On Saturday, October 16, Tsmoki-Minsk will play another VTB United League game against Avtodor. The match will take place at the Kristall Arena and starts at 16.00 Belarus time.
The Club from Saratov was founded in 1960. During this time, team changed its name several times: Spartak, Avtomobilist, Avtodorozhnik, and finally, Avtodor. A prominent Saratov businessman and honored Russian coach Vladimir Rodionov, who turned 74 this year, has been the permanent president of the club since 1982, also he became a head coach a couple of times. His distinguishing feature, in addition to the ability to build club management successfully, is an irresistible urge to change coaches if they do not give a quick result. Over the past 7 years Avtodor changed its head coach 18 times, moreover, Rodionov held this post twice.
At the start of this season, the team was headed by 43-year-old Macedonian specialist Emil Rajkovi?. In 2019, he was named VTB United League Coach of the Year. This happened thanks to the successful work as the head coach of Astana, when team took 6th place - the highest in the history of the Kazakh club.
Several Belarus basketball players played for Avtodor at different times - Vladimir Veremeenko, Andrei Klemez, Vyacheslav Mytko.
This summer, Avtodor roster went through major changes - seven new players were added. Three Americans: center Grant Jerrett, joined from the Turkish Darussafaka, forwards Jaron Johnson from the French Dijon, and DJ Funderburk, who played in the NCAA for NC State University. Two Canadians: point guard Kenny Chery from Brescia (Italy) and shooting guard Philip Scrubb from Limoges (France). Two Russian players: guards Evgenii Kolesnikov and Pavel Sergeev – former players of UNICS Kazan. By the way, Kolesnikov was the captain of Avtodor at one time, so he returns to the team as a kind of veteran-mentor. Among the legionnaires, only Scrubb has experience in the VTB United League: in the 2018-19 season, the player of Canadian national team was a part of Zenit from St. Petersburg. Also Croatian forward ?eljko ?aki? has returned to Saratov, he was loaned to the Spanish Estudiantes at the end of last season.
Avtodor has played two games in the current VTB United League championship. They beat Kalev in Tallin - 97:93, and lost to Krasnodar Lokomotiv at home – 95:108. The large score numbers indicate that the team from Saratov is focused on offense, while they can underperform in defense. Cheerful and high-scoring basketball is an Avtodor strong point.
As a result of these meetings, four legionnaires have become stats leaders: Chery has averaged 20,5 PTS + 5,5 AST + 2,2 REB per game, Funderburk – 17,5 PTS, Scrubb – 13,0 PTS + 5,5 AST + 2,0 REB + 1,0 STL, Jerrett – 10,0 PTS + 6,5 REB.
Avtodor roster for the 2021-22 season includes 12 players:
Guards:
1. Vitalius Pranauskis (8.12.2002, 194 cm)
5. Kenny Chery (Canada, 24.01.1992, 180 cm)
23. Philip Scrubb (Canada, 27.11.1992, 191 cm)
24. Evgenii Kolesnikov (26.12.1985, 195 cm)
30. Pavel Sergeev (28.07.1987, 187 cm)
Forwards:
0. DJ Funderburk (USA, 12.04.1997, 208 cm)
4. ?eljko ?aki? (Croatia, 14.04.1988, 204 cm)
9. Aleksandr Petenev (24.11.2000, 197 cm)
16. Anton Kvitkovskikh (03.11.2000, 201 cm)
92. Jaron Johnson (USA, 05.05.1992, 196 cm)
Centers:
14. Evgenii Minchenko (13.12.194, 215 cm)
34. Grant Jerrett (USA, 08.07.1993, 208 cm)
Head coach - Emil Rajkovi? (North Macedonia).