Pedro Martínez had an unusual path throughout his almost four decades of coaching career - at just 28 years old, he won the European trophy, 27 years later he was the champion of Spain, and today his Valencia plays the most beautiful basketball in Europe.
Decades passed, basketball changed, and Martinez showed that time had not swallowed him. On the contrary, he made the sport much more fun.
Valencia are in the Euroleague Final Four for the first time in their history after knocking out the giants Panathinaikos in an unforgettable quarterfinal series. The "Orange" traveled to Athens with a 0:2 record, and then staged a turnaround that only Real Madrid managed against Partizan three years ago.
- I'm very pleased, but dancing to the castanets is not for me. There are still battles left this season - Martinez put the ball down after qualifying for the final tournament, which will be played in the OAKA Arena, home of Panathinaikos.
YOUNGEST EVER WITH A EUROPEAN CUP
Pedro Martinez's story began in 1989 in his native Catalonia when he arrived as an assistant at Juventud.
A year later, he became the first coach, and then shocked Europe - with the club from Badalona, he won the Radivoje Korac Cup, at the time the third most valuable competition on the Old Continent.
He was 28 years old at the time and became the youngest coach to reach the European Cup - a record he still holds today.
It seemed that the following years would bring more trophies, especially when he was voted Spain's best coach in 1994, but not everything came easy for Martinez after his early success with Juventud.
He managed many clubs, from Manresa, Salamanca, Granada, to Tenerife and Gran Canaria, and he had to wait until 2005, when he won the Spanish Super Cup with Baskonia, for a new trophy.
And then he waited another 12 for the real stuff...
THE MAN WHO CREATED THE HISTORY OF VALENCIA
And after Baskonia, he changed many clubs (Estudiantes, Girona, Sevilla), before arriving in Valencia for the first time in 2015. Even then, it was clear that that club and he had a special connection, an emotion...
Just two years later, he led Valencia to its first title in Spain, and the best player in the team at the time was Montenegrin captain Bojan Dubljević.
A new invitation from Baskonia followed, which Martinez could not refuse. This time he did not make a name for himself in the Basque Country, so in November 2018, after opening the Euroleague with a 2-5 win, he was fired. He was doomed by a defeat in "Morača" against Budućnost Voli, in a season when our champion as the ABA League champion played in the European elite. In that match, a Euroleague record was also broken, as Aleksandar Džikić's team scored 21 three-pointers.
After Baskonia, he managed Manresa and Gran Canaria, and in 2024 he arrived at Valencia for the second time.
His favorite team immediately started playing well and beautifully, reaching the semifinals of last season's Eurocup, and he was voted the best coach of the competition.
However, the real things started this season - Valencia won the Spanish Super Cup, slowly started to "buy" everyone who loves basketball through the league part of the Euroleague, finished in second place, and then staged an epic comeback against Panathinaikos.
Martinez received a new award as the best coach in the Euroleague, and Branco Badio, Gian Montero and the other masters in orange have become players that now make Europe tremble.
It's Real's turn in the semi-finals - if Valencia keeps up their pace, they could forever remember Athens as a special city.
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