2024 Lithuanian NT

[Shawshank2]

Good Suliauskas analyses showing how robotic all position lithuanian players are. Litrerally robots not thinkers/creators badly reading situations.


Yes coaching staff made some mistakes,but our players must take alot of blame for ugly shooting and reading situations was just bad at best uleb level in final game


Puerturico coaching staff didnt need to do alot in this 4game mini tournament just allow 3 individually strong and fast guards do their thing. Thats what 2020s basketball is all about


How they defended Butkevicius or Sedekerskis Puerturico would have done same thing with D.Giedraitis and Marciulionis 100%. Leave them wide open and pack the inside line with bodies.


NT lost final because literally nobody could make wide open 3pointers. Putting extra shaky shooters on 68pts team performance as ale problem solving is blindly singing same biased songs and not seeing why we lost final game


NT lost 68-79 not because of defence,because nobody could make good shots in 15k hostile arena. Winning game when opponnets scored 79pts NT dont need miracle just average shooting day.

 

[Hepcat2]

Yes coaching staff made some mistakes,but our players must take alot of blame for ugly shooting and reading situations was just bad at best uleb level in final game

How they defended Butkevicius or Sedekerskis Puerturico would have done same thing with D.Giedraitis and Marciulionis 100%. Leave them wide open and pack the inside line with bodies.

NT lost final because literally nobody could make wide open 3pointers. Putting extra shaky shooters on 68pts team performance as ale problem solving is blindly singing same biased songs and not seeing why we lost final game

NT lost 68-79 not because of defence,because nobody could make good shots in 15k hostile arena.

I agree. That's what cost Lithuania the game. The Lithuanian players were completely unable to play and make shots from the perimeter when Puerto Rico jammed up the middle on defence.

 

[Straight forward2]

Hepcat, stop it. No-one is saying to you openly, but you writing utter nonsense 90% of the time. You always lost, you don't know the context, you're making mistakes in every step. Stop it. You're pretending some-one you're not. You're like a student who comes to the exam not prepared and trying to convince the lecturer that you understand something. You look extremely stupid and not because you're not the brightest person in the world cognitively (that is fine, we are all different, you're a good person), but because you try to write shit here without knowledge and without even watching players actually play. I tried to ignore you and then you're gone for big stints, but when you writing complete nonsense here every day, just find other place, please. Diary or something. Really, dude, YOU HAVE NO CLUE. Stop it.

 

[Straight forward2]

NT lost final because literally nobody could make wide open 3pointers. Putting extra shaky shooters on 68pts team performance as ale problem solving is blindly singing same biased songs and not seeing why we lost final game

Maybe, but defense would be at different level. And I bet both Marciulionis/Giedraitis can be better than 1/8 from wide open corners. Besides, I think you don't get how good with the ball Marciulionis can be. As we seen we lacking decision makers with the ball, Grigonis was utter trash with it, and people shouldn't sleep on fundamentally sound passing of Marciulionis and ability to bring physicality. Dude's athletic and strong.

But again, the bottom line, good role players won't save us. Only true standouts can save us. Let's hope they will prevail (Jakucionis, Buzelis and to a bit lesser extent Jokubaitis, Rubstavicius, Indusaitis).

 

[Svajunas2]

What this team lacked the most is in shape Bendzius.
As much as I hate his weak defence, at least he shoots those threes with ease.
NT was playing great while he was on the floor last year and when he got injured the offence collapsed against Serbia.

Don't missunderstand me, I still think that Tubelis is much better player, but this team needs true shooters.

I would still take any Giedraitis over Dimsa. This dissappointment is on HC not any individuals.

 

[Straight forward2]

Another thing, all this talk how Grigonis has cojones and is a leader should stop. Forget it. Dude choked in all key games in all tournaments. The end of the story. Let's move on. We didn't have a leader since prime Kalnietis and that stopped with 2016. Valanciunas and Sabonis are also not leaders. Maybe Domas could be with the great shooting team around him which would create some more space for him, but even he is more of a super role player (at least he's such in NBA). We should find the leader and looking at Jokubaitis mentality I also don't see a leader, he's too sweet and too positive. I actually think Marciulionis has more anger in him and more leadership, just as his dad had, but we'll see. To be honest I'm not sure Buzelis has leader's mentality, actually I think he's not a leader and more of complimentary pieces, but we'll see. The most important he's extremely talented and can be really good on FIBA court due to his extreme versatility. From all our prospects I actually think that Jakucionis is off course No.1 option for the leadership, he has everything for that, but I also wouldn't write down Rubstavicius. Dude's mean on the court and a big fighter and can be even a bit edgy. We need stronger, meaner characters. Rubstavicius seems to be spot of with it.

When I think about NT now I don't see a leader. Nor even Grigonis is such. I don't think we can win with all these role players and not a single guy actually has leaders mentality. We need mentality like Saras had I have to admit. The one who would school other hard and wouldn't have no problem putting others into their places. Sabonis could do it, but he has been sucking himself so...Grigonis is just a fake leader, he kinda wants to be so, but he doesn't have neither talent, neither strength, neither true balls to do that. All this talk about his big cojones is silly.

 

[Hepcat2]

Hepcat, stop it. No-one is saying to you openly, but you writing utter nonsense 90% of the time. You always lost, you don't know the context, you're making mistakes in every step.... Really, dude, YOU HAVE NO CLUE. Stop it.

Spoken by the same fellow who regardless of what transpired on the court reverts to the same tired old mantra that Kazys Maksvytis is a lousy coach (and so were all his predecessors) because he should have taken Dovydas Giedraitis for the tournament. And you immediately did precisely that after Lithuania lost a game against Puerto Rico in which they couldn't score. Enough of this nonsense!

You might also want to contrast my rational analysis of the game after losses with your hysterical knee jerk condemnations of the coach for not taking D. Giedraitis or your favourite player du jour.

 

[Hepcat2]

What this team lacked the most is in shape Bendzius.
As much as I hate his weak defence, at least he shoots those threes with ease.
NT was playing great while he was on the floor last year and when he got injured the offence collapsed against Serbia.

That is very true. Without Eimantas Bendžius, offence from the second unit dwindled down to a trickle last summer and the team just wasn't the same. It was mentioned after last summer's tournament (perhaps by Shawshank) but was not given the emphasis it deserved.

Don't missunderstand me, I still think that Tubelis is much better player, but this team needs true shooters.

Not yet he wasn't. Perhaps by next summer.

I would still take any Giedraitis over Dimsa. This dissappointment is on HC not any individuals.

Nonsense. Tomas Dimša had a +/- of 0 in 9:30 minutes against Puerto Rico despite scoring 0 points himself. Dimša did the job for which he was taken. Dovis Giedraitis would not have done better. In retrospect where Coach Maksvytis erred was in cutting Rokas Giedraitis and taking Deividas Sirvydis who turned out not to be ready for the big time. But like I say, that's obvious now. Not so obvious three weeks ago.​

The problem was that the team just wasn't good enough this year. They couldn't score from the perimeter when a determined defence took away the paint. As Straight forward has indicated, they just didn't have the leadership and weren't tough enough to find a way to win when the chips were down. As Mindaugas Kuzminskas suggested, that's not on the coach. It's better players that the team needs.

 

[Hepcat2]

Another thing, all this talk how Grigonis has cojones and is a leader should stop.

All this talk about his big cojones is silly.

Huh?! I see no such talk here.

 

[Toruko2]

According to Urbonas Jokubaitis is close to return to Kaunas.

 

[Hepcat2]

According to Urbonas Jokubaitis is close to return to Kaunas.

I don't believe that the soft life in sunny Spain has done Rokas Jokubaitis' game any good.

 

[Hepcat2]

The problem was that the team just wasn't good enough this year. They couldn't score from the perimeter when a determined defence took away the paint.

Ultimately though what hurt Team Lietuva the most in the loss to Puerto Rico was the absence of Jonas Valančiūnas. Consider. Puerto Rico's tallest player was a puny 203 cm. Valančiūnas would have beasted in the paint even in double covertage. With 27-28 minutes of playing time, he would have scored perhaps 20 points and pulled down 15+ rebounds. Yes, Lithuania still took 9/34 rebounds from Puerto Rico's glass while Puerto Rico took only 6/28 from Lithuania's glass but with Valančiūnas it would have been far more one-sided.

 

[Dreamcatcher2]

Another thing, all this talk how Grigonis has cojones and is a leader should stop.

First of all, who talks/talked that Grigonis is a leader? Secondly, Grigonis indeed has cojones. He has been making those bazzers/game winners since youth and including PAO. One without balls simply wouldn't be able to. Another thing is that he lacks speed and athleticism. That's why he can't be leader in a strong team at high level. Not because he doesn't have cojones which isn't true.

 

[Dreamcatcher2]

Ultimately though what hurt Team Lietuva the most in the loss to Puerto Rico was the absence of Jonas Valančiūnas. Consider. Puerto Rico's tallest player was a puny 203 cm. Valančiūnas would have beasted in the paint even in double covertage. With 27-28 minutes of playing time, he would have scored perhaps 20 points and pulled down 15+ rebounds. Yes, Lithuania still took 9/34 rebounds from Puerto Rico's glass while Puerto Rico took only 6/28 from Lithuania's glass but with Valančiūnas it would have been far more one-sided.

Sometimes you understand things better than Straight Forward. At least he didn't understand this. Maybe even now he doesn't.

 

[Hepcat2]

Sometimes you understand things better than Straight Forward.

Not being wedded to a certain few players helps when it comes to objectivity.

But sadly Jonas Valančiūnas wasn't available. And in retrospect it's easy to say that Coach Maksvytis should have taken Eimantas Bendžius and Rokas Giedraitis instead of Ąžuolas Tubelis and Deividas Sirvydis. But given that the players he'd taken were having so much trouble scoring against Puerto Rico, what could Maksvytis have done? Perhaps try Sirvydis or Tubelis on the floor in desperation?

 

[zalias2]

everyone talks about lithuania's lack of strong individually guards but before all that lithuanian coaches need a shift of mentality. good iso players dont always make their shots, they dont always take good shots but their coaches still trust them no matter what, puerto rico is a really good example of that, their guards were taking horrible shots and missing everyhing in the first half but instead of getting benched their coach trusted them, which ended up winning them the game and that's just completely different from how lithuanian coaches see the game. sirvydis missed a couple of shots he got benched instantly, jokubaitis had a couple of bad games and he lost his minutes to lekavicius, similar thing happened with brazdeikis as well. im not saying sirvydis or jokubaitis are great scorers or anything like that but having 0 trust from your coach probably adds additional pressure for no reason at all.

 

[Straight forward2]

Sometimes you understand things better than Straight Forward. At least he didn't understand this. Maybe even now he doesn't.

I'm afraid you don't understand anything lately (or almost always). I guess you got too brainwashed by your Russian world. Yeah, JV would save us LOL. Just as he did against frontline less Slovenia 2021 and Spain 2022 (trashy, 14mpg Willy in EL, trashed him big time), or getting trashed by Milutinov (none NBA material). By the way stop being resentment and angry, you only look like a full. You soft posters have the only power - being slow thinkers (clueless and forgetful), resentful and always pissed. That's actually almost a description of status quo Russian redneck if by any chance it's a coincidence. Please, stop being pathetic and rude, cause I was too patient with you too long anyway. You don't deserve it, you should try harder to earn my respect.

Few game winners in 5 years club career span is nothing. Grigonis choked in all key games of all tournaments. Even against PR he was missing some good shots. That's always the case with him in key games. I care a little fuck about PAO. I'm concerned with NT and he always choked and didn't provide guts in all key games, literally. Maybe only in 2017 he kinda gave nice hustle defensively against Greeks, that's his best attempt I think.

 

[Straight forward2]

everyone talks about lithuania's lack of strong individually guards but before all that lithuanian coaches need a shift of mentality. good iso players dont always make their shots, they dont always take good shots but their coaches still trust them no matter what, puerto rico is a really good example of that, their guards were taking horrible shots and missing everyhing in the first half but instead of getting benched their coach trusted them, which ended up winning them the game and that's just completely different from how lithuanian coaches see the game. sirvydis missed a couple of shots he got benched instantly, jokubaitis had a couple of bad games and he lost his minutes to lekavicius, similar thing happened with brazdeikis as well. im not saying sirvydis or jokubaitis are great scorers or anything like that but having 0 trust from your coach probably adds additional pressure for no reason at all.

This a good point, but we come again to obvious - Maksvytis has been trash. I really treat him the worst NT coach ever (from those who coached in major tournaments). Kazys screwed is some many ways that there's no point to even go deeper into this. We should forget that and move on.

Nevertheless, we should have first truly individually gifted players. As long as we won't have them, we will be vulnerable with such short preparation. Some Denmark team could look better than us cause they might have few individually stronger chucking guards who can be effective in completely open basketball. Lithuania is way better team when everything is fixed and working, but as a system team we need time, a good month and more to prepare that. Maksvytis built everything on Grigonis, that was his decision and he burnt completely with it. Off course, others choked as well. Just make a damn open three.

 

[Dreamcatcher2]

I'm afraid you don't understand anything lately (or almost always). I guess you got too brainwashed by your Russian world.

It's you who don't understand anything lately. Krepsinis.net posters have more clue about things than you. Even now you can't write anything reasoned, but just blind hate. I'm not resentment or angry on you, you are not worth it. You are just stupid and arrogant chauvinist, being out of mind enough to call someone else a redneck.

Before and after Spain 2022 Willi was NBA player. What his minutes in EL has to with that at all? You even counted his short minutes playing in Real when he was very young, wtf is this? He was MVP of that EC 2022, what are you talking about at all? How is Willy Hernangomez is trashy? It's you who is trashy.
​

 

[Hepcat2]

This was a streaky PR without any world class talent and we didn't match their physicality, lust for win and motor. It wasn't just their shooting, they were at another level physically, in terms of effort, hustle and lust to win.

Very true!

Consider. Here are the tallest players from the two rosters:

Donatas Motiejūnas (C) - 213 cm.
Domantas Sabonis (C) - 211 cm
Tadas Sedekerskis (PF/C) - 206cm..
Ąžuolas Tubelis (PF) - 205 cm.
Mindaugas Kuzminskas (SF/PF) - 205 cm.

George Conditt IV (PF) - 212 cm.
Ismael Romero (C) - 203 cm.
Aleem Ford (PF) - 203 cm
Christopher Ortiz (PF) - 202 cm.
Amaldo Toro (PF) - 202 cm.
Isaiah Pineiro (PF) - 201 cm.

So Lithuania had quite the height advantage which should have been reflected in the rebounding stats. Here though were the rebounding numbers for the players who participated in the game:

Donatas Motiejūnas - 2 in 12:40
Domantas Sabonis - 9 in 26:53
Tadas Sedekerskis - 0 in 12:52
Mindaugas Kuzminskas 1 in 18:22

George Conditt IV - 5 in 28:18
Ismael Romero - 4 in 18:17
Christopher Ortiz - 6 in 22:36
Amaldo Toro - 0 in 10:49
Isaiah Pineiro (PF) - 3 in 21:26

Among the Lithuanian bigs, Sabonis rebounding number was alright but the rest were very disappointing. I can only conclude that the Lithuanian team didn't match the physicality, hustle and overall desire of the Puerto Rican team.

​

​