Rimas Kurtinaitis (born May 15, 1960) is a Lithuanian professional

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 ...

, and a retired 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, who was a member of the senior

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and Lithuanian national basketball teams during his playing career. He won a gold medal at 1988 Olympics in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. He recently worked as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

for Khimki. At a height of 1.96 m (6'5") tall, during his playing career, he played at the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

position. He is the only non- NBA player to ever participate at the NBA All-Star Weekend's Three-Point Contest, doing so in 1989, where he scored 9 points.

Club playing career

Kurtinaitis' former club teams as a player, include Žalgiris Kaunas,

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 era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

, and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. He was the only European player to participate in the NBA All-Star Weekend's Three-Point Contest, without ever having played in the NBA by participating in the event in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. Kurtinaitis was also the first European player to play as an import, in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL), while playing for the Townsville Suns, in 1993.

Coaching career

In 1997, Kurtinaitis was named to the Lithuanian Ministry of Sport. In the years 2002–2006, he took the position of

of the

Azerbaijan national basketball team The Azerbaijan men's national basketball team ( az, Azərbaycan milli basketbol komandası) is the national basketball team of Azerbaijan. The team is controlled by the Azerbaijan Basketball Federation. Since becoming members of FIBA in 1994, ...

. Also from 2002 to 2006, he was a player for four seasons, with Gala Baku, working as 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 ...

. He became Sakalai's head coach during the mid-2000s. In December 2007, he became the head coach of the Polish League men's basketball team,

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish f ...

. In 2008, he became head coach of Lietuvos Rytas, with whom, he won the EuroCup 2008–09 season's title. After winning the championship at the Final-Eight tournament, in Turin (Torino), Italy, in a game against

Khimki Moscow Region 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 ...

(final score 80–74). In 2012, Kurtinaitis won the EuroCup again, this time with Khimki. As of 2015, he is the only coach to win the EuroCup three times. On June 21, 2012, Kurtinaitis was named the best EuroCup coach of all time. On March 15, 2016, Khimki parted ways with Kurtinaitis. On August 2, 2016, Kurtinaitis become the head coach of Pallacanestro Cantù, of the Italian LBA. However, on November 30, he was fired from the team. Kurtinaitis agreed to return to Lietuvos rytas, on February 10, 2017, following the resignation of

Tomas Pačėsas Tomas Pačėsas (born November 11, 1971) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player, basketball coach, businessman, and politician. Playing career Club career Pačėsas was the Polish League MVP, in 2004. Lithuanian senior national ...

, from the club's head coaching position. This tenure with Rytas was not as successful – Rytas only finished in 3rd place in the LKL in the 2016–2017 season, a fiasco for the team. In the 2017–2018 season, the team played much better, reaching the Eurocup Top16 phase, as well as reaching the KMT and LKL finals, but lost each to Žalgiris Kaunas. In what stirred a lot of controversy, it was announced during the semifinals of the LKL that Kurtinaitis would be replaced by

Dainius Adomaitis Dainius Adomaitis (born 19 January 1974) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and the head coach for Alvark Tokyo of Japan's B.League. Professional career He started his career in Statyba Vilnius. Later he moved to Žalgiris ...

in the following season, and in June Kurtinaitis left the team. On January 21, 2019, Kurtinaitis returned to Khimki in a surprising decision. Two years later, on January 15, 2021, he was dismissed from this position because of unsatisfactory results.

Awards and achievements

As player:

Pro clubs

* 5× USSR Premier League Champion: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 1987 * USSR Cup Winner: (1982) * FIBA Saporta Cup Finals Top Scorer: (1985) * FIBA Intercontinental Cup Champion:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

* NBA All-Star Weekend Three-Point Contest Participant: 1989 * German League Top Scorer: (1990) * German All-Star Game Three-point Champion: 1991 * Spanish ACB League Champion: 1994 * 2× Lithuanian All-Star Game: 1996, 1998 * Lithuanian All-Star Game MVP: 1996 * Lithuanian League Champion: 1996 * Lithuanian League Finals MVP: 1996

Soviet senior national team

1985 EuroBasket The 1985 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1985, was the 24th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 5 to 16 June 1985 in West Germany. The Soviet Union defeated Czec ...

: *

1986 FIBA World Championship The 1986 FIBA World Championship was the 10th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Spain and was held from 5 to 20 July 1986. The final phase of the tournament was held at the ...

: *

1988 Summer Olympic Games The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

: * 1989 EuroBasket:

Lithuanian senior national team

1992 Summer Olympic Games The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

: *

1995 EuroBasket The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to ea ...

: *

1996 Summer Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta ...

As head coach

* 3× EuroCup Champion:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

* 2× Lithuanian LKL League Champion: 2009, 2010 * Baltic BBL League Champion: 2009 * 2× Lithuanian Federation Cup Winner: 2009, 2010 *

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it ...

Champion:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

* Named Best EuroCup Coach of All Time: 2012 *

VTB United League Coach of the Year The VTB United League Coach of the Year is an annual VTB United League award given since the 2013–14 VTB United League season to the league's best coach. The award is handed out after the regular season. Winners Notes: : There was no awarding ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

* VTB United League Hall of Fame: 2019

Notes

References

External links