BC Dynamo Saint Petersburg was 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

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 ...

, that existed for two seasons. The club was founded in 2004 and dissolved in 2006. In the 2004–05 season, the club won the

FIBA Europe League 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 ...

History

2004–05 season

Dynamo Saint Petersburg was created during the 2004 summer when Vladimir Rodionov, owner of Avtodor Saratov, transferred Saratov's place in the first-tier

Russian Super League Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

to the club, along with some of its 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 ...

. The club - which had the aim of entering the Super League top four and qualifying for European competitions such as the ULEB Cup and EuroLeague - recruited coach

David Blatt David Michael Blatt ( he, דוד מיכאל בלאט; born May 22, 1959), is an Israeli-American professional basketball executive. He is also a former coach and player. Blatt played point guard at Princeton University from 1977 to 1981 and p ...

and players like Kelly McCarty,

Ed Cota Eduardo Enrique Cota (born May 19, 1976) is a Panamanian-American former professional basketball player. High school career Cota played his freshman and sophomore years at Brooklyn, New York's Samuel J. Tilden High School. As a sophomore, he ...

, Ognjen Aškrabić, Jón Stefansson and David Bluthenthal (who left after two months). It finished the European third-tier 2004–05 FIBA Europe League unbeaten to win the competition after downing

BC Kyiv BC Kyiv ( uk, БК "Київ") was a Ukrainian professional basketball club based in Kyiv. The club's home court for Ukrainian domestic league matches was the Meridian Sports Complex, which has a seating capacity of 1,500. Large attendance games a ...

in the final with 24 points from Final Four MVP McCarty. Domestically the club, at one point second in the league, finished fifth in the regular season before losing in the playoff quarterfinals to

BC Khimki BC Khimki (russian: БК Химки) is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Khimki, Moscow Oblast. The club's senior men's first team participates in the Russian Basketball Super League 1. The club's full official name is BC ...

, a team they had beaten in the Europe League semifinal.

2005–06 season

The 2005–06 season saw a roster overhaul as Blatt left for Italians Benetton Treviso,

Fotis Katsikaris Fotios Katsikaris (alternate spelling: Fotis) ( Greek: Φώτιος Κατσικάρης, born 16 May 1967) is a Greek professional basketball coach and a former professional basketball player, he was most recently head coach for the Unicaja Mála ...

was brought in to replace him and Cota and Stefánsson were substituted by Jerry McCullough, Damir Miljković and veteran

Darryl Middleton Darryl is an English name, a variant spelling of Darell. Male variations of this name include: Darlin, Daryl, Darrell, Darryl, Daryll, Darryll, Darrell, Darrel. Female and unisex variations of this name include: Daryl, Darian, Dareen, Darelle ...

. Defending their title in the

FIBA EuroCup 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 ...

(the renamed FIBA Europe League), Dynamo was on the brink of elimination at the second group stage after three defeats in four games. But the Russians rallied to first beat CEZ ČNymburk and then Fenerbahçe by the 3 points needed to squeeze through to the quarterfinals on overall points difference. In the quarterfinals, they easily swept

Maroussi Marousi or Maroussi ( el, Μαρούσι, also Αμαρούσιο ''Amarousio'') is a suburb in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Marousi dates back to the era of the ancient Athenian Republic; its ancient name was Athmon ...

thanks to McCarthy's good form to reach the Final Four again. They could not repeat the previous year's achievement however as they lost their semifinal rematch to Khimki before falling to BC Kiev in the third place game. In the Russian Super League, Dynamo beat holders

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 ...

62–61 in January, and rivals Khimki 81–69 in March, on their way to the second place in the regular season but were again foiled by Khimki in the playoffs, at the semifinals stage.

Dissolution in 2006

The club started preparations for the 2006–07 season, nominating

Yuri Selikhov Yuri Selikhov (born 10 October 1941) is a Russian basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the X ...

as coach to replace the departing

Fotios Katsikaris Fotios Katsikaris (alternate spelling: Fotis) (Greek: Φώτιος Κατσικάρης, born 16 May 1967) is a Greek professional basketball coach and a former professional basketball player, he was most recently head coach for the Unicaja Málag ...

, and registering for the ULEB Cup, but it unexpectedly withdrew from all competitions and folded on 6 October 2006. Despite announcing a budget of $6 million for 2005–06, Dynamo and its president reportedly made the decision after the city authorities stopped funding the club to the tune of more than $5 million (wanting a merger with

Spartak Saint Petersburg BC Spartak Saint Petersburg is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. During the 2016–17 season, the club was named BC Kondrashin Belov (BCKB), after its former player Alexander Belov and its former head ...

). With their other major sponsor (one of the largest banks in Russia) poised to follow, the club used the bankruptcy to get out of its onerous player contracts.

Season by season

Honours

**Champions (1): 2004–05

Notable players

2006 *

Eddie Gill Edward Gill III (born August 16, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. Gill was born played college basketball at the College of Eastern Utah, Salt Lake Community College, and Weber State University. With the Weber State ...

preseason: '06 * Goran Jeretin preseason: '06 *

Maciej Lampe Maciej Bolesław Lampe (born February 5, 1985) is a Polish professional basketball player. Standing at , he plays at the power forward and center positions. Professional career Originally from Łódź, Poland, Lampe grew up in Stockholm, Swede ...

preseason: '06 2005 *

1 season: '05–'06 * Jerry McCullough 1 season: '05–'06 *

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: '05–'06 *

Victor Keyru Victor Johnovich Keyru (alternate spelling: Viktor Keirou) (russian: Виктор Джонович Кейру; born January 31, 1984) is a Russian former professional basketball player. Standing at , he played both the small forward and the shoot ...

1 season: '05–'06 2004 * Kelly McCarty 2 seasons: '04–'06 *

2 seasons: '04–'06 * Ognjen Aškrabić 2 seasons: '04–'06 *

Jón Arnór Stefánsson Jón Arnór Stefánsson (born 21 September 1982) is an Icelandic basketball player and a former member of the Icelandic national team. One of Iceland's most successful athletes of the early 21st century, he was the Icelandic Sportsperson of the ...

1 season: '04–'05 *

1 season: '04–'05 * David Bluthenthal 1/2 season: '04

Head coaches

1 season: '04–'05 *

1 season: '05–'06 *

preseason: '06

Notes

References

External links

Eurobasket.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dynamo Saint Petersburg, BC 2004 establishments in Russia Basketball teams established in 2004 2006 disestablishments in Russia Defunct basketball teams in Russia Defunct basketball teams Sports clubs in Saint Petersburg Basketball teams disestablished in 2006