Zalgiris Kaunas announced that the club has finalized
the agreement with Spanish coach Joan Plaza, who signed a one-year-deal with
the Lithuanian champions. Talks of the 48-year-old Spaniard taking over at
Zalgiris have been circulating for a while, but it became official only
yesterday.
Plaza spent the last three seasons coaching
Cajasol Seville. Before that, the coach was at the helm at Real Madrid for
three years, which included winning the ULEB Cup and the Spanish title in 2007.
“Plaza is a qualified and strict coach. He told
me loud and clear what he’s capable of and what his demands are. The coach didn’t
say that the team had to be built of only very well known players. He’s ready
to work with the youth too,” said the owner of the club Vladimir Romanov.
According to Romanov, the club is looking into
the chances of bringing Darjus Lavrinovic and Sarunas Jasikevicius to Kaunas.
In that case, the club would only have a single foreign player in Marko Popovic.
