[1][2] The club - which had the aim of entering the Super League top four and qualifying for European competitions such as the ULEB Cup and EuroLeague - recruited coach David Blatt and players like Kelly McCarty, Ed Cota, Ognjen Aškrabić, Jón Stefansson and David Bluthenthal (who left after two months).

[citation needed] The 2005–06 season saw a roster overhaul as Blatt left for Italians Benetton Treviso, Fotis Katsikaris was brought in to replace him and Cota and Stefánsson were substituted by Jerry McCullough, Damir Miljković and veteran Darryl Middleton.

[5] They could not repeat the previous year's achievement however as they lost their semifinal rematch to Khimki before falling to BC Kyiv in the third place game.

[citation needed] The club started preparations for the 2006–07 season, nominating Yuri Selikhov as coach to replace the departing Fotios Katsikaris,[8] and registering for the ULEB Cup, but it unexpectedly withdrew from all competitions and folded on 6 October 2006.

With their other major sponsor (one of the largest banks in Russia) poised to follow, the club used the bankruptcy to get out of its onerous player contracts.