Joan Plaza
| 250px | |
| Unicaja | |
|---|---|
| Position | Head coach |
| League | Liga ACB Euroleague |
| Personal information | |
| Born | December 26, 1963 Barcelona, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Coaching career | 2000–present |
| Career history | |
| As coach: | |
| 2000–2005 | Joventut Badalona (assistant) |
| 2005–2006 | Real Madrid (assistant) |
| 2006–2009 | Real Madrid |
| 2009–2012 | Cajasol |
| 2012–2013 | BC Žalgiris |
| 2013–present | Unicaja |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
Joan Plaza Durán (b. December 26, 1963) is a Spanish basketball head coach for the Liga ACB team Unicaja. He trained Real Madrid Baloncesto for three years, winning one Liga ACB Championship and an ULEB Cup victory. On 2009, after a bad season, he was replaced by CSKA's successful coach Ettore Messina.
Biography
Joan Plaza began his career with the basketball school founded by him and his brothers, EB Betsaida. At the same time he worked for the women's team EB Santísima Trinitat as well as the small club CB Sant Adriá. In 1995 he at last became the new coach of the Joventut de Badalona, where he worked as the youth and assistant trainer until 2004. His greatest achievement was in the 2000-2001 season, when his team won the Spanish U20 championship.
In the summer of 2004, following the wish of the new coach Božidar Maljković, Plaza switched to Real Madrid. When the Serbian coach left after a disappointing season, Plaza assumed the position of head coach.
In the following season, Real Madrid won the first thirteen league games in series, giving Plaza a new record for a coach in his first season. The team won the international ULEB Cup and he was named coach of the year.
In 2007/2008, Real Madrid signed Greek star Lazaros Papadopoulos, who failed to perform well during the whole session. The team lost in first round in ACB Playoffs and didn't reach the Euroleague Final Four for 12th consecutive year. Madrid's 2008/2009's team was reformed, but failed again to reach the Final Four or perform well in the Spanish Cup. After losing in playoffs' second round to TAU Cerámica, Plaza was sacked, and replaced by Euroleague 4 time winner Ettore Messina on June 18. The following day, he signed a one-year contract with league strugglers Cajasol Sevilla.
American sports fans heard of him for the first time on January 11, 2010 when he was featured on the humor web site "Totally Looks Like", shown next to a picture of Steve Carell sporting a beard.
Honours
- Real Madrid
- Individual
External links
- Joan Plaza at acb.com (Spanish)
- Joan Plaza at euroleague.net
