Donatas Zavackas (born 23 April 1980) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and basketball executive, who is the sports director for BC Wolves of the Lithuanian Basketball League and the EuroCup. He played college basketball at University of Pittsburgh. Standing at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), he played the power forward position.

Donatas Zavackas
BC Wolves
PositionSports director
Personal information
Born (1980-04-23) 23 April 1980 (age 44)
Klaipėda, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityLithuanian
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High schoolSt. Vincent – St. Mary (Akron, Ohio)
CollegePittsburgh (1999–2003)
NBA draft2003: undrafted
Playing career1996–2017
Number14, 41
Career history
1996–1998Neptūnas Klaipėda
2003–2004Anwil Włocławek
2004–2005Besançon BCD
2005Liège Basket
2005–2006Anwil Włocławek
2006Snaidero Udine
2006Neptūnas Klaipėda
2006–2007BC Dnipro
2007–2008Šiauliai
2008–2010Lietuvos Rytas
2010–2012EnBW Ludwigsburg
2012–2013VEF Rīga
2013Telekom Baskets Bonn
2014Vanoli Cremona
2014–2016Neptūnas Klaipėda
2016–2017Consultinvest Pesaro
Career highlights and awards

College career

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During his successful career at Pitt, Zavackas was known as one of the most intelligent, hardworking team players in the Big East Conference. Zavackas was a key component in Head Coach Ben Howland's transformation of the Panthers into a level of league elite status. The season before Zavackas arrived, Pitt finished the Big East season in 11th place with a 5–13 record (14–16 overall). During Zavackas' four years the Panthers captured two regular season Big East Titles, played in three Big East tournament (BET) Championship games and captured one BET Championship. Pitt also played in one National Invitation Tournament and two NCAA Tournaments (advancing to the Sweet 16 round both times) with Zavackas at power forward position.

Zavackas scored 1,099 points for the Panthers which currently places him 31st on Pitt's All Time scoring list. His .807 free throw percentage is good enough for 5th place in Panther history.

Unfortunately, many Pittsburgh fans only remember Zavackas for removing his shoes and refusing to play in the waning minutes of an NCAA Tournament game. That game, versus Marquette, would be his last career college game.

Professional career

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After winning third place in the Lithuanian League (LKL) with Šiauliai, he moved to Lietuvos Rytas, where he became the LKL champion in 2009. In this club he gained reputation of overly emotional player.

In August 2010, he signed a one-year contract with the German club EnBW Ludwigsburg.[1] In June 2011, he extended his contract with Ludwigsburg for one more season.[2] In February, 2012 he moved to BK VEF Rīga, signing a two-year contract with a team.[3]

On September 2, 2013, he signed a one-month contract with the EuroLeague powerhouse CSKA Moscow, to work with the team during preseason period.[4] Later that month he moved to the German team Telekom Baskets Bonn.[5][6] On December 30, 2013, he signed with the Italian team Vanoli Cremona for the remainder of the season.[7]

In August 2014, he signed a two-year deal with his former team Neptūnas Klaipėda.[8]

On August 16, 2016, Zavackas signed with Consultinvest Pesaro of the Italian Serie A.[9] On October 9, 2017, Zavackas retired and became the sports director of Neptūnas Klaipėda.

EuroLeague career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2009–10 Lietuvos Rytas 10 9 24.9 .379 .400 .826 3.1 1.1 .9 .2 7.9 6.7
2014–15 Neptūnas 10 9 25.9 .594 .571 .750 5.1 1.8 .7 .0 12.0 13.7
Career 20 18 25.4 .496 .480 .788 4.1 1.5 .8 .1 10.0 10.2

References

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  1. ^ "Donatas Zavackas inks with EnBW Ludwigsburg". Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  2. ^ Donatas Zavackas extends with EnBW Ludwigsburg
  3. ^ "VEF Riga officially signs Donatas Zavackas". Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  4. ^ "Donatas Zavackas to help CSKA during preseason". Archived from the original on 2014-01-12. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  5. ^ "Telekom Baskets Bonn sign Donatas Zavackas". Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  6. ^ Donatas Zavackas to join Telekom Bonn
  7. ^ "Vanoli Cremona announced Donatas Zavackas". Sportando.net. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Neptunas brings back Zavackas". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Zavackas è biancorosso!". www.victorialibertas.it (in Italian). 16 August 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
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