Jonas Kazlauskas

Jonas Kazlauskas (born 21 November 1954) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach of the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

Playing career Kazlauskas played for Statyba Vilnius from 1973 to 1985. He won a bronze medal in the former USSR Supreme League in 1979. In October 2004, he became the head coach of Olympiacos Piraeus, and later moved to CSKA Moscow during the 2010–11 season.

Kazlauskas took a position with the Guangdong Southern Tigers for the latter stage of the 2012–13 Chinese Basketball Association season, serving as "executive coach" to fill the role of experienced mentor for newly appointed head coach Du Feng, and helping guide the team to their record-tying eighth title in the 2013 CBA Finals. He retained his role with Guangdong for the 2013–14 CBA season but the squad lost in the semi-finals of the 2014 CBA Playoffs.

Kazlauskas returned to the Southern Tigers as head coach for the 2017–18 CBA season, while Du was serving as head coach with the "China Blue" version of the country's national team, and led a rebuilding side to third place with 28 wins in 38 regular season games before the youthful squad were eliminated in the semi-finals of the 2018 CBA Playoffs.

Coaching awards and achievements State awards Recipient of the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (1996) PBL Coach of the Year: 2012

National team Lithuanian national team: Summer Olympic Games : 2000 2× EuroBasket : 2013, 2015 China national team: FIBA Asia Cup : 2005 Asian Games : 2006 Greek national team: EuroBasket : 2009

Personal life Kazlauskas and his wife have two daughters. He likes tennis, crosswords and computer games.

Coaching record

EuroLeague