By Stefan Djordjevic/ sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
Coach Rimas Kurtinaitis has concluded his stay in Khimki Moscow Region, the Russian outlet announced confirming a previous report. The press release notes unsatisfactory results of the team as the reason he was dismissed.
Recently-promoted to assistant coach, Andrey Maltsev will act as interim coach, added the team.
“All those who love and support Khimki for many years – fans, sponsors, partners – did not expect that we would find ourselves in such a difficult situation and our team would show such a result,” said GM Pavel Astakhov, “We highly appreciate the contribution of Rimas Kurtinaitis to the development of our club, the best pages of our history are connected with him, but in these circumstances, we had no other option. We have decided to dismiss Rimas and appoint Andrey Maltsev as interim head coach. Maltsev is a strong Russian specialist, who has experience as a head coach, many titles with youth teams, and work under the most successful European coaches. After weighing all the pros and cons, we decided to give Andrey Maltsev the opportunity to prove himself as our head coach.”
Khimki has been having a tough season which the team started without the complete roster due to injuries and the coronavirus positives.
The struggles continued even as the players were returning to the squad and now, Khimki is last in the EuroLeague standings with a 2-18 record and on a 12-game losing streak. In VTB League, they hold a 5-5 record.
Kurtinaitis has been the head coach of Khimki since January 2019. It has been his second stint with the team after the one from 2011 until 2016.