Gert Kullamäe (born 3 June 1971) is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

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 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 (appro ...

player who currently coaches the

n team BC Pärnu Sadam. Kullamäe mostly played at the shooting guard position and was a great 3-point shooter. As a player he is a seven-time Estonian Champion and also a Soviet Union, Lithuanian, Belgian and Dutch champion.

Club career

Kullamäe was born in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, and made his senior club debut with the TPI (

Tallinn University of Technology Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; ) is the only Institute of technology, technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administration a ...

) team in the

Estonian SSR The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

Championship (today

Korvpalli Meistriliiga The Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML) is the top-tier men's basketball league in Estonia. The league is organized by the Estonian Basketball Association and played under rules of basketball#International Rules of Basketball, FIBA rules. The competitio ...

). This happened in the autumn of 1985 when he was only 14 years and 4 months old. After some seasons, he signed with

Kalev Kalev may refer to: * Kalev (mythology), a character from Estonian mythology * Kalev (given name), an Estonian masculine given name * Kalev (confectioner), an Estonian sweets company * BC Kalev, a basketball club based in Tallinn, Estonia * BC ...

and he played in

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 ...

Championships;

Korać Cup Korać is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Dušan Korać (disambiguation), multiple people * Milorad Korać (born 1969), Serbian football player and manager * Radivoj Korać (1938–1969), Serbian basketball player * Vitomir ...

in 1990–91 and

FIBA European Champions Cup The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

in 1991–92. During this period Kullamäe won USSR Championship in 1991 and Estonian Championships in 1992 and 1993. Then he moved to Lithuanian BC Zalgiris and won the Lithuanian Championship in 1994. In

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

he was coached by Jaak Salumets, ex-coach of Tallinn "Kalev" and the

Estonia national basketball team The Estonia men's national basketball team () represents Estonia in international basketball matches. They are controlled by the Estonian Basketball Association. The team competed in their first international tournament at the 1936 Olympic Ga ...

. After a successful season with the Lithuanian club Kullamäe came back to Estonia and played for

and "Kamee" teams in Meistriliiga. He won the Estonian Championships again in 1995 and 1998. Eurobasket.com voted him a Meistriliiga

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

in 1998; 1999; 2000. Kullamäe signed a contract with Telindus Oostende in the 2000–01 season and won the Belgian League with the team. After a serious knee injury and one season in an Estonian team "BC Hotronic" he moved back to Europe. Kullamäe signed to a

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

team

Brose Baskets Bamberg Baskets is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia/North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup six times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

. With this team he won two German Championships silver medals and then moved to EiffelTowers. Kullamäe was voted Dutch Eredivisie All-Bosman Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006, he also won the Dutch Championship in 2006. In the summer of 2006 Kullamäe came back to Estonia and joined Tartu Ülikool/Rock. In 2007 and 2008 he won his 5th and 6th Estonian Championship title with the Tartu team. He also finished the Baltic Basketball League in third place in the 2008–09 season with Rock.

Coaching

In July 2009 he announced his retirement from his active career and became an assistant coach in Tartu Rock. Kullamäe became head coach of Tartu in January 2012 after Indrek Visnapuu resigned. Kullamäe left Tartu after the team missed out of the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Estonian League finals. In January 2018 he became the head coach of Tallinna Kalev/TLÜ. Kullamäe resigned in January 2019 due to a disagreement with the club management. In May 2019 he became the head coach of TalTech. He resigned in December 2019 and became the assistant coach of BC Pärnu Sadam in February 2020. In November 2022 he became the head coach of BC Pärnu Sadam.

National team career

In the late 1980s, Kullamäe was a member of the U-17 USSR Basketball team (coached by

Modestas Paulauskas Modestas Paulauskas (19 March 1945) is a former Lithuanian professional basketball coach and basketball player. As a player, he was the youngest EuroBasket MVP in history, being only 20 years old at the time he won the award. He is known for h ...

) and the U-19 USSR Basketball team (coached by Stanislav Eremin). He won a bronze medal with the USSR team at the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in 1987. Kullamäe was a member of the

between 1993 and 1995, 1998 and 2001, and in 2004 and 2007 (when he served as captain). His national team career-high score was 32 points, which was obtained during a match against

in the autumn of 1994, as part of the

EuroBasket 1995 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 e ...

qualifying round. Kullamäe was also a member of the Estonian

EuroBasket 1993 The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

squad. Estonia squad EuroBasket 1993
FIBA Europe

Season by season results as head coach

Abbreviations:
QF; quarter-finals.
T16; top sixteen.
L32; last 32.
RS; regular season.
QR2; qualification round 2.

Honours

Orders

EST Order of the White Star - 5th Class BAR

'' Order of the White Star, 5th Class:'' 2010

References

External links

Profile
at basket.ee
Profile
at bbl.net
German Fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kullamae, Gert 1971 births Living people BC Žalgiris players BC Oostende players Bamberg Baskets players Estonian basketball coaches Estonian men's basketball players Estonian expatriate basketball people in Belgium Estonian expatriate basketball people in Germany Estonian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Estonian expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands Korvpalli Meistriliiga players Heroes Den Bosch players Tallinn University of Technology alumni University of Tartu basketball team players Soviet men's basketball players Basketball players from Tallinn Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 5th Class Small forwards Shooting guards KK Kalev players