Giedrius Gustas (born 4 March 1980) is a former Lithuanian 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 ...

player. At the height of 1.90 m (6'2 3⁄4") tall and a weight of 86 kg (190 lbs.), he mainly played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

position. During his club playing career, as a member of Žalgiris Kaunas, he won the EuroLeague championship in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. As a member of the

Barons LMT BK Barons/LDz (previously Barons/LMT) was a professional basketball club which is based in Riga, Latvia. The team played in the first division of Latvian Basketball League. History Barons kvartāls was an integral part of Latvia's recent basket ...

, he won the Europe Cup championship in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. He was also a member of the senior Lithuanian national team, and with Lithuania, he won the gold medal at the 2003 EuroBasket and the bronze medal at the

2007 EuroBasket The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

Early years and life

Giedrius Gustas graduated from the

Arvydas Sabonis Arvydas Romas Sabonis (; born December 19, 1964) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and businessman. Recognized as one of the best European players of all time, he won the Euroscar six times and the Mr. Europa Award twice. He ...

basketball school. He started his training being at eight with the Lithuanian basketball coach Ramūnas Šalūga. He was a member of the 1980s boys' generation, the first generation to graduate from Sabonis' basketball school. 1996 played for the Lithuanian junior basketball team. 1998 together with R. Javtokas, A. Macijauskas, D. Zavackas, G. Kadžiulis, T. Nagis, played for the Lithuanian youth basketball team. In 1998, Giedrius Gustas graduated from the Kaunas V. Kuprevičiaus (former Kaunas 32) primary school.

Professional career

Giedrius Gustas joined the Lithuanian League club Žalgiris Kaunas, in 1998. With Žalgiris, he won the

NEBL The North European Basketball League, or Northern European Basketball League (NEBL), was a short-lived regional professional basketball league. It was founded in 1998, by Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Dmitry Buriak. The league was the first commerci ...

championship, the EuroLeague championship, and the Lithuanian League championship in 1999. In 2008, while he was playing with the Latvian League club

, he won 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 ...

championship, and he was also named the league's Final Four MVP. In 2009, Giedrius Gustas joined the Greek League club EKK Kavala.

National team career

Giedrius Gustas played with the junior national teams of Lithuania. With Lithuania's Under-18 junior national team, he played at the

1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is sit ...

. Giedrius Gustas was also a member of the senior Lithuanian national team. With Lithuania, he played at the

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

. He also played at the 2003 EuroBasket, where he won a gold medal, the 2005 EuroBasket, and the

, where he won a bronze medal. With Lithuania, he played in 72 games and scored a total of 298 points.

Coaching and managerial career

On 31 August 2016, Giedrius Gustas announced his retirement as a player, and he became the assistant

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

of the Lithuanian League club Dzūkija Alytus. From 2016 to 2017, he worked as the Sports Director of Dzūkija Alytus. In 2018, Giedrius Gustas became a member of the

Lithuanian Basketball Federation The Lithuanian Basketball Federation ( lt, Lietuvos krepšinio federacija), also known as LKF, is a national governing body of basketball in Lithuania. It was founded in 1936, but due to Soviet occupation, the federation disappeared from FIBA. It ...

's board and the Director of the Lithuanian Women's League.

Personal life

In 2017, Giedrius Gustas graduated from

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) ( lt, Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (VDU)) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known ...

with a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Business Administration and Management. Two years later, Giedrius Gustas graduated from the same institution with a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and

Sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

Career awards and achievements

;As player *

champion:

* EuroLeague champion:

* 4× Lithuanian League champion: 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 * Lithuanian League Runner-up: 2002 *

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* Latvian League Runner-up: 2006 *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

champion:

* FIBA EuroCup Final Four MVP: 2008 * Latvian League champion: 2008 * Polish League 3rd place: 2011 * Lithuanian League 3rd place: 2013 * Estonian League 3rd place: 2014

References

External links

Euroleague.net ProfilePolish League Profile

Draftexpress.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustas, Giedrius 1980 births Living people 2006 FIBA World Championship players Basketball executives Basketball players from Kaunas BC Dynamo Moscow players BC Dzūkija players BC Neptūnas players BC Rakvere Tarvas players BC Žalgiris players BC Žalgiris-2 players BC Zenit Saint Petersburg players BK Barons players FIBA EuroBasket-winning players Kavala B.C. players Lithuanian basketball coaches Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Estonia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Greece Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Latvia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Poland Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Russia Lithuanian men's basketball players PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players Point guards Shooting guards Trefl Sopot players Turów Zgorzelec players