Drazen Anzulovic coaching Cibona Zagreb during a Euroleague match. Photo used courtesy of Euroleague Basketball.

VILNIUS — Lithuania’s top basketball squad Lietuvos Rytas hired a new coach Monday, Drazen Anzulovic of Croatia, to replace outgoing coach Rimas Kurtinaitis.

Although Kurtinaitis had a good record while leading the Vilnius-based squad for 2008-09, the past season was disappointing in spite of the recent Lithuanian League championship: Lietuvos Rytas lost the BBL to arch-rival Žalgiris and didn’t make the top 16 in Euroleague. Lietuvos Rytas General Manager Jonas Vainauskas said management decided to replace Kurtinaitis before the LKL win last week.

At a press conference Tuesday Kurtinaitis told reporters that the decision was mutual and that he was in negotiations with other teams about coaching, although he did not name which ones.

Anzulovic has led Cibona Zagreb into multiple Croatian league championships and has also coached at BC Donetsk in Ukraine, Spirou Charleroi in Belgium and Ural Great in Russia.

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