Gundars Vētra (born May 22, 1967) is a Latvian former 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 and a current coach. He most recently served as a head coach of

Spartak St. 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 ...

. Standing at , 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 ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronge ...

positions. He was the first Latvian to play in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA). He played one season for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

from 1992–1993.

Coaching career

After finishing his playing career, Vētra became a coach. He first started as head coach of

Barons Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

, leading them to their first ever LBL finals appearance in 2005. For the 2005-06 season he was an assistant to

Sharon Drucker Sharon Drucker ( he, שרון דרוקר; born July 26, 1967) is an Israeli professional basketball coach. Personal life His brother, Raviv Drucker is a journalist. He was married to Hadas and they have two children. Now married to Tsipi Kar ...

with Ural Great. Following a season in Russia, Vētra returned to Latvia, where he re-united with Barons. His second stint with Barons wasn't as good as expected, and Vētra left them to try his hand in women's basketball. After four seasons in Russia he went back to Latvia, joining

BK Ventspils BK Ventspils is a professional basketball club that is located in Ventspils, Latvia. The club competes in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League. History BK Ventspils was founded in 1994. In first years Ventspils proved themselves as relevant pa ...

, where his team made the Latvian League finals.

Personal life

Vētra has two daughters who played NCAA Division I college basketball. Laura played at

Fairfield Stags The Fairfield Stags are the athletic programs representing Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Most of the programs are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and classified as Division I (non-football) in the Nati ...

from 2009-13. Ruta was a guard at

NJIT Highlanders The NJIT Highlanders, formerly the New Jersey Tech Highlanders, are the varsity sport members of the Division I NCAA-affiliated sports teams of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). There are ten men's teams, seven women's teams, and three ...

from 2013-17.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

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Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

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External links

Gundars Vētra
at basketball-reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Vetra, Gundars 1967 births Living people BC Spartak Saint Petersburg coaches BK VEF Rīga players Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Latvian basketball coaches Latvian expatriate basketball people in Italy Latvian expatriate basketball people in Russia Latvian expatriate basketball people in Turkey Latvian expatriate basketball people in the United States Latvian men's basketball players Minnesota Timberwolves players National Basketball Association players from Latvia Olympic basketball players of the Unified Team People from Ventspils Rochester Renegade players Shooting guards Small forwards Soviet men's basketball players Undrafted National Basketball Association players 1990 FIBA World Championship players