunov
Nikita Leonidovich Morgunov (russian: Никита Леонидович Моргунов; born June 29, 1975) is a Russian former professional basketball player. Standing at , he played both the power forward and center positions. He represented ...
season: '02
*
Kebu Stewart
Kebu Omar Stewart (born December 19, 1973) is an American retired basketball player. He played in the NBA and had a rich international career, playing in several countries.
High school and college career
Stewart was a star high school player at ...
1 season: '01–'02
*
Victor Khryapa
Victor Vladimirovich Khryapa (also trans. Viktor; russian: Виктор Владимирович Хряпа; born August 3, 1982) is a Russian former professional basketball player who spent the majority of his career playing for CSKA Moscow of t ...
2 seasons: '00–'02
*
Sergei Monia
Sergei Alexandrovich Monia (russian: Сергей Александрович Моня; born 15 April 1983) is a Russian professional basketball player. He was selected by the NBA club the Portland Trail Blazers, in the first round (23rd overall) o ...
2 seasons: '00–'02
1990s
*
Andrei Fetisov
Andrei Sergeyevich Fetisov (alternate spelling: Andrey) (russian: Андрей Сергеевич Фетисов; born 19 January 1972) is a Russian former professional basketball player.
Professional career
Fetisov was a second round pick of th ...
1 season: '98–'99
*
Sergei Chikalkin
Sergei Chikalkin (born December 11, 1975) is a Russian former professional basketball player. The 1.96 m 95 kg (6'5" 210 pound) shooting guard is known for his long-range shooting accuracy. Started his career as a pro in 1995 with ...
1 season: '98–'99
*
Grigorij Khizhnyak
Grigorij Khizhnyak (alternate spelling: Grygorii Khizhniak, uk, Григорій Хижняк; July 16, 1974 – October 5, 2018) was a Ukrainian professional basketball player. Standing at a height of , he played at the center position. He was ...
1 season: '98–'99
*
Roberts Štelmahers
Roberts Štelmahers (born November 19, 1974) is a Latvian retired professional basketball player, who played the point guard position. Štelmahers was a member of the Latvia national basketball team from 1992 to 2005 participating in four EuroB ...
season: '98
*
Julius Nwosu
Obinna Julius Nwosu (born May 1, 1971), is a Nigerian former professional basketball player. He played briefly for the American National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs during the 1994–95 NBA season. He also had a career in the Lebane ...
season: '98
*
Darius Lukminas
Darius Lukminas (born February 9, 1968) is a Lithuanian former basketball player for the Lithuanian national basketball team and Žalgiris Kaunas. He was a shooting guard; his weight was listed as 90 kilograms and his height as 195 centimeters. ...
2 seasons: '96–'98
*
Evgeniy Pashutin
Evgeniy Yuryevich Pashutin (russian: Евгений Юрьевич Пашутин; born February 6, 1969) is a Russian professional basketball coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Parma Basket of the VTB United League.
Club pl ...
4 seasons: '95–'99
*
Zakhar Pashutin
Zakhar Yuryevich Pashutin (russian: Захар Юрьевич Пашутин; born May 3, 1974 in Sochi, USSR) is a retired Russian professional basketball player and basketball coach. At a height of 1.96 m (6'5"), and a weight of 95 kg (210 ...
4 seasons: '95–'99
*
Gintaras Einikis
Gintaras Einikis (born September 30, 1969) is a Lithuanian retired professional basketball player and current coach. He stands at 6 ft 10 in (208 cm), and is a former center for the senior Lithuanian national team. Einikis is the only p ...
4 seasons: '95–'99
*
Vitaly Nosov
Vitaly Yevgenyevich Nosov (russian: Виталий Евгеньевич Носов; born 1 February 1968 in Moscow, USSR) is a retired Russian professional basketball player. He was part of the Russian squad that won the silver medal at th ...
1 season: '92–'93
Notes
References
External links
*
VTB United League profileRetrieved 25 August 2015
Eurocup profileRetrieved 25 August 2015
Eurobasket.com profileRetrieved 25 August 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avtodor Saratov
1960 establishments in Russia
Basketball teams established in 1960
Basketball teams in Russia
Basketball teams in the Soviet Union
Sport in Saratov