The Presidential Basketball Club «Astana» will complete the first round of the VTB United League regular season with an away match against the Russian «PARMA», which will take place on Sunday, January 12.
«PARMA» - is a Russian professional men's basketball club from the Perm Territory, founded in 2012. This season, in addition to playing in the VTB United League, the team had participated in the Russian Cup, but ended the fight right before the New Year, losing in the quarterfinal series of games.
Achievements:
- Russian Cup Winner 2015/2016, 2018/2019
- Bronze medalist of the Russian Cup 2016/2017
- Super League bronze medalist 2015/2016
Head coach:
In the 2019/2020 season, the Lithuanian coach Kazys Maksvytis the coaching staff of the team from Perm. Last season, for the second consecutive year, the team was led by the Latvian Nikolai Mazurs, though he was not with the team until the end of the season and in February 2019 he was replaced by assistant coach Vyacheslav Shushakov, who is also on the coaching staff of the Perm team this season. At the start of his career, the current coach had led such Lithuanian teams as “Aisčiai” and “Sakalai”. Then there were three seasons in “Neptune”, with whom Kazys played in VTB United League in the seasons 2012/2013 and 2013/2014. Also in those seasons, he became the bronze and silver medalist of the Lithuanian Championship. From 2015 to 2017, Maskvitis was the head of another Lithuanian club, «Lietkabelis,» with which he nearly won the Lithuanian championship again, taking another silver. Well, the past two seasons, he again spent in “Neptune” and added to his achievements the bronze medal of the Lithuanian Championship. In the summer of 2019, the Lithuanian was on a “business trip” to the United States, where he reached the finals of the NBA Summer League as part of the «Minnesota Timberwolves» coaching staff. But the main achievements of Kazys Maskvytis are with the Youth National Teams of Lithuania. He won with his teams the European Championship three times in the age categories U-16, U-18, and U-20, and with the U-20 team in 2011 he won the world title. It is also worth noting that Kazys Maskvytis refused to head the Lithuanian Men's Team in favor of working with «Parma».
Team roster:
In the summer, the team has undergone many changes. By tradition, we start with the foreign players. The main loss was the American imports — forwards Rashard Kelly and Tre Maclean, as well as a guard Ken Brown, who was the most effective in the team. In addition, “Parma” had three more American players, but they all left the team during the season. However, if Tyler Larson had left in January, then Cody Justice and Michael Humphrey left the team in early March. Also, in the off-season, the Latvian guard, Janis Blooms, known to fans of “Astana”, left the team. Among the Russian players, «PARMA» did not renew the contract with all the centers: the most experienced Grigory Shukhovtsov, Ivan Lazarev, who moved from Nizhny Novgorod, and Alexander Vinnik. The young forward Sergey Tkachenko was not declared to the team yet. And here is one of the key players of last season, Lithuanian guard Eigirdas Zhukauskas, who had previously played in clubs in Lithuania and France, extended the contract with “Parma” for the second season. Of the Russian players in the off-season, five prolonged their contracts with the team. The old-timers of “PARMA” are forwards Nikolay Zhmako, for whom this season is the 7th in a row as a part of the team, and Konstantin Bulanov is spending his 6th season at “PARMA”. Young guard Gleb Sheiko, Alexander Platunov, and Vadim Bondarenko are wards of the club from the Perm region.
Three American players joined the team in the off-season, but two of them — center Arnett Moultry and defender Anthony Carr, did not stay in the Perm team, and by the end of November, «PARMA» terminated their contracts. But Lorenzo Williams entrenched in the team. The American guard has had a rather serious career in Europe: Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania, and on his account he has the champion titles of Slovakia and Latvia. In mid-December, «PARMA» announced the signing of a contract with American guard Robert Johnson, who spent the last season in the NBA Development League as part of «Wisconsin Heard», which is a Milwaukee Bucks farm team, and spent half of this season in the Polish «Dąbrowa Górnicza» Also, the Lithuanian Adas Yushkevichius, who began his career in «Zhalgiris» system, became a newcomer to the team. After playing almost 10 seasons in various clubs in Lithuania, having managed to become a champion with «Zalgiris» and the winner of the Cup with «Lietuvos Rytas», he was able to take part in the championships of Spain, Turkey, and France. Adas is the winner of the U-20 European Championship silver medal as part of the Lithuanian National Team. Another newcomer from the Baltic was the Latvian guard Mareks Mejeris, who played in Latvia and Spain, and except for a small “sortie” to France, spent the last 5 seasons at «VEF» club in Riga, with whom he became the champion three times.
Perhaps the most high-profile Russian acquisitions were center Artem Zabelin and guard Maxim Grigoryev. Zabelin managed to play for CSKA, «Lokomotiv-Kuban», «Spartak-Primorye», «Krasnye Krylia» and «Dynamo» from Petersburg, and he began his career in 2003 as part of «Avtodor» and spent the last 4 seasons in «Saratov». Artem has won Euroleague gold and bronze, VTB United League gold, three Russian championship titles, and Russian Cup. From the beginning of his career, Grigoryev has spent 6 seasons in the «Lokomotiv-Kuban» team, and the last four played for «Nizhny Novgorod». Of the achievements of Maxim Grigoriev, EuroCup gold, VTB Challenge Cup and VTB United League silver, as well as twice in the Russian Cup and VTB United League bronze and twice in the Russian Championship. In addition, he is the champion of the Universiade and was awarded the title of the best young Russian player in the VTB United League twice. In the summer, three more young shooting guards Yegor Chernyshev, Yegor Melnikov and Kirill Budin were announced for the team, who mainly have defended the colors of the club in the VTB Youth League. Already in the course of the season, the team was replenished with the silver medalist of the Russian Cup and the double bronze medalist of the VTB United League and the Championship of Russia, forward Yevgeny Valiev, who, apart from «Khimki», played for «Zenit», «Triumph» and «Ural Great». And also one more player from «Khimki», a young guard Timofey Yakushin moved to «Parma».
Leaders of rivals: the most efficient and most effective player according to the statistics in “Parma” is Arnett Moultrie, but he has left the team. At the moment, the main leaders of the team are a trio of Baltic players- Adas Yushkevichius, Mareks Mejeris, and Eigirdas Zukauskas. American Lorenzo Williams and Russians Artyom Zabelin and Nikolai Zhmako often come out at the start. Maxim Grigoriev never entered the starting five, but in each match, he spends an average of 20 minutes on the court and is currently the most productive, gaining 14.7 points per game. Periodically, the coaching staff of the Perm team plays with Konstantin Bulanov. Eugeniy Valiev has spent 4 matches, playing an average of 16 minutes on the court, and American Robert Johnson has spent only one game, gaining 13 points and making 3 interceptions.
Standings: “Astana” after two consecutive victories has improved its position and is on the 8th line of the tournament table with five wins and six losses. “PARMA” has begun the season with three defeats in a row — two away from CSKA and “Nizhny Novgorod”, as well as a lost home game with “Yenisei”. Then there was a home victory over “Kalev” and a major away defeat with the team “Stelmet Zielona Gora”. But in the next two matches, “PARMA” was very close to sensations, first losing only three points to «Khimki» in an away game, and then losing only one point to «UNICS» at home. Then in Perm, they defeated «Avtodor» and nevertheless created a sensation by beating «Zenit» on the St. Petersburg court. Our rivals have lost the last three games — at home losing to CSKA, on the road in the match against Lokomotiv-Kuban, and having never gladdened their fans before the New Year, they suffered a home defeat from the Belarusian team «Tsmoki-Minsk». «PARMA” is now on the penultimate 12th line of the tournament table, and they are starving for victories.
The history of the games: “PARMA” entered the VTB United League in the 2016/2017 season, but for the first time the teams clashed in the “preseason” of that season in Lithuania at the “One Team Cup” tournament during which “PARMA” turned out to be stronger, having won 4 points. As for VTB United League, in the 2016/2017 season, «Astana» twice confidently defeated the Perm team. The next season in Perm, “Astana” pulled out a victory in overtime, but lost at home. Last season brought our team two difficult victories. Thus, in personal games, “Astana” won 5 matches and lost to “PARMA” 1 game in the VTB United League and one match in the preseason preparation.
Interesting Facts:
- “Astana” won all away matches in Perm in past seasons.
- The coaching staff of «Parma» has a robot — PARMAbot.
The match will take place on Sunday, January 12 in Perm at the arena «Molot», beginning at 18:30 Nur-Sultan time. The live broadcast of the match will be available on our website in the
Match Center section.
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
