Lithuanian National Team 2013

[madmax2]

to MADMAX i dont have time to discuss with you.You are known for loving and hating players,if you love them you love them,if you hate you hate no matter how they do.Yesterday javtokas were defending better than valanciunas and even scoreboard says that.Javtokas first querter 7min he playe we lost only 4 or 6 points down,when he return to game in 2 seond querter score was 16-33...and suddenly we made a run with useless javtokas.Im just saying facts and atleast once you look how javtokas defends,he wasnt standing near borusis,he was standing in the middle and when bourosis scored it was because javtokas was helping guard the man who came inside and then borusis was left alone.But when bourusis was left one on one against javtokas he was stopped twice by that uselees javtokas.

since I'm not really bothered arguing with clueless folks about things they have no clue about, I won't spend too much time on rebutting this nonsense.
However, the constant barrage of nonsensical drivel by this poster is really annoying, so my response to this persona would be: there is no "hate and love" when it comes to the lithuanian NT, so spare me your emotional touching speeches. As for your your Javtokas assessment, you couldn't be any more wrong, but I've got no time nor any desire to educate you on obvious things. Have a good day sir

 

[Darknemo20002]

exactly that in 2001 our record was 2-2.The system in 2001 was very tricky,its was like knockout systems almost from the start.And we were just unlucky we got very bad matchup for us in latvia.No matter what plays for both team we always having big big problem against them.Even in golden 2003 we won after overtime and were loosing all game.Firstly it all starts from psichology we juts can play againt them...if we won against latvia it was like going through hell.And dont like they are in our group and dont even care what players are playing for latvia,they are bad matchup for us ...

In 2009 we lost to everyone 1-5 record...oh yeah we beat bulgaria luckily in 4 querter... 2009 was by far most embarising tournament we had in 20 years.

to MADMAX i dont have time to discuss with you.You are known for loving and hating players,if you love them you love them,if you hate you hate no matter how they do.Yesterday javtokas were defending better than valanciunas and even scoreboard says that.Javtokas first querter 7min he playe we lost only 4 or 6 points down,when he return to game in 2 seond querter score was 16-33...and suddenly we made a run with useless javtokas.Im just saying facts and atleast once you look how javtokas defends,he wasnt standing near borusis,he was standing in the middle and when bourosis scored it was because javtokas was helping guard the man who came inside and then borusis was left alone.But when bourusis was left one on one against javtokas he was stopped twice by that uselees javtokas.

Javtokas was pretty bad on defense. But we were allowing greece shoot threes open so they did and their shooting percentage shows why such 'defense' worked. Luckily they missed those. Still with Javtokas Greece was outrebounding us and only times when our rebounding numbers were starting catch up with greece was with Val on court. However with Valanciunas our offense became stagnatic, as we were cosntantly tryinbg to play through him which isnt a bad thing as long as Val gets the ball close to the rim where he is practically unstoppable (only way to stop him is fouling), but for him to get the ball there you need good pointguards and we simply do not have those and most of the passes he got were into afight where two opponents were waiting for him and though he did try to pass out of them those passes were pretty awful most of the time. Which resulted in turnovers which resulted in greece fast game and easy points.

But as far as position defense I'd say we looked better with Valanciunas, our problem was too turnover prone offense.

With Javtokas on court we do not try to play through him which makes our offense look faster and more fluid. And Kalnietis and Pocius play better withy him as they are both SG who are better at scoring rather than making plays for others.

 

[Hepcat2]

And finally, this was only a preparation game. But the symptoms are very worrying and they need to be solved SOON, otherwise we can have another 2001 disaster on our hands in the making

I agree. What really worries me is that the strength of Team Lietuva this year is theoretically the big fellows. Yet it was Greece that dominated the boards yesterday! Moreover, the Greeks also feasted on Team Lithuania in the paint. It wasn't their outside shooting; the Greeks seemed to be able to penetrate to the basket at will from what I saw of the game. This I'm sure must worry Kazlauskas as well.

 

[Hepcat2]

Again questionable friendlies selection.... This year we played only again teams which are really no favorites to reach semis.... It's interested who made schedule of these preparation games.

To be fair both Russia and Italy would have been considered very credible opponents when the friendlies were drawn up for Team Lietuva. Despite the absence of Spain, France, Serbia and Turkey, the friendly game schedule looked tougher a couple months ago than it's turned out to be.

 

[macleopard132]

Ridiculous game against Bosnia... Pocius was our best rebounder today. What were our centers doing? Valanciunas was playing too much defense today and fouled out, Javtokas couldn't stay with his man and was hesitant in grabbing rebounds, and Darjus couldn't make his shots today and overslept on defense. Poor defensive performance from all our centers. Is it too late to call in Galdikas?

The rest of the guys seemed okay today.

SAFE: Valanciunas, Motiejunas, Maciulis, Pocius, Kalnietis, Seibutis, Delininkaitis, Kuzminskas, Kleiza
IN QUESTION: Juskevicius, Cizauskas, brothers Lavrinovic, Javtokas
CUT:

By the way, why didn't Juskevicius/Cizauskas play today? Has Kazlauskas given up on them already?

 

[cesnakas2]

Ridiculous game against Bosnia... Pocius was our best rebounder today. What were our centers doing? Valanciunas was playing too much defense today and fouled out, Javtokas couldn't stay with his man and was hesitant in grabbing rebounds, and Darjus couldn't make his shots today and overslept on defense. Poor defensive performance from all our centers. Is it too late to call in Galdikas?

what are talking about? have you seen that dime from kleiza?
from now on when people talk about "the pass" its about this damn assist by LK.


oh, and when I saw some seconds of the game, I think we were running zone, so those random rebound numbers are not a problem.

 

[macleopard132]

what are talking about? have you seen that dime from kleiza?
from now on when people talk about "the pass" its about this damn assist by LK.

Yes, so? I know that Kleiza is a very talented individual who will undoubtedly be our leader in this EuroBasket. But the center performance defensively was subpar today. We were doing so well on defense in the first quarter until Valanciunas took too much initiative and began fouling guards and wings. Then other centers stepped in, and they couldn't do anything intelligible. I hope that we will fix this issue before the tournament - everyone's got to play defense equally well.

 

[madmax2]

Yes, so? I know that Kleiza is a very talented individual who will undoubtedly be our leader in this EuroBasket. But the center performance defensively was subpar today. We were doing so well on defense in the first quarter until Valanciunas took too much initiative and began fouling guards and wings. Then other centers stepped in, and they couldn't do anything intelligible. I hope that we will fix this issue before the tournament - everyone's got to play defense equally well.

I believe you're overreacting here - neither us nor bosnians were trying defensively today (well, bosnians never try defensively if we are being honest here anyway). It was a free flowing display of offensive basketball. Remember, that we will play these guys in group stage soon, so serious game was out of the question here.

 

[Hepcat2]

By the way, why didn't Juskevicius/Cizauskas play today? Has Kazlauskas given up on them already?

Yes. Čižauskas didn't dress today and was cut and Juškevičius will stay only as an emergency thirteenth man in case a player on the twelve man roster goes down to injury in the next few days prior to Eurobasket. They're both young fellows who benefitted from the experience and we'll see them at next year's training camp I'm sure.

 

[LTbotd2]

Yes. Čižauskas didn't dress today and was cut and Juškevičius will stay only as an emergency thirteenth man in case a player on the twelve man roster goes down to injury in the next few days prior to Eurobasket. They're both young fellows who benefitted from the experience and we'll see them at next year's training camp I'm sure.

Talking about Juškevičius. I never get the idea of calling 24 y old (25 in about 4 months) player "young". This is basketball, not darts. Damn, you can be called "young", "inexpierenced", "prospect" etc. when you are 18, 19 - 20,- 22, but at 24 - 25 you should be worth something. If you are any good, you should most definitely be a starting PG in a team like next seasons Žalgiris and not go on loan to second rate German club. A 30+ y old Delninkaitis, easily won the contest against Juškevičius for a place in NT. That says something. Maybe i'm being harsh, but IMO, Juškevičius is a lost cause. But hey, now it's popular in our country to call 23 - 25 year olds "youg prospect".

 

[Hepcat2]

If you are any good, you should most definitely be a starting PG in a team like next seasons Žalgiris....

Yes. Unfortunately there is a real shortage of Lithuanian PGs who are any good right now. Kazlauskas had to work with the best he could find. I honestly thought Juškevičius would make the team for that reason alone.

 

[Hepcat2]

Basically Kazlauskas even cant take all 6 bigs,because guards looks really poorly.

I wouldnt suprise to see something like:

C Valanciunas,Javtokas,Darjus
PF Kleiza,Motiejunas,Ksistof
SF Maciulis,Kuzminskas
SG Pocius,Seibutis
PG Kalnietis,Delininkaitis or Cizauskas

But this is gamble and most likely at some point even maciulis will have to play at SG.And now understand what kazlauskas meant when he said that jasaitis could cover some holes in our guard rotation.

So in the end Kazlauskas agreed with you, although Juškevičius and not Čižauskas was the final cut and remains the first alternate.

 

[cesnakas2]

Talking about Juškevičius. I never get the idea of calling 24 y old (25 in about 4 months) player "young". This is basketball, not darts. Damn, you can be called "young", "inexpierenced", "prospect" etc. when you are 18, 19 - 20,- 22, but at 24 - 25 you should be worth something. If you are any good, you should most definitely be a starting PG in a team like next seasons Žalgiris and not go on loan to second rate German club. A 30+ y old Delninkaitis, easily won the contest against Juškevičius for a place in NT. That says something. Maybe i'm being harsh, but IMO, Juškevičius is a lost cause. But hey, now it's popular in our country to call 23 - 25 year olds "youg prospect".

If you ask me its even more stupid to put players in age brackets. Do you have any idea how difrently players age? Some guys might look like teens at 22 while others at the same age are like aged veterans. And thats not only visually. I could name you players after players who started to succeed only after 25+. You get the idea.

 

[lafa2]

If you ask me its even more stupid to put players in age brackets. Do you have any idea how difrently players age? Some guys might look like teens at 22 while others at the same age are like aged veterans. And thats not only visually. I could name you players after players who started to succeed only after 25+. You get the idea.

Couldn't agree with you more. First example that came to my mind was Marco Carraretto, who made NT debut at age 27 in Mediterranean games, and the next appearance was only in Eurobasket 2011, when he was 34 years old, and not because of absences in a team, but because he became a much better player. Talking about our own NT - Petravicius would be a perfect example.

P.S. Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who's going to be 24 is a couple of months, LTbotd, is he a prospect, or it's that all that he's got, there's no more room for improvement?

 

[LTbotd2]

I agree that players age differently and there can be improvements all the time. But when at 25 your achievements list is non-existent, and you can't get in front of Delninkaitis, there is something to think about it.

 

[macleopard132]

I agree that players age differently and there can be improvements all the time. But when at 25 your achievements list is non-existent, and you can't get in front of Delninkaitis, there is something to think about it.

Juskevicius never was that impressive, anyway. In youth competitions, he was always playing SG and his best performance was the U20 Championship in 2009, where he averaged 13.2 PPG and a mediocre 2.7 APG. He started in the Euroleague that year, putting up decent stats for a rookie, but then he went to a Eurocup team, then back to a Euroleague team, etc. - in short, he didn't develop by consistently playing in the Euroleague and didn't improve. Kalnietis, on the other hand, was raised on Euroleague, and at least he is our best PG now. Cizauskas seems to have more potential than Juskevicius - he was a clear-cut PG in youth competitions, averaging a solid 5 APG in most of his tournaments. Hopefully Cizauskas will continue to develop playing in the Euroleague, and will be a solid backup to Kalnietis by the next Eurobasket.

 

[Darknemo20002]

Juskevicius never was that impressive, anyway. In youth competitions, he was always playing SG and his best performance was the U20 Championship in 2009, where he averaged 13.2 PPG and a mediocre 2.7 APG. He started in the Euroleague that year, putting up decent stats for a rookie, but then he went to a Eurocup team, then back to a Euroleague team, etc. - in short, he didn't develop by consistently playing in the Euroleague and didn't improve. Kalnietis, on the other hand, was raised on Euroleague, and at least he is our best PG now. Cizauskas seems to have more potential than Juskevicius - he was a clear-cut PG in youth competitions, averaging a solid 5 APG in most of his tournaments. Hopefully Cizauskas will continue to develop playing in the Euroleague, and will be a solid backup to Kalnietis by the next Eurobasket.

Do not forget that Cizauskas was playing with valanciunas in most of youth tournaments so it wanst THAT hard to get high assist numbers.

Peciukevicius too had a good assists numbers when he was playing with Valanciunas.

 

[lafa2]

Do not forget that Cizauskas was playing with valanciunas in most of youth tournaments so it wanst THAT hard to get high assist numbers.

Peciukevicius too had a good assists numbers when he was playing with Valanciunas.

In U20 EB2012 Cizauskas averaged 4.6 apg playing without JV.

 

[Shawshank2]

Both of those juskevicius and Cizauskas is not right level yet to help team in eurobasket it was obviuos.Average player in eurobasket level like Delininkaitis looked way better.Those 2 young should be happy because they got alot of chances this summer and now its everyhting its on both them to make progress in next year.

And again same problem with PG position.Who gonna be our PG for next year ? again same people kalnietis,jasikevicius and delininkaitis...Over a year nothing gonna change.In order to become atleast solid PG who can help our nationla team he should have atleast 2-3 years in euroleague,with our lkl league expereince guards can help with nothing.We have so many example gustas,ginevicius,prekevicius,dulkys,mazutis and so on and on.Same was with Adas and Vytenis they are good young players,but in order to help they have to show good results in euroleague or atleast in uleb.Wont happen miracle player with 3 points average in euroleague or 3 points average in acb wont become help for our national team that fights for highest places.Its better to put strong player not in his position like seibutis to PG or in the past siskauskas,kaukenas than put average lkl player of that position.Good player will play good doesnt matter were you would put him,average player wont suddenly become good player over a month in training...Its way longer way to that.Kazlauskas showed you hope and chance now its your turn Vytenis and Adas show that he is right believing in you in this years club season...

As for this championship we desperetely will need good games from kalnietis,pocius,seibutis,delininkaitis.No matter how good bigs you have in order to beat good teams that too have good bigs our guards will must step up.At the end of the day ball is in their hands and they make desicions.But everything looks bright we will have a good chance in 1/4 game we have young and on same time expereince group of people that been in those 1/4 more than once and thats very important factor.

 

[CG2]

Valanciunas kung fu style

http://www.onsports.gr/basket/Kosmos/item/340242-Lithoyania-To-koyngk-foy-toy-Balantsioynas-video

Check the video above