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Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) 2022-23

  • Thread starter Thread starter LuDux2
  • Start date Start date
Rubstavicius starting to be good. He'll be terrific scorer. He'll be drawing tons of fouls, he will hit threes, he will slash the hell out of you. Canak should unleash him more:

 
Both Murauskas and Rubstavicius looked good against Zalgiris. Rubstavicius still needs to add some mass which is limiting his finishing under the basket ATM, but he loves contact (differently than Grigonis) and will be very good slasher too. I'm getting higher on Rubstavicius. Likely the best SG since Macijauskas. He won't be as good as Macas, but he basically has an upside of elite EL SG. Our SG position situation is good with Rubstavicius and Indrusaitis.
 
Straight forward said:
Both Murauskas and Rubstavicius looked good against Zalgiris. Rubstavicius still needs to add some mass which is limiting his finishing under the basket ATM, but he loves contact (differently than Grigonis) and will be very good slasher too. I'm getting higher on Rubstavicius. Likely the best SG since Macijauskas. He won't be as good as Macas, but he basically has an upside of elite EL SG. Our SG position situation is good with Rubstavicius and Indrusaitis.
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Well he definetly exceeding most people expectations including mine. Very solid rookie season. Has good touch, speed to drive and as you mentioned he doesnt shy from the contact.
Would also note, that he has a somewhat wide frame for PG, so he shouldn't have any problems adding lean muscle. Lietkabelis has been my favorite LKL teams for a while now, they always have some upcoming lithuanian talents playing there
and the coach trust them.
 
Straight forward said:
Both Murauskas and Rubstavicius looked good against Zalgiris. Rubstavicius still needs to add some mass which is limiting his finishing under the basket ATM, but he loves contact (differently than Grigonis) and will be very good slasher too. I'm getting higher on Rubstavicius. Likely the best SG since Macijauskas. He won't be as good as Macas, but he basically has an upside of elite EL SG. Our SG position situation is good with Rubstavicius and Indrusaitis.
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I like Rubstavicius. Moreover, i told you before that 2002 generation had been wrongly called ''Tubelis and Marciulionis generation'' because Augustas wasn't clearly top2 talent in this generation, but you couldn't agree with that. U20 showed that i was right. This season already showed that Rubstavicius' huge performace hadn't been any fluke. At the moment he looks like better, hotter and IMO more interesting player than Marciulionis.

But he isn't the best sg since Macijauskas. Last season he played in NKL and averaged 10 pts. Seibutis at that age dominated LKL averaging 18 pts in Sakalai. He was so good that he already could make a debut next season in EL without going to Zalgiris or Rytas at first like it always happens. Unfortunately, another year after he got serious back issues that most likely made his career not elite one. But he still was a very good player and one of the best defensive players in Lith basketball. But somehow people forgot/didn't know what a great talent he was. I noticed it many times.
 
Dreamcatcher said:
I like Rubstavicius. Moreover, i told you before that 2002 generation had been wrongly called ''Tubelis and Marciulionis generation'' because Augustas wasn't clearly top2 talent in this generation, but you couldn't agree with that. U20 showed that i was right. This season already showed that Rubstavicius' huge performace hadn't been any fluke. At the moment he looks like better, hotter and IMO more interesting player than Marciulionis.

But he isn't the best sg since Macijauskas. Last season he played in NKL and averaged 10 pts. Seibutis at that age dominated LKL averaging 18 pts in Sakalai. He was so good that he already could make a debut next season in EL without going to Zalgiris or Rytas at first like it always happens. Unfortunately, another year after he got serious back issues that most likely made his career not elite one. But he still was a very good player and one of the best defensive players in Lith basketball. But somehow people forgot/didn't know what a great talent he was. I noticed it many times.
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For the first part, well it was all objective. When ANGT took place in Kaunas, both Tubelis and Marciulionis dominated at completely another level. Rubstavicius was pretty good, but obviously inferior. BTW, 17yo Marciulionis played like true stud in NKL. To some extent, he was even better than Tubelis. But now it's becoming more and more obvious (well we needed that U20 to open our eyes) that Rubstavicius may even have the best upside from all 2002 guys. Even Tubelis has certain ceiling which makes his NBA upside somewhat limited and questionable (tweener positionally and so on), while Rubstavicius has everything what it takes to be a good SG and he seems like a late bloomer.

Now, I also had 3 players when I was thinking about who's best since Macas. And it was Seibutis, Pocius, Grigonis. Seibutis may be the best from the bunch, I probably would agree. But I would claim that even Seibutis never was a true starting level material, or say never reached elite level. He was a good player, tremendous NT figure due to his fighting spirit and so on, but he didn't have all the package. FOA, Seibutis never had expressed offensive game. He was average at everything - shot, skill, decision making. His best attribute was slashing, but even at that he wasn't super athletic or super strong to be extremely good finisher. There was a reason why in Zalgiris he never got bigger role offensively. Sure, the age played a role here, but generally he was that kind of player which couldn't be true starter offensively. He didn't have enough creativity in himself. While Seibutis had higher floor as 18-20yo, obviously there was certain limitation of Seibutis' ceiling.

Pocius lacked shooting and IQ. He was very limited in terms of IQ, but great athlete/slasher. Grigonis has IQ and skill, but lacks athleticism and toughness.

I claim that Rubstavicius has the whole package. He has enough of everything and basically has perfect profile for SG. Maybe I claim that he still needs to get tougher and he's not overly athletic (the reason why I'm slightly more high on Indrusaitis), but he can surely get tougher (and he will as has perfect frame and natural sturdiness) and is explosive enough to claim that he's the first prospect who possesses the upside of true starting SG. We'll see where I will get with this projection, but to me it's like this - Kurtinaitis, Marciulionis, Macijauskas (and maybe Kaukenas, even if his IQ was questionable a little bit, but he generally was a starting material) - Rubstavicius, Indrusaitis. That's all SG starters material I see in modern history (I exclude Siska, as he's SF more).

BTW, Brazdeikis lacks skill (shooting) and IQ. And D. Giedraitis lacks better size and athleticism, explosiveness. (I won't rank Lukosius, but he could also potentially be a starter, but well let's leave him aside now).

To sum up, I think we have 2 starting level upside prospects in Rubstavicius and Indrusaitis. Now I can see a starter in each position potentially which is basically crazy. Never happened before, and now it's a real chance in upcoming 3-6 years:

Jokubaitis
Rubstavicius, Indrusaitis
Buzelis
Murauskas
Sabonis
 
Dude, it's so fun to watch Murauskas and Rubstavicius ATM. What a fine 2 young studs. Murauskas took over in 4th quarter dropping 9pts. He offered all recipes. Mid rage jimmy off the dribble, coast to coast lay up with the contact, a three, offensive rebound and putback. Rubstavicius nailed huge clutch three with 50sec to go. He is roaring with confidence now, wants the ball. Doesn't hesitate to be aggressive, draws fouls, shoots with confidence. Both made stops defensively as well. I'm liking more and more how Rubstavicius looks. His combination of length, agility, fluidity and toughness makes him very intriguing. Eye test alone says we have an elite piece at 2. I don't remember when the last time in LKL we had 2 such high upside prospects playing together.

Maldunas makes a game winning lay up.
 
It's sad to watch Masiulis now. When he was a prospect he dominated NKL with some 40+ pts performances.
 
LuDux said:
Pfft, he had 46 eff performance in LKL playoffs against Canak's Lietkabelis
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I don't even remember that, but he may had some monster games even in LKL playoffs, yeah. That's why i'm so badly surprised to see him so meh now.
 
I don't get it why LKL broadcast trashy game Rytas- Prienai which is completely meaningless as Prienai is and will be winningless while they ignore Lietkabelis- Neptunas.

Congrats to one Neptunas' fan on this forum :) To me teams that don't have NT material or great prospects are invisible, but they played good, tough bb.

Another thing. Liekabelis is playing too ISO and stupid BB. Both Morris and Kulamae take too many bad shots. Today Morris sort of was good, but he ball hogs too much. Peno is complete trash. All these 3 players as main guards are not good decision makers. The ball is not moving. Morris and Kulamae chucked the hell out a loss for Liekabelis in Eurpcup this week literally.

Rubstavicius gonna be great player. I like him more and more with each game. Don't get fulled with his 8ppg in 16mpg. He's a ticking bomb. The first step, the coordination, the smoothness going to the basket, willingness to climb on the boards to finish with the contact. ATM he still struggles to finish with contact, but once he'll add a little bit more muscles, look out. He also has very nice wingspan, really long and agile 2. Again, I think he's the first fundamentally sound 2 (starter's material) since Macijauskas. He has it all to be very very good player and, IMO, it's only a matter of time. His defensive abilities improved radically compared to the start of the season. Maybe he won't be so deadly as Macijauskas offensively, but he will be better defender than Macas.

Kudos to Murauskas for his patience. He was running the floor like a stud not pushing anything and not complaining. Yet working hard on D, rebounding, always moving, sharing the ball. Took only 3 shots in 20 minutes and remained positive and disciplined. Very nice attitude for 18yo. With that attitude only the sky's the limit.
 
Zalgiris is so bad, but Lietkabelis is even worse. This LKL semifinal game is barely watchable and absolutely unwatchable after EL final.
 
Lekavicius, Dimsa, Birutis saved Zalgiris' ass. Brazdeikis is like a foreigner who isn't interested after EL season is over or what. He scored 6 pts in 2 semifinal games - what kind of contribution it is?
 
Dreamcatcher said:
Lekavicius, Dimsa, Birutis saved Zalgiris' ass. Brazdeikis is like a foreigner who isn't interested after EL season is over or what. He scored 6 pts in 2 semifinal games - what kind of contribution it is?
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Canak is limited as fuck. He always makes the same rotation no-matter what. Generally he's a passport coach. Rubstavicius was hot and Morris sucked, but he kept playing Morris cause that's how he always do. Always the same rotation no matter what's happening on the court. Canak will never be EL coach. Too limited, too stubborn, too old school. Passing culture of Lietkabelis hasn't improve all season long. OK, they don't have PGs, but, come one, bigs should make clear kickcouts and have at least minimal vision. Only Sakic can pass from bigs. Maldunas is par exellence example of low IQ big. He' so horrific with decision making with the ball that it should be a science object.

Yeah, Brazdeikis didn't care about LKL all season long. Now he just wants to to Canada/States as soon as possible.
 
Straight forward said:
Canak is limited as fuck. He always makes the same rotation no-matter what. Generally he's a passport coach. Rubstavicius was hot and Morris sucked, but he kept playing Morris cause that's how he always do. Always the same rotation no matter what's happening on the court. Canak will never be EL coach. Too limited, too stubborn, too old school. Passing culture of Lietkabelis hasn't improve all season long. OK, they don't have PGs, but, come one, bigs should make clear kickcouts and have at least minimal vision. Only Sakic can pass from bigs. Maldunas is par exellence example of low IQ big. He' so horrific with decision making with the ball that it should be a science object.

Yeah, Brazdeikis didn't care about LKL all season long. Now he just wants to to Canada/States as soon as possible.
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There isn't enough place in EL for all good coaches. Canak did overwell last season and overal has done well with limited Lietkabelis' roster. This season it hasn't been so, but the roster is also bad. I told you it some time ago, but you argued.Since that time Peno was cut and no replacement was there, as you mentioned yourself. Canak has been Lietkabelis' coach for 5 years and maybe it's time to move somewhere else. I am sure many coaches wouldn't do so well like Canak (putting this season aside, but it wasn't bad as well if the 3rd place will be there).

I think Rubstavicius should have played for more when he was hot. On other hand, he played so bad at the end. He lost a rebound to Lekavicius which costed 2 pts and made a silly foul which costed 2 pts as well.
 
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