Gert Kullamäe

Gert Kullamäe

BC Pärnu Sadam
Position	Head coach
Personal information
Born	(1971-06-03) 3 June 1971 (age 52) Tallinn, Estonia
Nationality	Estonian
Listed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight	212 lb (96 kg)
Career information
Playing career	1985–2009
Position	Shooting guard / small forward
Number	14
Coaching career	2009–present
Career history
As player:
1985–1989	TPI
1989–1990	TPEDI
1990–1993	Kalev
1993–1994	Žalgiris Kaunas
1994–1996	Kalev
1996–1997	Kamee
1998–2000	Kalev
2000–2001	Telindus Oostende
2001–2002	BC Hotronic
2002–2004	Brose Baskets
2004–2006	EiffelTowers
2006–2009	Tartu Ülikool/Rock
As coach:
2009–2012	Tartu Ülikool/Rock (assistant)
2012–2017	Tartu Ülikool/Rock
2018–2019	Tallinna Kalev/TLÜ
2019	TalTech
2020–2022	BC Pärnu Sadam (assistant)
2022-present	BC Pärnu Sadam
Career highlights and awards
As player: 2× Estonian Basketball Player of the Year (1999, 2006) 2× KML Most Valuable Player (1998, 2000) 2× All-KML First Team (1998, 2007) All-KML Second Team (2008) All-DBL Second Team (2006) 2× DBL All-Bosman Player of the Year (2005, 2006) DBL All-Star (2005) 7× Estonian champion (1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2007, 2008) Soviet Union champion (1991) Lithuanian champion (1994) Belgian champion (2001) Dutch champion (2006) Belgian Cup Winner (2001) As coach: KML Coach of the Year (2015) 2× Estonian champion (2010, 2015) 5× Estonian Cup Winner (2009–2011, 2013, 2014) Baltic League Cup Winner (2010)
Medals Men's basketball Representing Soviet Union FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship 1987 Hungary U-16 Team

Gert Kullamäe (born 3 June 1971)^[1] is an Estonian basketball coach and a former professional basketball player who currently coaches Estonian team BC Pärnu Sadam. Kullamäe mostly played at the shooting guard position and was a great 3-point shooter. As a player he is a seven-time Estonian Champion and also a Soviet Union, Lithuanian, Belgian and Dutch champion.

Club career

Kullamäe was born in Tallinn, Estonia, and made his senior club debut with TPI (Tallinn University of Technology) team in Estonian SSR Championship (today Korvpalli Meistriliiga). This happened in autumn 1985 when he was only 14 years and 4 months old.^[2] After some seasons, he signed with Kalev and he has played in USSR Championships; Korać Cup in 1990–91 and FIBA European Champions Cup in 1991–92. During this period Kullamäe won USSR Championship in 1991 and Estonian Championships in 1992 and 1993. Then he moved to Lithuanian BC Zalgiris and won the Lithuanian Championship in 1994. In Lithuania he was coached by Jaak Salumets, ex-coach of Tallinn "Kalev" and the Estonia national basketball team. After a successful season with the Lithuanian club Kullamäe came back to Estonia and played for Kalev and "Kamee" teams in Meistriliiga. He won the Estonian Championships again in 1995 and 1998. Eurobasket.com voted him a Meistriliiga MVP in 1998; 1999; 2000. Kullamäe signed a contract with Telindus Oostende in 2000–01 season and won the Belgian League with the team. After a serious knee injury and one season in an Estonian team "BC Hotronic" he moved back to Europe. Kullamäe signed to a Bundesliga team Brose Baskets. With this team he won two German Championships silver medals and then moved to EiffelTowers. Kullamäe was voted Dutch Eredivisie All-Bosman Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006, he also won the Dutch Championship in 2006. In summer of 2006 Kullamäe came back to Estonia and joined Tartu Ülikool/Rock. In 2007 and 2008 he won his 5th and 6th Estonian Championship title with Tartu team. He has also finished Baltic Basketball League on third place in 2008–09 season with Rock.^[3]

Coaching

In July 2009 he announced his retirement from active career and became an assistant coach in Tartu Rock.^[4] Kullamäe became head coach of Tartu in January 2012 after Indrek Visnapuu resigned.^[5] Kullamäe left Tartu after the team missed out of the 2017 Estonian League finals. In January 2018 he became the head coach of Tallinna Kalev/TLÜ.^[6] Kullamäe resigned in January 2019 due to a disagreement with the club management.^[7] In May 2019 he became the head coach of TalTech.^[8] He resigned in December 2019 and became the assistant coach of BC Pärnu Sadam in February 2020.^[9] In November 2022 he became the head coach of BC Pärnu Sadam.

National team career

In the late 1980s, Kullamäe was a member of the U-17 USSR Basketball team (coached by Modestas Paulauskas) and the U-19 USSR Basketball team (coached by Stanislav Eremin). He won a bronze medal with the USSR team at the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in 1987. Kullamäe was a member of Estonia national basketball team between 1993 and 1995, 1998 and 2001, and in 2004 and 2007 (when he served as captain). His national team career-high score was 32 points, which was obtained during a match against Lithuania in autumn 1994, as part of the EuroBasket 1995 qualifying round. Kullamäe was also a member of the Estonian EuroBasket 1993 squad.^[10]

Season by season results as head coach

Abbreviations:
QF; quarter-finals.
T16; top sixteen.
L32; last 32.
RS; regular season.
QR2; qualification round 2.

Honours

Orders

Order of the White Star, 5th Class: 2010

References

External links

• Profile at basket.ee (in Estonian)
• Profile at bbl.net
• German Fansite