Žydrūnas Urbonas (born 4 October 1976, in

Zarasai Zarasai () is a city in northeastern Lithuania, surrounded by many lakes and rivers: to the southwest of the city is Lake Zarasas, to the northLake Zarasaitis, to the southeastLake Baltas, and the eastLake Griežtas. Lakes Zarasaitis and Griežtas ...

Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was ''de facto'' one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944 ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

) is a 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 (appro ...

coach and former player who recently was the head coach for

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

of the LKL.

Playing career

Urbonas made his professional debut in the 1993–94 season and continued to play for various teams in the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

for another eight years, playing for

BC Lietkabelis BC Lietkabelis (), commonly known as Lietkabelis Panevėžys, also known as 7bet-Lietkabelis for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in Panevėžys, Lithuania, participating in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lit ...

, BC Lavera, being one of the team leaders there, before signing with

BC Šiauliai BC Šiauliai () is the professional basketball club of Šiauliai, Lithuania. The club competes in the Lithuanian Basketball League. It has won the 3rd place award (behind Lithuanian basketball giants BC Lietuvos Rytas, Lietuvos Rytas and BC Žalgi ...

, where he reached his biggest success, helping the team finish in 3rd place in 2000 and 2001, and becoming the LKL MVP in the 2001 season. In 2001, he moved to

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk () is a professional ice hockey club based in Magnitogorsk, Russia. It is a member of the Kharlamov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club also competed in the Champions Hockey League (2008–09), Champion ...

of the

Russian Basketball Super League 1 The Russian Basketball Super League 1, or Super Liga 1, (), formerly known as the Russian Basketball Super League A or the Russian Basketball Super Liga A, is a men's professional basketball league that was the pre-eminent league of Russian profe ...

, however, after the season he returned to BC Šiauliai and spent the 2002–03 season there before signing with AGE Chalkida of the

Greek A2 Basket League The Greek A2 Basket League (), is a professional basketball league in Greece. It is the 2nd-tier level of pro competition, among clubs in the country. It is organized by the Hellenic Basketball Federation (E.O.K.). The league is also known as th ...

for a brief time in 2003, though he returned to BC Šiauliai again to finish the 2003-2004 season and played a full 2004–05 season. He helped the team to win 3rd place in the LKL in 2004, and helped them win the LKL, BBL and FIBA Euro Cup Conference North 3rd places. In the 2005–06 season Urbonas signed with Barons Riga of the Latvian Basketball League and then moved to

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

of the Cyprus Basketball Division A for the 2006–07 season. Urbonas returned to Lithuania in 2007 and played there until autumn 2008 before signing with

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

of the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague for the 2008–2009 season. He finished his career playing for Juventus Utena from 2009 to 2012.

Coaching career

In 2009, Urbonas became 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. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

and the team's president when he joined Juventus Utena, and then became the assistant coach when he retired in 2012. He served as head coach under Rytis Vaišvila, Vitoldas Masalskis, Virginijus Sirvydis and

Antanas Sireika Antanas Sireika (born May 11, 1956

, who coached and mentored him back during his playing days in

. He was still assistant coach, this time under Gediminas Petrauskas, in the 2017-2018 season, but became head coach by October, after Petrauskas resigned due to poor results.

National team career

Urbonas won a gold medal with the Lithuanian under-18 national team in 1994 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship.

Career statistics

, - , align="left" , 2008–09 , align="left" ,

, 10 , , , , 21.37 , , .35 , , .25 , , .7 , , 4.5 , , 1.00 , , 0.7 , , .0 , , 7.2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbonas, Zydrunas 1976 births Living people AEL Limassol B.C. players BC Juventus players BC Lietkabelis players KB Prishtina coaches Lithuanian expatriate basketball people Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Greece Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Latvia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Russia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Lithuanian men's basketball players People from Zarasai Sportspeople from Utena County Small forwards