BK Valmiera

2015–16 season: Latvian league championship

Before the start of the season, BK Valmiera included the sponsor name in the team's name, becoming Valmiera/Ordo. Head coach Ainars Zvirgzdins returned after a three-year departure. Hometown favorite Jānis Kaufmanis returned to the squad after a year in Spain. The biggest additions were Artūrs Bērziņš, sharpshooter Mārtiņš Laksa, and 2015 EuroBasket participant Haralds Kārlis.

The Latvian Basketball League season started on 30 September with Valmiera/Ordo beating reigning champions VEF Rīga on the road 79–75. Valmiera kept the winning streak alive for seven games before losing their first game, against BK Ventspils on 7 November by a score of 74–82 in an away game. Before that, on 21 October, the team took a chance on picking up veteran guard Armands Šķēle, giving him the opportunity to play professional basketball for the first time together with his younger brother Aigars Šķēle. Despite being at the top of the league in November and December, the team struggled. Lithuanian point guard Vytenis Čižauskas left the team because of limited minutes given by his coach. For the next couple of weeks, Gatis Melderis took command of the coaching position. The situation was hard due to injuries. On 26 December, in Liepāja, Valmiera/Ordo could line up only an eight-player roster, but in the 44th game, the second team captain Haralds Kārlis was injured his ACL, which took him out of basketball activities for a full year. Valmiera/Ordo lost that game 87–91.

After the New Year's came, more changes occurred in the team. In the center position, Valmiera/Ordo added Lauris Blaus, but on 15 January, Roberts Štelmahers became the third head coach of the team in the same season. Štelmahers' debut came a day later, against his former team BK Ventspils. In their home court, Valmiera/Ordo celebrated a victory 87-83. In the next months, Valmiera added victories in the tournament table and incorporated veteran forward Akselis Vairogs and point guard Kwamain Mitchell to the team roster.

In March, the Baltic Basketball League deciding games took place. During the regular season, Valmiera/Ordo finished with a record of 9–3 and second place in group A. At the playoffs stage, Valmiera defeated Estonian BC Tallinna Kalev (171–134) and Lithuanian BC Pieno žvaigždės (161–149). Before the semi-finals, the team's goal was to win a medal in the Baltic league competition for the first time in club's history, but it did not come to pass. In the semi-finals, Valmiera was forced to admit University of Tartu's superiority (132–143). In the bronze series against BC Lietkabelis Valmiera could not hold on to the first-game 16 point lead, suffering a heartbreaking defeat in a two-game summary of 154–160.

Meanwhile in Latvian league, Valmiera/Ordo finished the regular season with a 13 game winning streak, beating its main rivals in the top of the tournament's table. Finishing regular season with 30–6, Valmiera took the top spot on end table and first seed in playoffs. In the semifinals, Valmiera/Ordo rolled over Liepāja/Triobet winning the series 3–0. Valmiera's opponent in the championship finals was at the time the four time champions and reigning Latvian trophy holders VEF Rīga. The finals started on 21 March. Valmiera/Ordo lost the first game at home with a score of 59–70, but in the second match Valmiera took the victory 73–71. On the road Valmiera went with a draw 1–1. In the Arēna Rīga, Valmiera took Game 3 with a score of 79–70, but in Game 4 VEF Rīga aligned series result 2–2 (with a score of 77–82). The fifth game, in 27 March came back to Valmiera. The visitors managed to pull away the victory, putting themselves one victory away from the title (76–85). But Valmiera/Ordo was not ready to surrender. In Game-6 Valmiera/Ordo took away the victory 82–77, but in the final game on March 31, Valmiera/Ordo pleased the crowd on a sold-out home game by securing the victory 79–70. Taking the series with a win of 4–3^[1] Valmiera/Ordo celebrated its first National title in Valmiera city sports history.

LBL finals MVP award winner was Artūrs Bērziņš (season stats: 9.8 ppg, 4,1 rpg). Between team leaders was Aigars Šķēle (10.5 ppg, 4.0 asp), Mārtiņš Laksa (10.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg), Armands Šķēle (9.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and Jānis Kaufmanis (9.4 ppg).

Valmiera/Ordo championships depth chart

After the championship

After winning the Latvian championship, Valmiera/Ordo declined the option to play in the Basketball Champions League. Lead by head coach Uvis Helmanis the team's squad was still pretty solid. The team top scorers were Janis Kaufmanis, Mārtiņš Laksa and Artūrs Bērziņš. At the end of the season one of the EuroLeague stars, big man D'or Fischer, was added to the team's roster. But things did not go Valmiera's way. In the 2016–17 Baltic Basketball League Valmiera/Ordo lost in the quarterfinals, while in the 2016–17 Latvian Basketball League the team lost in the bronze medal series. The team struggled financially during the last months of the season, which haunted it for the upcoming season.

In the 2017–18 Latvian Basketball League the team finished in the last position. The new head coach Kristaps Valters had only three proven players - Janis Kaufmanis, Viktors Iļjins and Edmunds Elksnis. The rest of the team was very young and the team lost most of the games, taking the last position in the national championship and not making the 2017–18 Baltic Basketball League playoff tournament.

After the season, the club resigned to continue playing in the top tier.

Retired numbers

BK Valmiera retired numbers
No.	Player	Position	Tenure	Ceremony date
8	Dainis Bertāns	C	1992–2004	08/01/2014

Current roster

Valmiera Ordo roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G 7000300000000000000♠3 Elksnis, Edmunds 7000187000000000000♠1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 7001900000000000000♠90 kg (198 lb) 27 – (1990-11-19)19 November 1990 SG 7000500000000000000♠5 Kaufmanis, Jānis 7000186000000000000♠1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 7001880000000000000♠88 kg (194 lb) 29 – (1989-10-03)3 October 1989 PF 7001100000000000000♠10 Miška, Anrijs 7000204999999999999♠2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 7001910000000000000♠91 kg (201 lb) 18 – (2000-01-14)14 January 2000 SG 7001130000000000000♠13 Vīksne, Dāvids 7000194000000000000♠1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 7001810000000000000♠81 kg (179 lb) 17 – (2000-11-07)7 November 2000 C 7001170000000000000♠17 Iļjins, Viktors 7000215000000000000♠2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) 7002116000000000000♠116 kg (256 lb) 27 – (1991-07-17)17 July 1991 C 7001220000000000000♠22 Adiņš, Rihards 7000204000000000000♠2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 7002106000000000000♠106 kg (234 lb) 24 – (1994-04-09)9 April 1994 SG 7001250000000000000♠25 Hāzners, Eduards 7000194000000000000♠1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 7001880000000000000♠88 kg (194 lb) 20 – (1997-12-28)28 December 1997 G 7001270000000000000♠27 Bērziņš, Ojārs 7000191000000000000♠1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 7001840000000000000♠84 kg (185 lb) 17 – (2001-01-26)26 January 2001	Head coach Kristaps Valters Assistant coach(es) Gatis Melderis Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: April 1, 2017