# 2016–17 KML season

The 2016–17 Korvpalli Meistriliiga season (also known as the Alexela Korvpalli Meistriliiga for sponsorship reasons) was the 92nd season of top-tier basketball in Estonia. BC Kalev/Cramo came into the season as defending champions of the 2015–16 season.
The season began on 2 October 2016 and concluded on 22 May 2017 with BC Kalev/Cramo defeating AVIS UTILITAS Rapla 4 games to 0 in the finals to win their 9th Estonian Championship.

## Teams
### Venues and locations

| Team | Home city | Arena | Capacity |
| AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | Rapla | Sadolin Sports Hall | 818 |
| BC Kalev/Cramo | Tallinn | Saku Suurhall | 7,200 |
| BC Valga-Valka/Maks & Moorits | Valga | Valga Sports Hall | 561 |
| G4S Noorteliiga | Tallinn | Audentes Sports Center | 1,030 |
| Pärnu Sadam | Pärnu | Pärnu Sports Hall | 1,820 |
| Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall | Rakvere | Rakvere Sports Hall | 2,747 |
| Tartu Ülikool | Tartu | University of Tartu Sports Hall | 1,650 |
| TLÜ/Kalev | Tallinn | Audentes Sports Center | 1,030 |
| TTÜ KK | Tallinn | TTÜ Sports Hall | 1,000 |

### Personnel and sponsorship

| Team | Head coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | Aivar Kuusmaa | Indrek Kajupank | Spalding | Avis |
| BC Kalev/Cramo | Alar Varrak | Gregor Arbet | Nike | Cramo |
| BC Valga-Valka/Maks & Moorits | Kristaps Zeids | Renato Lindmets | SMV | Maks & Moorits |
| G4S Noorteliiga | Indrek Visnapuu | Karl Robin Jürjens | Peak | G4S |
| Pärnu Sadam | Heiko Rannula | Silver Leppik | Nike | Port of Pärnu |
| Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall | Andres Sõber | Mario Paiste | Nike | Rakvere |
| Tartu Ülikool | Gert Kullamäe | Tanel Sokk | Nike | University of Tartu |
| TLÜ/Kalev | Raido Roos | Reimo Tamm | Peak | City of Tallinn |
| TTÜ KK | Rait Käbin | Kiur Akenpärg | Erreà | Tallinn University of Technology |

### Coaching changes

| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming coach | Date of appointment |
| Pärnu Sadam | Mait Käbin | Mutual consent | 1 June 2016 | Pre-season | Heiko Rannula | 1 September 2016 |
| TLÜ/Kalev | Kalle Klandorf | Mutual consent | 1 January 2017 | 8th | Raido Roos | 1 January 2017 |
| BC Valga-Valka/Maks & Moorits | Juris Umbraško | Sacked | 10 February 2017 | 8th | Kristaps Zeids | 10 February 2017 |

## Regular season

During the regular season teams will play 4 rounds for 32 games (2 at home and 2 away) with following exceptions:
* Tartu Ülikool will play 1 round at home against teams other than BC Kalev/Cramo (1 round at home and 2 rounds away in total).
* BC Kalev/Cramo will play 2 rounds away against teams other than Tartu Ülikool (2 rounds away in total).
* G4S Noorteliiga will play 2 rounds (1 round at home and 1 round away in total).
Double points will be awarded to teams winning those games.

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | BC Kalev/Cramo | 32 | 29 | 3 | 61 | .906 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 2 | Tartu Ülikool | 32 | 29 | 3 | 61 | .906 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 3 | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 32 | 20 | 12 | 52 | .625 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 4 | Pärnu Sadam | 32 | 17 | 15 | 49 | .531 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 5 | TTÜ KK | 32 | 16 | 16 | 48 | .500 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 6 | BC Valga-Valka/Maks & Moorits | 32 | 12 | 20 | 44 | .375 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 7 | TLÜ/Kalev | 32 | 12 | 20 | 44 | .375 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 8 | Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall | 32 | 9 | 23 | 41 | .281 | Qualification to Playoffs |
| 9 | G4S Noorteliiga | 32 | 0 | 32 | 32 | .000 | |
Source: Korvpalli Meistriliiga

### Results

| Home \ Away | RAP | KAL | VAL | G4S | PÄR | TRV | TRT | TLK | TTÜ |
| AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | | 82–66 | 87–59 | 83–57 | 75–62 | 90–67 | 73–79 | 79–76 | 101–91 |
| | 77–80 | 80–78 | | 93–91 | 92–57 | 65–68 | 63–70 | 89–83 |
| BC Kalev/Cramo | | | | | | | 86–63 | | |
| | | | | | | 85–75 | | |
| BC Valga-Valka/Maks & Moorits | 76–82 | 73–79 | | 108–53 | 80–91 | 89–106 | 67–89 | 77–74 | 78–92 |
| 70–72 | 76–83 | | | 89–99 | 100–70 | 56–82 | 87–103 | 66–68 |
| G4S Noorteliiga | 64–81 | 69–102 | 75–80 | | 69–83 | 75–107 | 59–102 | 62–87 | 64–71 |
| | 59–112 | | | | | | | |
| Pärnu Sadam | 65–59 | 62–94 | 86–93 | 101–55 | | 69–81 | 68–81 | 73–49 | 82–79 |
| 64–49 | 71–74 | 74–90 | | | 87–72 | 62–67 | 75–84 | 76–67 |
| Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall | 61–81 | 77–107 | 85–86 | 83–65 | 75–86 | | 77–105 | 70–80 | 82–80 |
| 61–91 | 77–103 | 76–97 | | 70–93 | | 67–91 | 69–88 | 65–83 |
| Tartu Ülikool | 96–66 | 77–76 | 85–69 | 88–57 | 88–69 | 110–64 | | 86–65 | 94–72 |
| | 69–71 | | | | | | | |
| TLÜ/Kalev | 74–98 | 64–74 | 76–88 | 94–67 | 80–88 | 61–65 | 63–110 | | 67–68 |
| 76–72 | 64–88 | 59–84 | | 69–75 | 86–87 | 67–97 | | 85–92 |
| TTÜ KK | 100–82 | 84–89 | 98–87 | 83–75 | 89–71 | 94–72 | 64–75 | 62–82 | |
| 85–78 | 80–108 | 102–77 | | 71–85 | 92–86 | 54–85 | 73–80 | |

## Playoffs

The playoffs began on 10 April and ended on 22 May. The tournament concluded with BC Kalev/Cramo defeating AVIS UTILITAS Rapla 4 games to 0 in the finals.

### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | BC Kalev/Cramo | 3 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall | 0 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall | 0 | 1 | BC Kalev/Cramo | 3 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Pärnu Sadam | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Pärnu Sadam | 3 | 4 | Pärnu Sadam | 0 | | | |
| 5 | TTÜ KK | 0 | | | | | | |
| 5 | TTÜ KK | 0 | | | | 1 | BC Kalev/Cramo | 4 |
| | | | | | | 3 | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 0 |
| 2 | Tartu Ülikool | 3 | | | | | | | 3 | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 0 |
| 7 | TLÜ/Kalev | 0 | | | |
| 7 | TLÜ/Kalev | 0 | 2 | Tartu Ülikool | 1 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 3 | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 3 |
| 3 | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 3 | 3 | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 3 | 2 | Tartu Ülikool | 3 |
| 6 | BC Valga-Valka/Maks & Moorits | 0 | | | | 4 | Pärnu Sadam | 0 |

## Individual statistics

Players qualify to this category by having at least 50% games played.

### Points

| Rank | Name | Team | Games | Points | PPG |
| 1 | Đorđe Dželetović | TLÜ/Kalev | 16 | 293 | 18.31 |
| 2 | Joonas Järveläinen | TTÜ KK | 28 | 478 | 17.07 |
| 3 | Domagoj Bubalo | Pärnu Sadam | 25 | 412 | 16.48 |
| 4 | Sten Olmre | TTÜ KK | 28 | 439 | 15.68 |
| 5 | Thomas van der Mars | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 38 | 587 | 15.45 |

### Rebounds

| Rank | Name | Team | Games | Rebounds | RPG |
| 1 | Thomas van der Mars | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla | 38 | 468 | 12.32 |
| 2 | Domagoj Bubalo | Pärnu Sadam | 25 | 201 | 8.04 |
| 3 | Joonas Järveläinen | TTÜ KK | 28 | 219 | 7.82 |
| 4 | Madis Soodla | G4S Noorteliiga | 13 | 98 | 7.54 |
| 5 | Venky Jois | Tartu Ülikool | 31 | 228 | 7.35 |

### Assists

| Rank | Name | Team | Games | Assists | APG |
| 1 | Tanel Sokk | Tartu Ülikool | 31 | 165 | 5.32 |
| 2 | Sten Sokk | BC Kalev/Cramo | 25 | 108 | 4.32 |
| 3 | Norman Käbin | Pärnu Sadam | 20 | 82 | 4.10 |
| 4 | Sten Olmre | TTÜ KK | 28 | 113 | 4.04 |
| 5 | Mario Paiste | Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall | 24 | 88 | 3.67 |

## All-Star Game

The 2017 All-Star Game was played on 16 February 2017 in Tallinn at the Saku Suurhall. Team Blue won the game 159–152 (139–136). The MVP of the game was Rain Veideman, who scored 37 points.
Team White :
| Pos | Player | Team |
| Starters |||
| G | Demonte Harper | BC Kalev/Cramo |
| G | Martin Paasoja | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| F | Janari Jõesaar | Tartu Ülikool |
| F | Karl Johan Lips | Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall |
| C | Thomas van der Mars | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| Reserves |||
| G | Carlos Jürgens | G4S Noorteliiga |
| G | Kristo Saage | TLÜ/Kalev |
| G | Mandell Thomas | Tartu Ülikool |
| F | Erik Keedus | BC Kalev/Cramo |
| F | Mark Tollefsen | BC Kalev/Cramo |
| F | Kristjan Voolaid | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| C | Domagoj Bubalo | Pärnu Sadam |
| Head coach: Aivar Kuusmaa (AVIS UTILITAS Rapla) |||
Team Blue :
| Pos | Player | Team |
| Starters |||
| G | Domen Bratož | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| G | Rain Veideman | BC Kalev/Cramo |
| F | Indrek Kajupank | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| F | Janar Talts | Tartu Ülikool |
| C | Mickell Gladness | BC Kalev/Cramo |
| Reserves |||
| G | Sten Olmre | TTÜ KK |
| G | Sten Sokk | BC Kalev/Cramo |
| G | Rasham Suárez | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| F | Taavi Jurkatamm | G4S Noorteliiga |
| F | Saimon Sutt | Pärnu Sadam |
| F | Ivars Žvīgurs | BC Valga-Valka/Maks & Moorits |
| C | Reinar Hallik | Pärnu Sadam |
| Head coach: Gert Kullamäe (Tartu Ülikool) |||

## Awards
### Most Valuable Player

* Thomas van der Mars (AVIS UTILITAS Rapla)

### Finals Most Valuable Player

* Branko Mirković (BC Kalev/Cramo)

### Best Defender

* Mihkel Kirves (Pärnu Sadam)

### Best Young Player

* Siim-Markus Post (Rakvere Tarvas/Palmse Metall)

### Coach of the Year

* Aivar Kuusmaa (AVIS UTILITAS Rapla)

### All-KML Team

| Pos | Player | Team |
| PG | Branko Mirković | BC Kalev/Cramo |
| SG | Martin Paasoja | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| SF | Janari Jõesaar | Tartu Ülikool |
| PF | Indrek Kajupank | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| C | Thomas van der Mars | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |

### Player of the Month

| Month | Player | Team |
| October | Sten Olmre | TTÜ KK |
| November | Thomas van der Mars | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| December | Reinar Hallik | Pärnu Sadam |
| January | Đorđe Dželetović | TLÜ/Kalev |
| February | Domagoj Bubalo | AVIS UTILITAS Rapla |
| March | Janari Jõesaar | Tartu Ülikool |