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Top Lithuanian Coaches

  • Thread starter Thread starter macleopard132
  • Start date Start date
Which coach would you trust and want to take the wheel of NT if Kazlauskas retires? Unfortunately I have no favourites here. Logically Kurtinaitis, but he tends to say complete nonsense in the media and from time to time you can see that he is still the same Kaunas' thug who can't keep himself away from saying something stupid and acting like unpredictable man (also bad memories when he with Butautas decided to go with Mažutis and Jomantas as PGs in 2009). He is decent coach, but never reached that next step. I only have hopes that Jasikevičius turns out to be flexible, modern coach who doesn't afraid to integrate youngsters, have large scale of ideas. He worked with many good coaches in his career and I pretty like his carriage as a head coach. He didn't become a screaming monkey like Pačėsas as some people expected. Yet he has huge respect by players and overall in the basketball world of Europe and knows when he can and should to fire up. So only Jasikevičius would be my choice in the future if he turns out to be a good coach. If big European clubs are hunting him, maybe we shouldn't wait too long and to try him out. It's not like we have bunch of world class coaches anyway.
 
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I would go with a young coach with a lot of talent and promise. Lith and Serbia are so similar in many things regarding to basketball, so in this case I think we have a lot in common, since the pressure on the basketball NT is always unreasonably high. Since you will be entering a new Olympic cycle and now you don't have an imperative of titles and etc (similar like Serbia in 2013/14) and expectations are a bit lower, you should go with a long term solution with the coach that will get you to be a true force for 2019-2020 period of WC (as a test for Olympics) and 2020 OG.

So get someone who is talented but can get the respect of the guys and pull some hard lines and see who you realistically expect to be there for 2020. That might mean cutting ties with some guys that now can still play and be good but long term might take away from team building and developing youngsters and a new core for the NT. I am the first one to tell you that is not easy, I am the first guy that doesn't like Djordjevic as our NT coach (young, unproven, vain, full of himself) but I also have to admit that some of the cuts and changes he made brought us back in contention and created a new core for strong future. So someone like Saras could be great, if he is interested. The key is not to burden him by expectations right away.
 
Kurtinaitis is a very unpredictable and strong character i am not sure players could fully open up with him especially the younger ones.
Saras is a great guy and i would prefer him to but is he ready to take this huge step i think he would decline an offer himself.
 
R1ou said:
But will he be available by then?Since the qualifiers are being held during the clubs' and the NBA season,everybody needs a full-time coach.We have also the same problem with Itoudis and Bartzokas.A project like this needs time.And I doubt that Saras will find it while coaching Zalgiris.That's something that every Nt needs to consider.
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We wont be playing qualifiers ,hopefully, for another few years .
Regarding our coaches other than a head one - MAskoliunas ,Krapikas have been assisting for how many years now ?
Maybe we need some new people besides them . Some fresh blood ,so to speak .
Regarding head coach position - Kurtinaitis-I feel he deserves that role ,but i have my doubts whether he can beneficial for the team .
He has strong opinions and is tough on the players to the point where he can alienate some of them. Then again ,his pedigree as a player and a coach is unquestionable .
I like Maksvytis - i think he should be involved at some capacity .
But even Kazlauskas retires ,we do not have to chose a new head coach straight away .
 
Straight forward said:
...... Logically Kurtinaitis .........He is decent coach, but never reached that next step.
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Wait ,what are you talking about ?
Next step for him would be to coach NBA team .
Never reached that next step ? That is ridiculous .
He started his coaching career in a fucking Azerbaijan . Azerbaijan . That is the place where people do not come back in one piece from ,let alone become to have up and coming future .
He has won Eurocup 3 times ! He was coaching Euroleague teams for at least 4 seasons .
 
auris1 said:
Wait ,what are you talking about ?
Next step for him would be to coach NBA team .
Never reached that next step ? That is ridiculous .
He started his coaching career in a fucking Azerbaijan . Azerbaijan . That is the place where people do not come back in one piece from ,let alone become to have up and coming future .
He has won Eurocup 3 times ! He was coaching Euroleague teams for at least 4 seasons .
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That's why I say he's decent. Coached solid Euroleague's club for few years, but problems instantly appeared as soon as he faced some high profile players in his team. Pretty similar what happened to Kemzura. That's the difference between Kazlauskas and Kurtinaitis. First, became top European coach, highly respectable coach who could deal with CSKA's stars and so on...Kurtinaitis never became (at least yet) a top coach in Europe. I think personality in coaching career is the key, even more than talent I think. We love Kurtinaitis, but he doesn't have that rock solid authority. Sabonis has it, I think Marciulionis has it, Kazlauskas has it (and respect for that because he wasn't some super player) and Jasikevicius has it. That's why big clubs hunting Jasikevicius, they know he has authority and players will follow his rules.
 
Straight forward said:
That's why I say he's decent. Coached solid Euroleague's club for few years, but problems instantly appeared as soon as he faced some high profile players in his team. Pretty similar what happened to Kemzura. That's the difference between Kazlauskas and Kurtinaitis. First, became top European coach, highly respectable coach who could deal with CSKA's stars and so on...Kurtinaitis never became (at least yet) a top coach in Europe. I think personality in coaching career is the key, even more than talent I think. We love Kurtinaitis, but he doesn't have that rock solid authority. Sabonis has it, I think Marciulionis has it, Kazlauskas has it (and respect for that because he wasn't some super player) and Jasikevicius has it. That's why big clubs hunting Jasikevicius, they know he has authority and players will follow his rules.
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Hopefully this wont become personal , but i have to disagree with you again .
Kemzura was first to coach Chimki and he got sacked almost straight away because he could not handle big names .
Kurtinaitis came, he had them same players to deal with and got even bigger names during his tenure there ...Yet ...He stayed there for 4 and a half years . Plus , in Russia it is almost inconceivable to have this sort of longevity unless to have balls made out of steel .
Kazlauskas came to CSKA ,he had big names ,if not the biggest available ,did not win Euroleague and he got sacked after just one season .
And why would you mention Sabonis and Marciulionis ? They have nothing to do with coaching at all and their authority is just nominal and token in this case, all due to their playing days .
 
auris1 said:
Hopefully this wont become personal , but i have to disagree with you again .
Kemzura was first to coach Chimki and he got sacked almost straight away because he could not handle big names .
Kurtinaitis came, he had them same players to deal with and got even bigger names during his tenure there ...Yet ...He stayed there for 4 and a half years . Plus , in Russia it is almost inconceivable to have this sort of longevity unless to have balls made out of steel .
Kazlauskas came to CSKA ,he had big names ,if not the biggest available ,did not win Euroleague and he got sacked after just one season .
And why would you mention Sabonis and Marciulionis ? They have nothing to do with coaching at all and their authority is just nominal and token in this case, all due to their playing days .
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Yeah, I should give creditfor Kurtinaitis staying in Chimki so long, but it's not like bog clubs are hunting him right now right? I mention Sabonis and Marciulionis because it they would decide to coach, I think they would have instant authority. That's what I meant. Specially Sabonis off course.
 
Hepcat said:
But who were the alternatives? Was Mantas Kalnietis available?

:confused:
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There were plenty other options than Mazutis and Jomantas :) Basically any other options could work better theoretically :) More seriously, they never trusted Kalnietis enough and eventually Mantas skipped the tournament because of personal reasons (Father's death if I'm not mistaken), or he just was riding the bench while Mazutis was playing :) Also they could already go with young Janavičius, Vasiliauskas, Gecevičius. It wouldn't had been worse. Question is also - why the f... Seibutis wasn't in the team? That's stupid, that's poor job of scouts and coaches. Also they could already bring Pocius, but never did it. There were options because Mazutis was a nightmare anyway.
 
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Straight forward said:
Yeah, I should give creditfor Kurtinaitis staying in Chimki so long, but it's not like bog clubs are hunting him right now right? I mention Sabonis and Marciulionis because it they would decide to coach, I think they would have instant authority. That's what I meant. Specially Sabonis off course.
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Are you drunk? What having an authority in general terms of basketball as a player is to do with being a good coach ?
How about we get Einikis to coach our NT team ?
He would beat everyone to a pulp . My ass ,seriously , with your authority thing .
Djordjevic was sacked by Panos . So what ? Are you saying he did not have enough authority to coach Serbia ?
They did badly ?
 
auris1 said:
Are you drunk? What having an authority in general terms of basketball as a player is to do with being a good coach ?
How about we get Einikis to coach our NT team ?
He would beat everyone to a pulp . My ass ,seriously , with your authority thing .
Djordjevic was sacked by Panos . So what ? Are you saying he did not have enough authority to coach Serbia ?
They did badly ?
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No I'm not. What I'm trying to say here - talent and knowledge is not enough. Kemzura has latter things, but he doesn't have the thing I talking about. So Dzordzevic is a bad coach or a good coach according to you, I think you missed your point here? :) Dzordjevic wasn't fired because he lacked authority. Kemzura and eventually Kurtinaitis (well in Kurtinaitis case it wasn't so obvious) were fired at least partly of that. DO you seriously believe Einikis ever had any authority? The guy can't say one single sentence fluently. The guy doesn't talk. He surely can't be a coach, and his last trip to Russia proved that pretty well.
 
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Straight forward said:
No I'm not. What I'm trying to say here - talent and knowledge is not enough. Kemzura has latter things, but he doesn't have the thing I talking about. So Dzordzevic is a bad coach or a good coach according to you, I think you missed your point here? :) Dzordjevic wasn't fired because he lacked authority. Kemzura and eventually Kurtinaitis (well in Kurtinaitis case it wasn't so obvious) were fired at least partly of that. DO you seriously believe Einikis ever had any authority? The guy can't say one single sentence fluently. The guy doesn't talk. He surely can't be a coach, and his last trip to Russia proved that pretty well.
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As I said before , I have no beef with you .
If you can not get a joke about Einikis ,well,that is just too bad .
 
Kazlauskas is half retired coach i believe.He will turn 63 this year,if he dont get any seriuos offers i doubt he will coach ever.Max 1 or 2 years even if he gets any seriuos offers.Over 65 to coach young mens it becomes very dificult. Either way Jonas is/was best lithuanian coach ever by far.

Kemzura works as assistent under Blatt and all other our best coaches are working in LKL...That only shows that our coaches is not respected as much as ex-jugoslavian coaches.Hopefully new generations of coaches will make a difference in future with Jasikevicius,Maskvytis and Adomaitis.
 
I doubt Maksvytis has an upside to become a good European coach. I think he's a fit only for Lithuanian market. I just don't see him handling foreign team. He doesn't have authoritative personality. Could be perfect as an assistant coach in NT probably though. Adomaitis might. Jasikevicius already one of the best in Europe.
 
Straight forward said:
I doubt Maksvytis has an upside to become a good European coach. I think he's a fit only for Lithuanian market. I just don't see him handling foreign team. He doesn't have authoritative personality. Could be perfect as an assistant coach in NT probably though. Adomaitis might. Jasikevicius already one of the best in Europe.
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Jasikevicius has a potential to be one of the best, but not as he is right now.That he one of the best from younger generation europe coaches ofcourse, but not overall.Titles and results should back it up.Jasikevicius dont have them yet. Coaching good one year doesnt
make you one of the best.Last year Bartsokas was best euroleague coach, how he is doing this year with barcelona?

When Jasikevicius will have atleast 5 years of coaching experience than you can make some real conclusions.Now is way too early.

For me Maskvytis did better job with neptunas, maskvytis did way better with youngsters than adomaitis with students, maskvytis is doing better job with lietkabelis, than adomaitis was doing with juventus.
 
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