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His mind was always one play ahead in his years as a player, and now the 41-year-old Lithuanian is trying to continue at the same pace as a coach too. The results so far? Extremely impressive, considering. At least that’s what Eurohoops decided, and gave him the title of “Coach of the Year”.
Our picks.
[poll id=”6″]
Sarunas Jasikevicious (Zalgiris Kaunas): 6 votes
In just his second year on the bench as head coach, he got Zalgiris Kaunas (10th place with 14-16) – a team with no players from the USA – within a hair’s breadth from the playoffs, while it was his team that, at the last moment, changed the balance in the pairs of the postseason.
Zeljko Obradovic (Fenerbahce Istanbul): 4 votes
The Fenerbahce team of the “Lord of the Rings” (8 EuroLeague titles) messed up in the last rounds of the regular season (5th place with 18-12), but made up for it in the playoffs with a sweep against Panathinaikos (0-3) and the third consecutive qualification for the Final Four.
Ioannis Sfairopoulos (Olympiacos Piraeus): 4 votes
Despite the continuous injuries, he had no problem leading Olympiacos to a fast advancement to the playoffs (3rd place with 19-11) and then the Final Four (3-2 against Anadolu Efes) after a short hiatus last year.
Velimir Perasovic (Anadolu Efes Istanbul): 3 votes
Anadolu Efes charmed with the basketball they played in the second half of the regular season (6th place with 17-13) and got one win away from the Final Four (3-2 by Olympiacos in the playoffs).
Dejan Radonjic (Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade): 2 votes
Crvena Zvezda even got to the point of counting 7 consecutive wins, but they weren’t enough to take them to the playoffs, the qualification for which they literally lost at the last minute (9th place with 16-14).
Xavi Pascual (Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens): 2 votes
He was called upon to work on a unit that was not of his choosing and together they managed to reach the playoffs (4th place with 19-11), but not the Final Four (0-3 by Fenerbahce).
