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**Caja Laboral Baskonia**
	Caja Laboral Baskonia
Leagues	ACB; Euroleague
Founded	1959
History	C.D. Basconia; (1959–1983); Caja Alava; (1983–1986); Taugres Baskonia/Tau Ceramica Baskonia; (1986–2009); Caja Laboral Baskonia; (2009–Present);
Arena	Fernando Buesa Arena; (capacity: 9,900)
Location	Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country
Team colors	White, Red, Dark Blue;
President	Josean Querejeta
Head coach	Duško Ivanović
Championships	2 Spanish Championships; 6 Spanish Cups; 4 Spanish Supercups; 1 Saporta Cup
Website	baskonia.com
	Uniforms
Home	Away

Saski Baskonia, S.A.D., known as Caja Laboral Baskonia for sponsorship reasons is a Spanish professional basketball club from the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The club's name sponsor is the Basque bank Caja Laboral.

Well-known players that have played with the club have included: Igor Rakočević, Jose Calderon, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola, Carlos Arroyo, Fabricio Oberto, Wálter Herrmann, and Jorge Garbajosa.

[edit] Sponsorship naming

Logo from the TAU era (1986-2009)

Outside of Spain, the club was often referred to for years as TAU Cerámica Baskonia, a Spanish brand name of ceramics manufacturer TAULELL, which name sponsored the club from 1986-2009. Originally, TAULELL used another of its brand names, Taugres, as the name of the team, before changing the name to TAU Cerámica Baskonia in 1997.^[1] TAU, Baskonia and TAU Baskonia were also frequently used to refer to the team. Baskonia, Saski Baskonia, and Saski Baskonia, S.A.D. refer to the name of the actual sports club itself. In 2009, the Spanish bank Caja Laboral became the new name sponsor of the club^[2]^[3] and increased the amount of money that the name sponsor contributes to the sports club's budget.

[edit] History

The club was founded in 1959 as the basketball section of Club Deportivo Vasconia. It first played at Spain's highest level in 1971, and emerged as a major force in Spanish basketball in the 1990s. Most recently, Baskonia advanced to the Euroleague Final Four in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2005 final and 2006 semifinals, to Panathinaikos in the 2007 semifinals, and to CSKA Moscow in the 2008 semifinals.

Through outstanding scouting and shrewd management, Baskonia has built a squad that has been to four straight Final Fours and now is looking to take the last step to becoming a Euroleague champion. Baskonia's first trophy of any kind came in 1995, the Spanish King's Cup, when Pablo Laso and Velimir Perasović led the team to an historical win. The club was already making noise internationally too, reaching the Saporta Cup final in both 1994 and 1995.

When it hosted the same title game in 1996, Baskonia pleased its many fans by downing PAOK Thessaloniki behind 31 points from Ramon Rivas. Baskonia made its first Spanish Championship playoff final in 1998 and added a second Spanish King's Cup title in 1999.

Fernando Buesa Arena (formerly known as Araba Arena), home of Baskonia since 1991

They then found quick success in the newborn Euroleague. With a deep roster featuring Elmer Bennett, Saulius Štombergas, Victor Alexander, Fabricio Oberto and a young Luis Scola, Baskonia reached the 2000-01 Euroleague playoff final series before losing to Kinder Bologna in the fifth and final game on the road. With winning momentum and the additions of Dejan Tomašević and Andres Nocioni, Baskonia celebrated the next season with another Spanish King's Cup trophy and its first Spanish League title ever. Trophy lifting became a habit now. Baskonia snatched two more Spanish King's Cups, in 2004 and 2006, as Luis Scola and Pablo Prigioni played decisive roles, and success followed the team in the Euroleague. Baskonia’s arrival to its first Final Four in 2005 couldn’t have been louder, as the team upset favored host CSKA Moscow in the semifinals, but couldn’t overcome defending champ Maccabi in the title game.

Back home, Baskonia again reached the Spanish League finals, only to lose in dramatic fashion. Baskonia returned to the Final Four in 2006 but once again Maccabi stood in its way, this time in the semifinal. The team also made it to the Spanish League finals, but was swept there.

Fernando Buesa Arena at night

The next season, Baskonia won its Euroleague regular season and Top 16 groups before sweeping Olympiacos in the Quarterfinal Playoffs as Scola became the Euroleague’s top all-time scorer (counting games played since the year 2000 only). Nonetheless, eventual champion Panathinaikos downed Baskonia in the semifinals and once home again in Spain, Baskonia lost in the playoff semifinals. Coming so close, but walking away without any trophies is sure to make Baskonia as hungry as ever going forward.

With a solid track record for building some of the most competitive teams in the world, it is safe to say that Baskonia is always a top candidate for Euroleague greatness.

[edit] Players

[edit] Roster

Saski Baskonia roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Nat.	Name	Ht.	Wt.
5.0 C	42	Croatia	Barać, Stanko	2.17 m (7 ft 1 in)	111 kg (245 lb)
4.0 PF	11	Israel	Eliyahu, Lior	2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)	102 kg (225 lb)
2.0 SG	23	Canada	English, Carl	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	93 kg (205 lb)
3.0 SF	35	Argentina	Herrmann, Wálter	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	102 kg (225 lb)
1.0 PG	9	Brazil	Huertas, Marcelinho	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	84 kg (185 lb)
3.0 SF	5	Serbia	Micov, Vladimir	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	98 kg (216 lb)
2.0 SG	24	USA	Oleson, Brad	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	91 kg (201 lb)
1.0 PG	4	Spain	Ribas, Pau	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	84 kg (185 lb)
3.0 SF	19	Spain	San Emeterio, Fernando	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)	98 kg (216 lb)
1.0 PG	7	USA	Singletary, Sean	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	83 kg (183 lb)
5.0 C	21	Brazil	Splitter, Tiago	2.12 m (6 ft 11 in)	111 kg (245 lb)
4.0 PF	12	BIH	Teletović, Mirza	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	111 kg (245 lb)

Head coach

Dusko Ivanovic

Assistant coach(es)

Ibon Navarro
David Gil

Legend

(C) Team captain
(*) Playing only in Euroleague
Injured

Roster • updated 2009-11-14

[edit] Depth Chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench
C	Tiago Splitter	Stanko Barać
PF	Lior Eliyahu	Mirza Teletović
SF	Wálter Herrmann	Vladimir Micov	Fernando San Emeterio
SG	Carl English	Brad Oleson	Chris Lofton
PG	Sean Singletary	Pau Ribas	Andrés Rodríguez