Joan Plaza
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.
