A team | MEDIA GUIDE

The history of Basketball Nymburk dates back to 1929. The first team consisted of women only, but men managed to form their team shortly after the female came to existence. The quality grew rapidly and within twenty years, team Lyon or Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived to play in Nymburk. In the 1970's the Nymburk team participated in regional competitions and the successful ones were mostly the youngsters. From the 60's to 80's the club was supported by the Nymburk rail industry and participated in various international events such as the Olympic Railway games. A new era began in 1996, when the Nymburk advanced higher from the third league. In 1998, the Jansta brothers took over the club and ensured its financial stability and thus the team promoted to the first league. Since 2000 the club has been growing quite rapidly and has kept winning not only the domestic league and Czech Cup, but has continuously been proving its high quality throughout Europe. Since 2007 the Nymburk has been acting as a successful and stable Eurocup participant (formerly ULEB Cup - the second most prestigious European competition). The Basketball Nymburk entered the Adriatic League in 2010, those days the third most prestigious league in Europe - immediately after the Spanish ACB League and the Italian league. A year later Nymburk decided to change the competition and joined the VTB United League, which is supported by one of the Russia‘s largest banks – the VTB Bank. The Nymburk was invited to join this competition as the only club outside the former Soviet Union (except the Polish Club, which is a former VTB League member) and proved to be a tough competitor for many large European teams. By the victories over CSKA Moscow, St. Petersburg or Chimki Moscow, Nymburk joined the European basketball elite. With respect to success and quality of the club it is regularly invited to join the Euroleague qualification. Not only a male team exists within the Basketball Nymburk but also a basketball youth centre, attended by more than 200 children and youngsters per season.

• 2012/13 – The Czech champion, the Czech Cup winner
• 2011/12 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner
• 2010/11 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner
• 2009/10 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner
• 2008/09 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner
• 2007/08 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner
• 2006/07 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner
• 2005/06 – The Czech champion
• 2004/05 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner
• 2003/04 – The Czech champion, the Cup Winner

• 2013/14 – Euroleague – promotion into qualification
• 2012/13 – Eurocup – promotion within the best 16 teams + VTB league – 8th placement in a group
• 2011/12 – Euroleague – promotion into qualification + VTB league – 7th place in a group + Eurocup – participation in the quarter finals
• 2010/11 – Eurocup – promotion within the best 16 team + Adriatic league– the 8th place in a group
• 2009/10 – Eurocup – participation in the quarter finals
• 2008/09 – Eurocup – participation in the basic group, 3rd placement
• 2007/08 – Eurocup –promotion info play off
• 2006/07 – FIBA European League – participation in the basic group, 3rd placement

?EZ Basketball Nymburk is currently participating in the domestic Mattoni NBL and Cup, VTB United League, and will qualify for Euroleague. In case he doesn’t qualify, he has a secure participation in Eurocup.

VTB League was originally founded as a Cup of eight teams in 2008. Due to the success and huge interest of other teams that want to have the chance to participate in this high quality competition in their region The VTB Bank took over the organization, especially in terms of financial support. Since then, the VTB League ranks among the highest quality European competitions and may be compared with the prestigious Euroleague. VTB League is supported by partners such as VTB Bank, Lukoil, Asteros, Sollers, PIK Group, Asseco, and many others. All matches are live broadcasted by various TV channels. All CEZ Basketball Nymburk domestic and outdoor games are broadcasted by TV Nova Sport. The league has a support of a variety of strong media partners in each participating country. The league matches and events are mentioned in the most important periodical reports, television and radio stations. The broadcast of VTB League Matches cover population exceeding 250 million people. The president of VTB League is Mr. Sergei Ivanov, the head of the Russian President administration.

Eurocup is the second most prestigious basketball competition in Europe, organized by Euroleague. There are 32 Eurocup basketball teams from the basketball powerful countries playing in the current season such as France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Israel and others. The Eurocup matches are broadcasted by TV Sport Channel and also covered by a wide range of important Czech medias. Some matches are broadcasted by Eurosport 2, reaching more than 50 million households all across Europe. The matches of CEZ Basketball Nymburk are broadcasted regularly and Nymburk is the only Czech team whose matches are presented by Eurosport 2. This channel exists in 14 languages across Europe.

Mattoni NBL is the highest Czech basketball competition played by the best teams of each country. In the recent years the CEZ Basketball Nymburk plays a prominent role among the competitive clubs and gained the last ten champion titles.

Name, Jersey, Nationality, Date of birth, Height, Position

Petr Benda, 4, CZE, 28.3.1982, 202, 5

Jonathon Thompson, 5, USA, 11.12.1990, 193, 1/2

Scottie Reynolds, 6, USA, 10.10.1987, 188, 1

Vojt?ch Hruban, 7, CZE, 29.8.1989, 202, 2/3

Lukáš Palyza, 8, CZE, 10.11.1989, 203, 3

Ji?í Welsch, 9, CZE, 27.1.1980, 199, 1/2

Pavel Houška, 10, CZE, 23.1.1984, 203, 4/5

Chester Tre Simmons, 11, USA, 24.7,1982, 196, 2/3

Rašid Mahalbaši?, 12, AUS, SLO, 7.11.1990, 211, 5

Radoslav Ran?ík, 13, SWK, 6.10.1979, 206, 4

Dylan Page, 15, USA, 28.3.1982, 204, 4

Tomáš Pomikálek, 55, CZE, 7.7.1989, 200, 2

Petr Benda. A long-term member of Nymburk’s starting five. He has been in the team since 2007 and has gained six Mattoni NBL titles. He played an important part in the team both under couch MuliKatzurin and his successor Ronen Ginzburg. He has also been an indispensable Czech national team member.

Jonathon Thompson. He came over to Nymburk straightaway from an Orlando university. Although he has no experience with European basketball and his engagement in the Czech team is his first try-out to get a professional contract, he was asked by KestutisKemzura himself to join the team. He was a member of Rider Broncs’ starting five in NCAA in last two seasons.

Scottie Reynolds. He came over from the Italian Enel Brindisi playing Series A. Reynolds is a complex player who feels best in the point guard position. Due to his shooting skills, he does well also as a shooting forward. The quick-tempered recruit with a great basket penetration skills has a remarkable three-point basket scoring rate.

Vojt?ch Hruban. A big talent of Nymburk and Czech basketball. In spite of his young age he is a helpful player of the Czech national team alongside which he competed in Eurobasket 2013 in Slovenia. He came to Nymburk from the Prague club USK before the start of 2012/13 season.

Lukáš Palyza. An excellent shooter and another young hope for Nymburk. Although he has not belonged to the starting five yet, he has always took advantage of his minutes to the fullest. Originally an Ostrava basketball player, Palyza has started a third season in Nymburk.

Ji?í Welsch. A playing legend of Czech basketball. The second player from the Czech Republic in the NBA after George Zidek. In the NBA he played over 250 games including playoffs. After he came back to Europe he played four seasons for Euroleague team Unicaja Malaga. In 2012 he returned to the Czech Republic, specifically to Nymburk, with which  he won his first Czech championship.

Pavel Houška. Another member of the national team in the service of Nymburk. A long-term player of BK Decin in the Mattoni NBL, where he achieved two MVP titles. Before the season 2012/2013 he moved to Nymburk, where he took solid position and occupancy of the game.

Chester Tre Simmons. He returns to Nymburk after a year spent in Samara, Russia. Simmons played two seasons between 2010-2012 in Nymburk, won two Mattoni NBL titles and belonged to best shooters of the team. Now he is coming to prove his abilities. His last season in Samara was very successful; along with his team Simmons won EuroChallenge Cup and gained MVP trophy.

Rasid Mahalbasic. He is the youngest and tallest newcomer to the team. He spent last season in Gdynia, Poland, under new Nymburk’s coach KestutisKemzura who wanted to continue working with the young talent. Despite his young age Mahalbasic is experienced European player.

Radoslav Ran?ík. He returned to Nymburk during the last season and immediately followed up on his string of success from 2005-2008. He’s one of the team’s main supports both on court and in the cabin. Throughout the last three years he was engaged in Benetton Treviso for one and in Galatasaray Istambul for two seasons. Before that, he represented the Slovakian national team. Currently he is focusing  on his club engagement.

Dylan Page. He came from Gaziantep, Turkey, having spent the first half of the season in Olympia Ljubljana where he had 15 PPG. Page has got rich experience with European basketball; In Nymburk he has started his tenth season in Europe. In the past years he played in Greece, Spain, France, Slovenia and Turkey. His longest engagement was in Roanne, France, where he played seasons 2009-2012.

Tomáš Pomikálek. Alongside with Vojt?chHruban and LukášPalyza the third young gun and hot prospect for the future in the team.Tomáš came to Nymburk from Decin before last season with more experienced teammate PavelHouška, but he learned to play basketball in Liberec. For his agility and athleticism he is often assigned to defend the opponent's greatest star.

Kestutis Kemzura.  He took over the role of the head coach before this season. In 2004 he became the head coach of Lietuvos Rytas. During the following years of his career he coached Dynamo Petrohrad, Benetton Treviso, Chimki Moscow, Lokomotiva Kuban or Asseco Prokom Gdynya. Besides these engagements he also has massive experience as a coach of Lithuanian National team. He won a bronze medal with Lithuania at the 2010 world championship, ranked fifth at Eurobasket 2011 and eight at the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

Ricardas Reimaris. Basketball Nymburk is his third contract with Kezmura. For the first time, he accepted his offer in March 2004 and became his assistant with Lietuvos Rytas. Later they met again in the Lithuanian national team, and led it to bronze medal at the World Championship in Turkey in 2010, the fifth rank at Eurobasket 2011 and eight at London Olympic games in 2012. He also led the teams of KK Neptunas, Siluté and BS Siauliai as the head coach.

5) ARENAS

Adress: Sportovní 1802, 288 00 Nymburk

GPS: 50°14' 41" N ; 15°03'33" E

Adress: Za elektrárnou 419/1, 170 00 Praha-Bubene?

GPS: 50°6’23.312?N, 14°26’0.023?E