There are less than two weeks left until the end of the VTB United League regular season. We can now start talking about potential nominees for individual awards. One of the most interesting, of course, will be the fight for the title of best coach of the season.
This season, for the tenth anniversary, the award will be presented in the “Coach of the Year” category based on the results of the regular season. Its first winner in 2014 was Khimki coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, in the 2015/2016 championship, Vasily Karasev from Zenit Saint Petersburg, in the 2014/2015, 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2021/2022 seasons the award received Dimitris. Itoudis, who coached CSKA. In the 2019/2020 championship, the then Astana coach, Emil Raikovich, became coach of the year, an award he also won at the end of last season, but as coach of CSKA. In the 2020/2021 season, Javier Pascual from Zenit was recognized as coach of the year.
The “Championship” has prepared a list of four candidates who should be among the contenders for this award at the end of the 2023/2024 season.
4. Jovica Arsic (Yenisei)
Jovica Arsic
Photo: BC “Yenisei”
The Serbian coach will lead the team in the summer of 2023. With him, “Enisey” not only played very well, but also had the best start in its history in the VTB United League, thanks to which it ended the season absolutely naturally. first stage of the regular season among the top 6 and guaranteed their participation in the playoffs. ahead of schedule. Arsic created good team chemistry and found the right connections that deliver results. An important factor is that in his system Russian players are assigned no less important roles than foreign players. However, in the second phase of the regular season not everything is so easy for the team: six defeats in seven games. But this should not take away from Jovica Arsic this season.
3. Emil Raikovich (CSKA)
Emil Rajkovic
Photo: BC Lokomotiv-Kuban
The Macedonian specialist has already won the award for best coach of the season twice, but despite this he is not slowing down. Raikovich still works decently in the Moscow team, especially after global changes in the lineup: last summer, two superstars left the army team: Alexey Shved and Nikola Milutinov, the last MVP of the United League. In addition, the CSKA coach for three and a half months could not count on captain Nikita Kurbanov, who suspended his career.
At the same time, the army team did not close the last legionary spot in the hope of signing the right player for the playoffs. The bet was made on former NBA player Will Barton, who has played almost 700 games in the strongest league in the world. The American even flew to Moscow, but after passing a medical examination, he terminated the contract. However, the Army team’s problems did not end there: team leader Casper Ware suffered a serious injury in mid-February and was sidelined for six weeks; he underwent surgery. However, despite all this, CSKA remains at the top of the standings and shares first place with UNICS. The military team still has a chance to win the regular season, to do so they need to avoid defeat in the remaining games.
2. Velimir Perasovich (UNICS)
Velimir Perasovic
Photo: BC UNICS
The Croatian coach has already spent his third season working with the Kazan team, but he had never before won the “Coach of the Year” award. It is unlikely that he will reflect on this matter, because he has reached much greater heights: he led UNICS to the first championship in its history in the VTB United League.
In the offseason, several important players from the championship squad left the club: Daryl Macon, Vince Hunter, Mikhail Kulagin, Stanislav Ilnitsky, Andrei Vorontsevich. However, this did not stop Perasovich from rebuilding the team and bringing it to the same level. UNICS is also efficient, aggressive and ruthless. The Kazan team more than took advantage of the unsuccessful period of CSKA, which at one point lost four games in a row, and comfortably sat on the first line of the standings. Now Perasovich’s team has everything to take charge of the regular season, when there are several games left until the end.
1. Evgeny Pashutin (Parma)
Evgeny Pashutin
Photo: BC “Paris NN”
However, according to the editorial staff of “Championship”, the main candidate for the “Coach of the Year” award should be considered Parma coach Evgeniy Pashutin. The Perm team is having a great season and the main architect of these results is the Russian specialist. The Kama team started the season poorly, but then Pashutin adjusted the pattern of the game, allowing his team to win 11 wins in 13 matches.
Thanks to this, the team finished in the top 6 at the end of the first stage of the regular season and secured participation in the playoffs ahead of schedule. Additionally, three Parma players were called up for the United League All-Star Game, which was the team’s largest representation (along with Zenit). This season, Parma achieved seven victories over teams in the top 4, becoming the nightmare of the favorites. This is a great merit and work of Pashutin, who formed one of the most interesting teams in this championship. The Russian specialist has done enormous work, which deserves to be appreciated.
