Saski Baskonia

Caja Laboral
Leagues	ACB; Euroleague
Founded	1959
History	C.D. Basconia; (1959–1983); Caja Alava; (1983–1986); Taugres Baskonia/Tau Ceramica Baskonia; (1986–2009); Caja Laboral Baskonia; (2009–Present)
Arena	Fernando Buesa Arena; (capacity: 9,900)
Location	Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country
Team colors	White, Red, Dark Blue;
President	Jose Antonio Querejeta
Head coach	Duško Ivanović
Championships	3 Spanish Championships; 6 Spanish Cups; 4 Spanish Supercups; 1 Saporta Cup
Website	baskonia.com
	Uniforms
Home	Away

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Saski Baskonia, S.A.D., known as Caja Laboral for sponsorship reasons, is a Spanish professional basketball club from the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The club's name sponsor is the Basque bank Caja Laboral.

Well-known players who have played with the club have included Velimir Perasović, Carlos Arroyo, José Calderón, Jorge Garbajosa, Wálter Herrmann, Andrés Nocioni, Fabricio Oberto, Igor Rakočević, Luis Scola, Tiago Splitter and Roko Ukić.

[edit] Sponsorship naming

Logo from the TAU era (1986–2009)

Outside of Spain, the club was often referred to for years as TAU Cerámica Baskonia, a Spanish brand name of ceramics manufacturer TAULELL, which name sponsored the club from 1986–2009. Originally, TAULELL used another of its brand names, Taugres, as the name of the team, before changing the name to TAU Cerámica Baskonia in 1997.^[1] TAU, Baskonia and TAU Baskonia were also frequently used to refer to the team. Baskonia, Saski Baskonia, and Saski Baskonia, S.A.D. refer to the name of the actual sports club itself. In 2009, the Spanish bank Caja Laboral became the new name sponsor of the club^[2]^[3] and increased the amount of money that the name sponsor contributes to the sports club's budget.

[edit] History

The club was founded in 1959^[4] as the basketball section of Club Deportivo Vasconia. It first played at Spain's highest level in 1971, and emerged as a major force in Spanish basketball in the 1990s. Most recently, Baskonia advanced to the Euroleague Final Four in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2005 final and 2006 semifinals, to Panathinaikos in the 2007 semifinals, and to CSKA Moscow in the 2008 semifinals.

Through outstanding scouting and shrewd management, Baskonia has built a squad that has been to four straight Final Fours and now is looking to take the last step to becoming a Euroleague champion. Baskonia's first trophy of any kind came in 1995, the Spanish King's Cup, when Pablo Laso and Velimir Perasović led the team to an historical win. The club was already making noise internationally too, reaching the Saporta Cup final in both 1994 and 1995.

When it hosted the same title game in 1996, Baskonia pleased its many fans by downing PAOK behind 31 points from Ramón Rivas. Baskonia made its first Spanish Championship playoff final in 1998 and added a second Spanish King's Cup title in 1999.

Fernando Buesa Arena (formerly known as Araba Arena), home of Baskonia since 1991

They then found quick success in the newborn Euroleague. With a deep roster featuring Elmer Bennett, Saulius Štombergas, Victor Alexander, Fabricio Oberto and a young Luis Scola, Baskonia reached the 2000–01 Euroleague playoff final series before losing to Kinder Bologna in the fifth and final game on the road. With winning momentum and the additions of Dejan Tomašević and Andrés Nocioni, Baskonia celebrated the next season with another Spanish King's Cup trophy and its first Spanish League title ever. Trophy lifting became a habit now. Baskonia snatched two more Spanish King's Cups, in 2004 and 2006, as Luis Scola and Pablo Prigioni played decisive roles, and success followed the team in the Euroleague. Baskonia's arrival to its first Final Four in 2005 couldn’t have been louder, as the team upset favored host CSKA Moscow in the semifinals, but couldn’t overcome defending champ Maccabi in the title game.

Back home, Baskonia again reached the Spanish League finals, only to lose in dramatic fashion. Baskonia returned to theFinal Four in 2006 but once again Maccabi stood in its way, this time in the semifinal. The team also made it to the Spanish League finals, but was swept there.

Fernando Buesa Arena at night

The next season, Baskonia won its Euroleague regular season and Top 16 groups before sweeping Olympiacos in the Quarterfinal Playoffs as Scola became the Euroleague's top all-time scorer (counting games played since the year 2000 only). Nonetheless, eventual champion Panathinaikos downed Baskonia in the semifinals and once home again in Spain, Baskonia lost in the playoff semifinals. Coming so close, but walking away without any trophies is sure to make Baskonia as hungry as ever going forward.

With a solid track record for building some of the most competitive teams in the world, it is safe to say that Baskonia is always a top candidate for Euroleague greatness.

[edit] Players

[edit] Roster

Saski Baskonia roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Nat.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Age
1.0 !PG	4	Spain !	Ribas, Pau	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	&1000000000000002500000025
1.0 !PG	5	Argentina !	Prigioni, Pablo	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	82 kg (181 lb)	&1000000000000003400000034
5.5 !F/C	9	USA !	Dorsey, Joey	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	122 kg (269 lb)	&1000000000000002800000028
5.5 !F/C	11	Montenegro !	Bjelica, Milko	2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)	102 kg (225 lb)	&1000000000000002700000027
5.5 !F/C	13	France !	Seraphin, Kevin	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	125 kg (276 lb)	&1000000000000002200000022
3.0 !SF	19	Spain !	San Emeterio, Fernando	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)	105.4 kg (232 lb)	&1000000000000002800000028
1.0 !PG	22	France !	Heurtel, Thomas	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)	82 kg (181 lb)	&1000000000000002200000022
2.0 !SG	24	USA !	Oleson, Brad	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	90.5 kg (200 lb)	&1000000000000002800000028
4.5 !PF	33	BIH !	Teletović, Mirza (C)	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	111 kg (245 lb)	&1000000000000002600000026
4.5 !PF	42	Spain !	Calbarro, Unai	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)	107 kg (236 lb)	&1000000000000002200000022
3.0 !SF	44	Serbia !	Bjelica, Nemanja	2.09 m (6 ft 10 in)	104 kg (229 lb)	&1000000000000002300000023
5.5 !F/C	--	Poland !	Lampe, Maciej	2.11 m (6 ft 11 in)	125 kg (276 lb)	&1000000000000002700000027

Head coach

Dusko Ivanovic

Assistant coach(es)

David Gil
Antonio Martorell

Legend

(C) Team captain
(*) Playing only in Euroleague

Injured

Roster
Updated: 2011-09-26

[edit] Depth Chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench
C	Maciej Lampe	Vladimir Golubović
PF	Mirza Teletović	Milko Bjelica	Unai Calbarro
SF	Fernando San Emeterio	Nemanja Bjelica	Matt Walsh
SG	Brad Oleson	Pau Ribas
PG	Pablo Prigioni	Thomas Heurtel

[edit] Out on Loan

Dejan Musli to Baloncesto Fuenlabrada (one month)^[5]
Devon van Oostrum to Tarragona Bàsquet 2017
Ilimane Diop to UPV Álava^[6]
Daniel Bordignon to UPV Álava^[7]

[edit] Head coaches

Further information: Category:Saski Baskonia coaches

[edit] Season by season

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.	Postseason	Cup Competitions	European Competitions
1969–70	3	3ª División	1	Promoted	–	–
1970–71	2	2ª División	2	Promotion playoffs	–	–
1971–72	2	2ª División	1	Promoted^Champion	–	–
1972–73	1	1ª División	10	–	Copa del Rey semifinalist	–
1973–74	1	1ª División	8	–	–	–
1974–75	1	1ª División	8	–	Copa del Rey quarterfinalist	–
1975–76	1	1ª División	8	–	–	–
1976–77	1	1ª División	10	–	–	–
1977–78	1	1ª División	10	–	–	–
1978–79	1	1ª División	8	–	Copa del Rey semifinalist	–
1979–80	1	1ª División	11	–	–	–
1980–81	1	1ª División	14	Relegated	–	–
1981–82	2	1ª División B	2	Promoted	–	–
1982–83	1	1ª División	13	–	–	–
1983–84	1	Liga ACB	9	Round of 16	–	–
1984–85	1	Liga ACB	10	Round of 16	–	–
1985–86	1	Liga ACB	9	Round of 16	Copa Asociación champion	Korać Cup quarterfinalist
1986–87	1	Liga ACB	8	Quarterfinalist	–	–
1987–88	1	Liga ACB	8	Quarterfinalist	–	–
1988–89	1	Liga ACB	7	Quarterfinalist	–	–
1989–90	1	Liga ACB	7	Quarterfinalist	Copa del Rey quarterfinalist	–
1990–91	1	Liga ACB	4	Semifinalist	Copa del Rey quarterfinalist	–
1991–92	1	Liga ACB	4	Semifinalist	Copa del Rey quarterfinalist	Korać Cup quarterfinalist
1992–93	1	Liga ACB	11	Round of 16	Copa del Rey semifinalist	Played Korać Cup
1993–94	1	Liga ACB	11	Round of 16	Copa del Rey runner-up	European Cup runner-up
1994–95	1	Liga ACB	5	Quarterfinalist	Copa del Rey champion	European Cup runner-up
1995–96	1	Liga ACB	8	Quarterfinalist	–	European Cup champion
1996–97	1	Liga ACB	5	Quarterfinalist	–	Played Korać Cup
1997–98	1	Liga ACB	2	Runner-up	Copa del Rey quarterfinalist	Played Korać Cup
1998–99	1	Liga ACB	5	Quarterfinalist	Copa del Rey champion	Played Euroleague
1999–00	1	Liga ACB	4	Semifinalist	Copa del Rey quarterfinalist	Played Saporta Cup
2000–01	1	Liga ACB	3	Semifinalist	Copa del Rey quarterfinalist	Euroleague runner-up
2001–02	1	Liga ACB	1	Champion	Copa del Rey champion	Played Euroleague
2002–03	1	Liga ACB	6	Quarterfinalist	Copa del Rey semifinalist	Played Euroleague
2003–04	1	Liga ACB	3	Semifinalist	Copa del Rey champion	Played Euroleague
2004–05	1	Liga ACB	2	Runner-up	SC semifinalist, CR semifinalist	Euroleague runner-up
2005–06	1	Liga ACB	2	Runner-up	SC champion, CR champion	Euroleague semifinalist^3rd
2006–07	1	Liga ACB	3	Semifinalist	SC champion, CR semifinalist	Euroleague semifinalist^4th
2007–08	1	Liga ACB	1	Champion	SC champion, CR runner-up	Euroleague semifinalist^4th
2008–09	1	Liga ACB	2	Runner-up	SC champion, CR champion	Euroleague quarterfinalist
2009–10	1	Liga ACB	1	Champion	SC semifinalist, CR semifinalist	Euroleague quarterfinalist
2010–11	1	Liga ACB	4	Semifinalist	SC semifinalist, CR semifinalist	Euroleague quarterfinalist
2011–12	1	Liga ACB			SC runner-up, CR semifinalist	Played Euroleague