Donar (basketball club)

2009–2014: Successful GasTerra years

GasTerra Flames celebrating winning the 2010 DBL championship

In 2009 GasTerra became the main sponsor of the club, that was renamed the GasTerra Flames.^[2] Head coach Marco van den Berg stayed and a whole new team was put together. In the 2009–10 season, Donar won the 3rd national championship in club history by beating West-Brabant Giants 4–1 in the Finals.^[3] Earlier, in the regular season, Flames finished in first place with a 33–3 record. The key players of the team were the Americans Matt Haryasz, Matt Bauscher, Jason Dourisseau and Robby Bostain.

The whole squad that won the 2010 title returned for the next season, except for Tim Blue. In 2010 they became the first Dutch basketball team to take part in the qualifying rounds of the new Euroleague.^[4] In the regular season Donar ended on the second place, while Jason Dourisseau was named the Dutch League MVP. The team won a second NBB Cup in 2011, after beating WCAA Giants^[5] The team did eventually lost in the DBL Finals to Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden 4–3 in an historic game 7 which included three overtimes.^[6]

Scene of a Play-off Finals game in 2010

Head coach Marco van den Berg left after the 2010–11 season and Hakim Salem, former ABC Amsterdam coach was acquired.^[7] The team brought experienced players to the team like David Bell and Alex Wesby but they couldn't meet the set expectations. In the cup competition, Flames was defeated in the quarterfinals and in the DBL semifinals it lost to EiffelTowers Den Bosch.

During the 2012–13 season Hakim Salem was fired and the Croatian coach Ivica Skelin was acquired.^[8][9] Despite the coaching change, team was still swept 3–0 by Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden in the DBL semifinals.

Before the 2013–14 season it was announced that GasTerra's sponsor contract ended after the season.^[10] Flames acquired Dutch top players Arvin Slagter and Ross Bekkering from defending champion ZZ Leiden and three new Americans were added to the team. On March 30, 2014 Flames won the NBB Cup by beating Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden 79–71.^[11]

In the 2014 Playoffs Flames beat BC Apollo easily in the quarterfinals (2–0) and later beat ZZ Leiden after a tough series (3–2). On June 1, 2014 Donar won its 4th national title. They beat SPM Shoeters Den Bosch 76–68 in game 7 of the Finals series.^[12]

2014–present: Donar

In the 2014 offseason, the club announced that in the previous season, a deficit of €135,000 had arisen after mistakes made regarding the budget.^[13] Therefore, the club had to cut into costs for the 2014–15 season and the budet was reduced. For the 2014–15 season, the club is known again as Donar.^[14] The team won the Supercup against Leiden and the NBB Cup Final against Den Bosch, the DBL Finals were lost 4–1 against Den Bosch.

In the 2015 offseason, Ivica Skelin left the club and was replaced by Erik Braal. In July 2015, former league MVP Jason Dourisseau returned to Donar.^[15] In the 2015–16 season, Donar won its 5th DBL title after beating Landstede Basketbal 4–1 in the Finals.

In the 2016–17 season, Donar reached the second round of the FIBA Europe Cup after being defeated by Tartu in the first qualification round of the Basketball Champions League. This feat would mean Donar's best European performance in club history. The 2016–17 season was also the first season ever to record the triple crown. New Heroes Den Bosch was defeated to win the Supercup, Landstede Basketbal was defeated in the NBB Cup final as well as in the playoff finals (4–1).

In the 2017–18 season, Donar qualified for the FIBA Europe Cup after being defeated in an overtime thriller against Estudiantes in the third and last qualification round of the Basketball Champions League. As a result of the loss Donar was drafted into a Europe Cup group with KK Bosna (bosnia and herzegovina), Le Portel (France) and Antwerp Giants (Belgium) in which they finished 2nd. By ending in second place they earned a spot in the second round phase of the Europe Cup, playingin group L against CS Universitatea Mobitelco Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Belfius Mons-Hainaut (Belgium) and Keravnos B.C. (Cyprus). After a home and away win against Cluj, a clear home win against Keravnos (109-69) and a convincing home win against Mons, Donar placed 1st in this group and, for the first time in club history, qualified itself for the Europe Cup play-off phase.

In the play-offs, Donar beat Cluj-Napoca in the round of 16 and Mornar Bar in the quarter-finals, to reach its first ever European semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Donar lost to the defending Italian champion Reyer Venezia, despite winning the second leg at home. Donar won its third consecutive DBL title on 29 May 2018, after defeating ZZ Leiden 4–0 in the finals.

Names

The club has a rich history of names, mainly because of the different main sponsors of the team. Despite having been named differently in the past, "Donar" has always been used by supporters to describe the team.

Logos

Evolution of the Logo
2003–2006	2006–2009	2009–2014	2014–present

Uniforms

1981–82

2005–06

2006–07

2009–14

2009–14

Current roster

Donar roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age F 5000000000000000000♠00 Sitton, Grant (I) 7000206000000000000♠2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 7001800000000000000♠80 kg (176 lb) 25 – (1993-04-27)27 April 1993 G 7000100000000000000♠1 Cunningham, Sean 7000188000000000000♠1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 7001880000000000000♠88 kg (194 lb) 31 – (1986-12-20)20 December 1986 PF 7000300000000000000♠3 Wall, Jobi (I) 7000200000000000000♠2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 7001980000000000000♠98 kg (216 lb) 29 – (1989-09-12)12 September 1989 PG 7000500000000000000♠5 Gipson, Teddy (I) 7000192000000000000♠1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 7001730000000000000♠73 kg (161 lb) 38 – (1980-02-15)15 February 1980 SF 7000800000000000000♠8 Dourisseau, Jason (C) 7000196000000000000♠1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 7001910000000000000♠91 kg (201 lb) 34 – (1983-12-07)7 December 1983 G/F 7001110000000000000♠11 Hammink, Shane 7000200999999999999♠2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 7001950000000000000♠95 kg (209 lb) 24 – (1994-07-22)22 July 1994 C 7001140000000000000♠14 Koenis, Thomas 7000210000000000000♠2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 7002103000000000000♠103 kg (227 lb) 28 – (1989-12-11)11 December 1989 PF 7001150000000000000♠15 Mast, Rienk 7000202000000000000♠2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 17 – (2001-07-19)19 July 2001 PG 7001210000000000000♠21 Hoeve, Tim 7000196000000000000♠1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 20 – (1998-05-15)15 May 1998 PG 7001300000000000000♠30 Callahan, Jordan (I) 7000184000000000000♠1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 7001830000000000000♠83 kg (183 lb) 27 – (1990-10-21)21 October 1990 C 7001330000000000000♠33 Pašalić, Drago (I) 7000208000000000000♠2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 7002107000000000000♠107 kg (236 lb) 34 – (1984-06-23)23 June 1984 G/F 7001440000000000000♠44 Slagter, Arvin 7000190000000000000♠1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 7001900000000000000♠90 kg (198 lb) 32 – (1985-10-19)19 October 1985	Head coach Erik Braal Assistant coach(es) Meindert van Veen Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: 12 July 2018

Depth chart

• Denotes injured player.

Retired numbers

Donar retired numbers
N°	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure
10		Martin de Vries	SG	1979–1983, 1986–1990

Notable players

Domestic competition

• Dutch Basketball League^[16]
  • Winners (7): 1981–82, 2003–04, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
    • Runners-up (4): 1987–88, 2005–06, 2010–11, 2014–15

• Dutch Cup^[16]
  • Winners (6): 2004–05, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18
    • Runners-up (3): 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2006–07

• Dutch Supercup^[17]
  • Winners (3): 2014, 2016, 2018
    • Runners-up (3): 2011, 2015, 2017

European competition

• FIBA Europe Cup
  • Semi-finalist (1): 2017–18