PBC Lokomotiv Kuban

History

The history of the Lokomotiv starts back in 1946 in Mineralnye Vody. There were few volunteers to play basketball during the first after-war years – not more than 150 people. Teenagers were trained by experienced and patient mentors – railways workers Grigory Abugov and Nikolai Kharchenko. Grigory Abugov later became a famous coach, who raised a number of high-class professionals. Some of them are still in basketball as coaches.

Lokomotiv played in the first league championship for a number of years, until in 1994 it finally got into the elite of the national basketball. In 1999 Lokomotiv got the right to represent Russia in the European tournaments and won the Cup of the International Railways Sports Union.

The season 2002–03 became the final for the team from Mineralnye Vody. Lokomotiv hardly reached the play-off, taking the 8th place out of 10, where it lost to the champion CSKA Moscow in all three matches. It became obvious to many that changes needed to be made. The decision was hence made to move the club to a more developed and economically growing area – Rostov region.

The basketball club Lokomotiv Rostov was established in 2003 in Rostov-on-Don. The project was organised by Andrey Vedischev, the world-class master of sports, bronze medallist of the European Championship and the Russian National Championship.

During the next six years the club played in the city of Don. During these years the "railways'" team was one of the strongest in Russia: regularly entering the play-off of the national championship and in the European cups. The best achievement of the Lokomotiv during these years was the 5th place in the Russian National Championship (2006–07 season) and the final of the FIBA Europe Cup (2004–05 season). In the summer of 2009 the president of the Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, made the decision to move the club from Rostov-on-Don to Krasnodar. The main reason for that was that the arenas in Rostov were not satisfying the requirements of the Russian National Championship and the club's European tournaments.

First year in Krasnodar (2009–2010)

Relocation was followed by the name change to Lokomotiv Kuban. Lokomotiv's first season in Krasnodar was under Sašo Filipovski. The season started successfully for the railways' team. Krasnodar got close to away win against CSKA in first round, then won four times in a row and settled on the second place in standings. Second half of the season was not that successful, Loko went through a few defeats and lost its position in Russian League, by the end of 2009 moved down to the middle of the standings.

Sašo Filipovski was replaced by the Lithuanian national basketball team head coach – Kęstutis Kemzūra.

After losing all chance of staying in EuroChallenge, railways' team concentrated on the Russian League. Under Kęstutis Kemzūra the team started showing stable results. Gerald Green was the most efficient player in the team after second half of the season, center Grigory Shukhovtsov got an invitation to the Russian national basketball team at the end of the season.

2010–11 season

The direction Kęstutis Kemzūra chose for the team improved its position during this season, which allowed to raise up to the fourth place in the PBL and get to the finals in the EuroChallenge, where Loko lost to Krka – 77:83.

2011–12 season

In the 2011–12 season Lokomotiv Kuban spent under legendary coach Božidar Maljković and got through to EuroCup Top-8, took bronze medals in Russian League. The right to play in second most important European clubs' tournament, the EuroCup, Lokomotiv got during the previous season, when it managed to get through to the finals of another European clubs' tournament – Eurochallenge.

The next season, the team from Krasnodar looked confident despite the fact that it was a fresher in the European Cup. Passing the group selection with the second result in the group – 4 wins in 6 matches, Lokomotiv went through to the Last 16, where it had to meet with Lithuanian Lietuvos Rytas, Italian Benneton and German Alba Berlin. In quarterfinals Lokomotiv met with Khimki, which at the end became the champion.

Apart from the debut in the elite European tournament, EuroCup, the club from Krasnodar also for the first time played in the VTB United League (eastern-European championship). Lokomotiv demonstrated top-level basketball in the regular season, got to the play-offs, and ended up on the fourth place.

2012–13 season

Evgeny Pashutin takes the position of the Loko's head coach for season 2012–13 – the specialist that had been working on similar posts in Spartak, CSKA, and UNICS. According to the aims and objectives set for the club, roster was improved significantly. Nick Calathes, Mantas Kalnietis, Aleks Marić, Derrick Brown, Alexey Savrasenko, Simas Jasaitis, Valery Likhodey joined the team. During the season Richard Hendrix was called to strengthen the roster. In the EuroCup Final, in Charleroi, on 13 April 2013, the club from Krasnodar won Spanish Bilbao – 75:64, and thus not only earned the most prestigious trophy in its history, but also the ticket to EuroLeague for the next season.

2013–14 season

In the 2013–14 season, the team debuted in EuroLeague, got through to the Top 16, fighting against the strongest European teams. Derrick Brown was announced the EuroLeague MVP of the Month of November. VTB United League playoffs stayed in our minds as the series with CSKA, which Loko started with two wins. However, the Moscow club took the final three games, and Lokomotiv left the championship at quarterfinals. At the end of the season club's management decided not to sign a new contract with the head coach Evgeny Pashutin.

2014–15 season

The new coach Sergei Bazarevich joined the team during the off-season, together with the club's management he started forming the new roster. Marcus Williams, Aleks Marić, Valery Likhodey, and Simas Jasaitis left the team. At the same time, Anthony Randolph, Malcolm Delaney, Aaron Miles, Nikita Kurbanov, Evgeny Voronov and Nikita Balashov were called to strengthen the team. One of the main priorities mentioned by the president of the club was getting back to EuroLeague by winning the EuroCup, or going through the VTB United League Finals. Both goals weren't accomplished.

Spectacular rise to the EuroLeague Final Four (2015–2016)

Lokomotiv Kuban hired Georgios Bartzokas as their new head coach. They also received a wild card for the 2015–16 Euroleague, which had since achieved the qualification to the 2016 Euroleague Final Four by beating FC Barcelona 3–2 in the playoffs. Star players for Kuban were Malcolm Delaney and Anthony Randolph, who got places in the All-EuroLeague Teams. Their opponent during the Final Four semifinal would be fellow Russian team CSKA Moscow.

On 14 November 2016, a one season contract was signed with new head coach Saša Obradović.

Arenas

Lokomotiv-Kuban played its home games at the 3,500-seat Olympus Arena, prior to moving to the newer and larger 7,500-seat Basket-Hall Krasnodar.

Domestic

International

Regional

Management

Coaching staff

Notable players

Notable coaches