BK Valmiera
| Valmiera Ordo | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Latvian league | |||
| Website | bkvalmiera.lv | ||
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BK Valmiera, named Valmiera Ordo for sponsorship reasons, was a professional
History
The club was founded in 2001, but in the period prior there was a Valmiera team known as SK Valmiera, which is considered a precursor of this team. Also, the team has also been known by the names Valmiera-Rūjiena, Valmieras Piens, and Valmiera/Lāčplēša. The current Valmiera team is a three-time
2015–16 season: Latvian league championship
Before the start of the season, BK Valmiera included the sponsor's name in the team's name, becoming Valmiera/Ordo. Head coach
The Latvian Basketball League season began on 30 September with Valmiera/Ordo beating reigning champions VEF Rīga on the road 79–75. Valmiera kept the winning streak alive for seven games before losing their first game, against BK Ventspils on 7 November by a score of 74–82 in an away game. Before that, on 21 October, the team took a chance on picking up veteran guard Armands Šķēle, giving him the opportunity to play professional basketball for the first time together with his younger brother Aigars Šķēle. Despite being at the top of the league in November and December, the team struggled. Lithuanian point guard Vytenis Čižauskas left the team because of limited minutes given by the coach. For the next couple of weeks, Gatis Melderis took command of the coaching position. The situation was difficult due to injuries. On 26 December, in Liepāja, Valmiera/Ordo could field only an eight-player roster, but in the 44th game, the second team captain Haralds Kārlis injured his ACL, which took him out of basketball activities for a full year. Valmiera/Ordo lost that game 87–91.
After New Year's came, more changes were made with the team. In the center position, Valmiera/Ordo added Lauris Blaus. On 15 January, Roberts Štelmahers became the third head coach of the team in the same season. Štelmahers' debut came a day later, against his former team BK Ventspils. In their home court, Valmiera/Ordo celebrated an 87-83 victory. In the next months, Valmiera added victories in the tournament table and incorporated veteran forward Akselis Vairogs and point guard Kwamain Mitchell into the team's roster.
In March, the
Meanwhile in the
Valmiera/Ordo championships depth chart
| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Reserve |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | Lauris Blaus | Dāvis Rozītis | Viktors Iļjins |
PF
|
Artūrs Bērziņš | Ervīns Jonāts | |
| SF | Mārtiņš Laksa | Mārtiņš Vīņauds | Haralds Kārlis |
| SG | Armands Šķēle | Jānis Kaufmanis | |
| PG | Kwamain Mitchell | Aigars Šķēle | Raimonds Gabrāns |
After the championship
After winning the Latvian championship, Valmiera/Ordo declined the option to play in the
In the 2017–18 Latvian Basketball League the team finished in last position. The new head coach Kristaps Valters had only three proven players—Janis Kaufmanis, Viktors Iļjins and Edmunds Elksnis. The rest of the team was very young and the team lost most of its games, taking last position in the national championship and not making the 2017–18 Baltic Basketball League playoff tournament.
After the season, the club announced it would skip the 2019–2020 season and withdraw from all Latvian leagues for a year due to financial issues, saying that they would announce their next moves in July. The city of Valmiera is currently represented in Latvian basketball by the unrelated team BK Valmiera Glass/ViA.[2]
Roster
Retired numbers
| BK Valmiera retired numbers | ||||
| No. | Player | Position | Tenure | Ceremony date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 |  Dainis Bertāns |
C | 1992–2004 | 08/01/2014 |
Current roster
| Valmiera Ordo roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Updated: April 1, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Season by season
| Season | Latvian League | Pos. | Baltic League | European competitions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | LBL
|
7th | |||||
| 2001–02 | LBL
|
6th | |||||
| 2002–03 | LBL
|
3rd | |||||
| 2003–04 | LBL
|
4th | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | CSF |
6–5
| ||
| 2004–05 | LBL
|
3rd | Elite Division | 8th | |||
| 2005–06 | LBL
|
5th | Elite Division | 7th | |||
| 2006–07 | LBL
|
5th | Elite Division | 7th | |||
| 2007–08 | LBL
|
5th | Elite Division | 9th | |||
| 2008–09 | LBL
|
5th | Elite Division
|
9th | |||
| 2009–10 | LBL
|
4th | Elite Division | 8th | |||
| 2010–11 | LBL
|
5th | Elite Division
|
14th | |||
| 2011–12 | LBL
|
5th | Challenge Cup
|
5th | |||
| 2012–13 | LBL
|
3rd | Last 16 | ||||
| 2013–14 | LBL
|
6th | Round of 16 | ||||
| 2014–15 | LBL
|
7th | Round of 16 | ||||
| 2015–16 | LBL
|
1st | Fourth place | ||||
| 2016–17 | LBL
|
4th | Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2017–18 | LBL
|
9th | Group Stage | 9th | |||
Notable players
Notable coaches
References
- ^ Valmiera/Ordo pārraksta vēsturi un iegūst LBL zeltu
- ^ ""Valmiera"/ORDO nepiedalīsies arī LBL3 un izlaidīs nākamo sezonu". TVNET Sports (in Latvian). 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
External links
- Official website (in Latvian)