Gintaras Kadžiulis (born 29 March 1980) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. His playing position was

combo guard A combo guard is a basketball player who combines the attributes of a point guard (1) and shooting guard (2), but does not necessarily fit the standard description of either position. In men's basketball, such guards are usually within the 6' 3" ...

Professional career

Born in

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

, Kadžiulis started his professional basketball career at the age of 16, when he signed with Kalnapilis Panevėžys. After three seasons, he moved to Lietuvos rytas Vilnius. In 2002, Kadžiulis was an entrant in the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

, but went undrafted. Continuing his career in Europe, Kadžiulis played for various Russian and Polish teams. He came back to Lithuania in 2008, signing with

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 ...

, but following the season, he again moved abroad. In 2011, he returned to Lithuania and signed with

Prienai Prienai () is a city in Lithuania situated on the Nemunas River, south of Kaunas. In 2023, the city had 8,894 inhabitants. The name of the city is a derivative from the surname ''Prienas''. Pociūnai Airport is associated with the city. Histor ...

Coaching career

Right after declaring his retirement in 2014, he announced he was coming home to

and became an assistant coach under Mindaugas Budzinauskas of Lietkabelis Panevėžys. After Budzinauskas left the team just a few months into the 2014–15 season, he was given the role of head coach. In his debut as head coach, Lietkabelis defeated BC Valmiera in the

Baltic Basketball League Baltic Basketball League (BBL) was the Baltic states basketball league founded in 2004. The league mainly focused on teams from the Baltic states, but teams from Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland, and Belarus Belarus, officially the Rep ...

96–85. He was replaced as head coach in December 2015 by Kazys Maksvytis, though he remained with the team as an assistant coach. As assistant, he helped coach Maksvytis and Lietkabelis to reach the LKL finals in 2017. He stayed as assistant coach for

Artūrs Štālbergs Artūrs Štālbergs (born October 15, 1984) is a Latvian professional basketball coach for BK Liepājas Lauvas. He is also a former player. Playing career Štālbergs started basketball career in his hometown Liepāja. In 2003, he moved to USA w ...

for the 2017-2018 season, and when coach Štālbergs got fired, for Vitaliy Cherniy and Ramūnas Butautas. After a 4th place finish, a disappointment for Lietkabelis, Kadžiulis was named head coach for the 2018-2019 season. After a poor start in the season, Kadžiulis was fired.

References

External links

EuroCup.com profile
1980 births Living people BC Lietkabelis coaches BC Lietkabelis players BC Rytas players KK Budućnost players KK Włocławek players Lithuanian basketball coaches Lithuanian men's basketball players 21st-century Lithuanian sportsmen Panionios B.C. players Point guards Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski players Trefl Sopot players {{Lithuania-basketball-bio-stub