I know it's just a start of preparation and so on and some players will only later come to optimal shape, but boy we looked mediocre with this line-up

OMG...
Most basketball observers wouldn't be inclined to dismiss a 100-72 victory against the eleventh place finishing team at Eurobasket 2022 as "mediocre". The ones at Basketnews.lt and Krep
šinis.net certainly saw it otherwise. Your preconceived notions of which players "are" good and which aren't seem to have prompted you to treat the game as an opportunity to pen a work of fiction. Here are some cold hard facts regarding Lithuanian player performance during the game:
Excellent
[TABLE="border: 1, cellpadding: 1, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]PLAYER[/TD]
[TD]MINUTES[/TD]
[TD]EFFICIENCY[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Donatas Tarolis[/TD]
[TD]16:05[/TD]
[TD]18[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Eimantas Bendžius[/TD]
[TD]14:05[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mindaugas Kuzminskas[/TD]
[TD]16:32[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Vaidas Kariniauskas[/TD]
[TD]18:16[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Matas Jogėla*[/TD]
[TD]21:44[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
*
Jogėla actually led the team in both rebounds and assists (and turnovers) despite playing out of position at PG!
Good
[TABLE="border: 1, cellpadding: 1, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]PLAYER[/TD]
[TD]MINUTES[/TD]
[TD]EFFICIENCY[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] [TABLE="border: 0, cellpadding: 0, cellspacing: 1"]
[TR]
[TD]Deividas Sirvydis[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[TD]17:32[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] [TABLE="border: 0, cellpadding: 0, cellspacing: 1"]
[TR]
[TD]
Gabrielius Maldūnas[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[TD]15:59[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Donatas Motiejūnas[/TD]
[TD]18:18[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Bad
[TABLE="align: left, border: 1, cellpadding: 1, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]PLAYER[/TD]
[TD]MINUTES[/TD]
[TD]EFFICIENCY[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tadas Sedekerskis[/TD]
[TD]17:10[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Eigirdas Žukauskas[/TD]
[TD]15:11[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] [TABLE="border: 0, cellpadding: 0, cellspacing: 1"]
[TR]
[TD]
Tomas Dimša[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[TD]14:41[/TD]
[TD]-1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Margiris Normantas[/TD]
[TD]14:29[/TD]
[TD]-4[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I mean I saw only one sure fire EL player and that's Sedekerskis. Size, athleticism, toughness, agility. Liked how he defends, rebounds, passes.
Tadas Sedekerskis was worse than a non-factor in the game. He was a non-entity. He took
zero shots! You habitually criticized Arnas Butkevičius for being a "stopper" on offence (until he joined Žalgiris last September ...) but now you're heaping praise on Sedekerskis for doing even less! Sedekerskis was cut in both 2021 and 2022 for being tentative and afraid of making mistakes. Well he better start showing more initiative on the court or he won't make this team either.
Dimsa, D. Giedraitis will provide perimeter defense when they will get into shape....
The tournament starts on August 25th. We don't have months to wait. (Maybe years in the case of Dovis Giedraitis.) Incidentally, Krep
šinis.net is implying that Giedraitis has yet to arrive at the main team's camp. Very curious.
Kariniauskas scored against scrubs, he can do that from time to time, but dude provides zero facilitation...zero!
I can clearly see that Kariniauskas will be complete trash against any stronger team.
Ugggghhh! Kariniauskas was the leading scorer with 18 points and had an excellent game. I know that must have annoyed you because it undermines your narrative, but an objective observer would simply accept the fact and add it to the data points that need to be considered. Why can't you show at least some objectivity and give credit when credit's due?
I still don't understand Maksvytis. Last summer he let go Sedekerskis when we badly needed defense at 4 and so on. This year he doesn't even give slightest chance to clearly the best facilitator we have at 1 after Jokubaitis.
I really hope that Maksvytis can grow as a coach, but I see he's not ready to let go average coach's habits. I can clearly see that Kariniauskas will be complete trash against any stronger team. He can't guard Ukrainian scrubs and can't create anything even at this level. Yes, Marciulionis wouldn't be real answer to this problem NOW, but I can clearly see that he's way better than Kariniauskas in terms of facilitation and defense already. We just, again, being stubborn and provincial in the department of coaching.
I'll remind everyone that you agitated non-stop for Kazys Maksvytis to be appointed head coach from late 2016 onward. Now you're heaping the same scorn you heaped on his predecessors for not embracing your favourites as the second coming (of Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, etc.)
I ask you once again, are you a paid publicity agent for these favourite players of yours?
