L
LuDux2
Guest
Kariniauskas invited to main NT camp. https://youtu.be/ACUQOEfDVuU?t=133
Kariniauskas invited to main NT camp. https://youtu.be/ACUQOEfDVuU?t=133
New summer ,same coaches pattern choosing players and same dinosour experts river cries![]()
To me it's still extremely funny to name Normantas as reliable rotation player of NT alreadyWhy? Where? When? Did we see him playing in EL? Was he good in LKL finals? No...To test him in the camp? Yes. But that's all.
Sloukas loss for Greeks is HUGE! IMO, he was their main guard. Now Greece will have to choose between Walkup and Dorsey. First is defensive beast, but if there's no Dorsey Greece is very very limited in terms of shooting. If there's Dorsey it depends on the night. He's very streaky scorer. On us probably would score a bunch though...I hope Greece will go with Walkup as American and we will try to simply close the paint and risk on their shooting. With lumberjacks all over we have no other options anyway.
Sloukas out means Lithuania has much bigger chances to take down Greece.
Step by step. Lithuania will have a tough game against Montenegro. Vučević is coming, young Simonović, Dubljević (all of them can shoot and are good shooters, not a good matchup for Valanciunas or Motiejunas)...that's a formidable frontcourt, Perry and Ivanović are decent guards, Žugić is a nice talent. It won't be a walk in the park for Lithuania considering they are missing key players this year.
Montenegro is off course decent team, but not yet ever proved to be more than that. Thay can though. Vucevic with a huge game could be a problem, but so far he wasn't all that impressive in FIBA. Mostly because I think Montenegro doesn't have super fundamentally sound guards and team culture. I think Montenegro will be in the zone of Bosnia of 2022, just slightly worse. If we are planning to play competitive basketball, it shouldn't be a question that we are taking Montenegro down. Vucevic might be pretty slippery if his jimmy falls, but essentially not the worst match-up for Valanciunas.
Vučević is basically a p&p big man. That's a problem for both Valanciunas and Motiejunas. He is also more mobile than both of them. Montenegro has better depth than Bosnia and better backcourt and overall talent than in previous years. History and tradition don't play a big role if you lack talent. Competitiveness can make up for the lack of talent to a certain degree (Miami Heat being the fresh example), but there is no reason to think that Montenegro won't play competitive basketball too. And you can't compare 2022 Lithuania with this year because it's obvious that Lithuania will be very weakened compared to last year, which is exactly why I say Montenegro will be a hard nut to break. At least in theory without seeing both teams actually play.
Valanciunas does well againts Nurkic,Vucevic,Gobert types. Jonas said himself he hates to play vs those small 2m06 athletic,mobile centers