Pedro Martínez, 2016-17 7DAYS EuroCup Coach of the Year

24/03/2017

The 7DAYS EuroCup Coach of the Year for the 2016-17 season is Pedro Martinez of Valencia Basket. Martinez has guided his team to a EuroCup-best 17-3 record and a place in the EuroCup Finals for the fifth time in club history with a chance to add to its record three crowns. Valencia stormed through the regular season with only one loss in eight games, and followed that with an undefeated run in a strong Top 16 group against the likes of ALBA Berlin, Cedevita Zagreb and future opponent in the finals, Unicaja Malaga. That performance earned Valencia home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, and Coach Martinez and his team have used it to the fullest. In both the quarterfinals and the semifinals series, Valencia ousted Khimki Moscow Region and then Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem by going 4-0 at home, including resounding Game 3 victories to advance to the finals. As he is attempting to re-write the EuroCup record books, Coach Martinez has also become Euroleague Basketball’s choice as the 2016-17 EuroCup Coach of the Year.

The EuroCup Coach of the Year is part of an awards structure designed to recognize the finest EuroCup participants for their efforts throughout the season. Rolands Smits of Montakit Fuenlabrada was already named the 7DAYS EuroCup Rising Star Trophy winner for this season. Euroleague Basketball's in-house experts will also select the All-EuroCup First and Second Teams and the EuroCup MVP. Martinez becomes the ninth winner of the annual Coach of the Year award, which was introduced prior to the 2008-09 season. The previous winners were Oktay Mahmuti of Benetton Basket in 2009, Ilias Zouros of Panellinios in 2010, Aleksandar Petrovic of Cedevita Zagreb in 2011, Jure Zdovc of Spartak St. Petersburg in 2012, Fotis Katsikaris of Uxue Bilbao Basket in 2013, Andrea Trinchieri of Unics Kazan in 2014, Aito Garcia Reneses of Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas in 2015 and Maurizio Buscaglia of Dolomiti Energia Trento last season.


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