8 years ago, on May 2nd and 3rd of 2012, VTB United League Final Four was played in Vilnius. CSKA, UNICS, Lokomotiv-Kuban and Lietuvos Rytas competed for golden medals.
United League to show 2012 Final Four
After the F4, the following players were included in the team of the finals – Andrey Kirilenko, Jonas Valanciunas, Darjus Lavrinovic, Henry Domercant and Roderick Blackney. VTB United League recalls these players, their roles in 2011/12 season and tells what they are doing now,
Andrey Kirilenko, CSKA
Final Four stats: 14.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 42.9% FG
Then: July 2011, NBA lockout. Andrey Kirilenko who had become a free agent, signed a 3-year agreement with CSKA with an option of going back to the US. However, after the lockout end in December 2011, he decided to stay with CSKA.
It was a successful season for Russian forward. Kirilenko was named both United League and Euroleague regular season MVP, helped CSKA qualify to VTB League Final Four. A bit later, FIBA Europe recognized him as the best player of 2012.
Andrey Kirilenko was the hero of semifinal against Lietuvos Rytas: the Russian scored 19 points, 7 of which were in the last 3 minutes. Kirilenko’s baskets got CSKA into the final game. After the final he was named F4 MVP.
Now: Kirilenko finished his career after 2014/15 season with United League title for CSKA. Some months later (August 2015) he was elected Russian Basketball Federation president and still leads it.
Jonas Valanciunas, Lietuvos Rytas
Final Four stats: 8.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 54.5% FG
Then: In 2011, 19-year-old Valanciunas was drafted (#5) by Toronto Raptors. However, the center decided to take another year in Europe. And he was right: with Lietuvos Rytas he got to United League Final Four, eventually won the bronze medal along with Lithuanian League silver.
In VTB United League, Valanciunas made 5 double-doubles, twice made 14 rebounds per game. The bronze match against Loko at home Siemens Arena was one of the best for Jonas. He made amends for the semifinal against CSKA, scored 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Now: Valanciunas’ next season was in the NBA already. The cetner played 7 seasons for Toronto, and one year ago was exchanged to Memphis. The Lithuanian played over 500 games in the NBA, and was included in 2012/13 season All-Rookie second team.
Before the forced break of 2019/20 season Jonas had a record of 14.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.
Darjus Lavrinovic, CSKA
Final Four stats: 12.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 50% field goals
Then: The Lithuanian came to CSKA at summer 2011 as a player for two positions. “We needed a big guy who can play numbers five and four,” as told by then CSKA coach Jonas Kazlauskas.
Darjus played 11 games in the regular season and helped CSKA win 9, but his best game was the final. In Vilnius, playing against UNICS, he scored 15 points 11 of wich were before the break. As a top scorer of a title game, Darjus Lavrinovic was elected into Final Four team.
Now: The forward left CSKA during summer 2012, later played in Lithuania, Ukraine, Italy and the UK. The last stop of the 40-years-old Lithuanian was London City Royals where Darjus started 2019/20 season. However, he came back in December and even played some amateur lague games.
What’s more peculiar is non-basketball activity of Lavrinovic. With his twin brother Ksystof, they started a YouTube show called LavTwins. The brothers travelled across the world to find their viewers. Plus, both players acted in Lithuanian sitcom.
Henry Domercant, UNICS
Final Four stats: 19.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 53.8% 3-pointers
Then: UNICS was the 7th club in his career. Domercant came to Kazan from St Petersburg where he played for Spartak. Henry soon became a leader of Pashutin’s offense: with an average of 12.3 points per game, he helped Kazan win group A and qualify straight to the Final Four.
Henry Domercant was the one who didn’t let Lokomotiv – League’s rookie – get to the final. In the semifinal, the guard made a career high of 30 points and became a clutch hero. It was he who sank the decisive shot with 2 seconds to the buzzer and UNICS trailing by 1. Krasnodar didn’t have time to come back.
After this intense semifinal, Domercant couldn’t repeat the performance in the final game. However, this 30 points were enough to get into the team of the tournament.
Now: injuries shaped the rest of his career, Domercant signed with Euroleague’s Galatasaray, but had to miss half of the season due to knee injury. In 2015, he moved to Italy, and even made a debut in D-League in 2016. After signing with the Romanian Cluj in June 2017, the guard had to finish his career in August after another injury.
The same season, Henry Domercant started coaching as an assistant in a G-League club. Currently he’s in the staff of Windy City Bulls, Chicago’s farm club.
Roderick Blakney, Lokomotiv-Kuban
Final Four stats: 14.0 points, 62.5% field goals
Then: Roderick Blakney came to Loko as an experienced veteran: the guard who had played 12 seasons professionally, including Euroleauge’s AEK, Olympiakos and Unicaja.
His main strength were shots from the perimiter and he proved it in the first game of the Final Four. Roderick made 6 of 8 against UNICS. However, he didn’t manage to maintain the level in bronze medal game against Lietuvos Rytas as Blakney only scored 6.
Now: Lokomotiv was the next-to-last club in his long career. In December, Blakney signed with Sevilla, and later decided to stop playing professionally. Roderick’s current life is not related to basketball.
