• Since we moved our URL please clear your browsers history and cookies and try logging in again. Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience
  • Since we moved our URL please clear your browsers history and cookies and try logging in again. Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience

Top Lithuanian Coaches

  • Thread starter Thread starter macleopard132
  • Start date Start date
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?
I am sort of lost for words there . You say that
Last year Bartsokas was best euroleague coach
.But ... let me get it right for you -Georgios Bartzokas was named EuroLeague Coach of the Year in 2013 ,not last year .
Saying that someone is the best coach is such a fickle .It comes and goes away just like that , like after just one gamer you might be either or neither .
I am pretty sure that Saras as a player was one of the best ,as you would agree? Was he ever the best ? Perhaps not ,yet .. He has all them titles and shit ...
As a coach , he is already in a top 10 of them coaches , right ? All the top teams are coming after him ,and you are still not convinced ? 5 years period is quite steep as well .
Honestly , he had managed to stretch his playing career to almost 20 years at top level . As a coach , he will be good for another 40 if he wishes .
 
Hi
A little bit update for this thread.
As you may know Butautas is our coach and what i can say at the moment about him is that he gave us a great defense and we were lacking this. He often plays man on man defense with a half court press.
In the attack, he likes the fastbreak but even when we're not in a fastbreak attack the players turns the ball like "an european teams" and i really like that.
Maybe he can be succesfull with us because our players lack the basic things so we can clearly see the improvment with him and he used to coach the youth several years so he knows how to pass his message to the players who lacks basketball IQ.
Last but not least he has big balls hehe ! He don't hesitate to put our best players on the bench, a lot of rotation even in the clutch time. He didn't take our best rising star in the line-up for some reason and we all kniw that this player (Ahmad Ibrahim) is talented but his behavior is not the best so I guess is not a bad things.
 
My list:
1. Jonas Kazlauskas. No need for introductions. He's done so much for Lithuanian basketball it would be unfair to list him as anything but number one.
2. Rimas Kurtinaitis. The most accomplished coach after Kazlauskas. Knows how to work with youth, strong leadership abilities, knowledgeable about basketball. Unlike Kazlauskas, who can work with what he's given, Kurtinaitis needs to be involved in the team building process in order to be successful.
3. Sarunas Jasikevicius. Strong leadership abilities, charisma. Decisive and quick, unafraid of taking risks. Intelligent. He's third only because he doesn't have the experience, but should be surpassing Kurtinaitis rather soon.
4. Kestutis Kemzura. There is a reason coach Blatt keeps him as an assistant. He has developed one of the most versatile transition offense systems of any Lithuanian coach; however, he struggles to make in-game adjustments to stop opponent momentum. He also lacks leadership qualities, which burned him in 2011/2012 when veterans were calling the shots.
5. Dainius Adomaitis. Specializes in fast-paced offense with some focus on defense. He has more international experience than his direct competitor Maksvytis, but has lost match-ups to him.
6. Kazys Maksvytis. Also emphasizes offense, and has been a more successful coach than Dainius, but lacks international experience. Even though he's sixth here, he's really not that much worse than Adomaitis. In fact, I don't think it would've made a huge difference whether Dainius or Kazys were coaching our team this summer.
7. Antanas Sireika. Performs if he has backing, but crumbles under pressure. He emphasizes offense, but doesn't have too many plays other than move the ball around or pick 'n roll. Lacks leaderships skills, giving control to his players rather than dictating the game.
8. Rimantas Grigas. A highly underrated coach. He owned a deep L. Rytas team led by the Trifunovic in 2008 LKL finals. He also helped develop a slew of talent by coaching youth (Jasikevicius and Praskevicius come to mind). Unfortunately, he also lacks charisma and consistency to coach high-level teams.
9. Darius Maskoliunas. The man had a good run with Zalgiris in 2009-10, nearly making Euroleague Top 8. But his team also underperformed in 2012-13, when Rytas couldn't get past the first Euroleague stage and capitulated in VTB United League with 9 wins and 9 losses. Still, he is partly responsible for the steely defense Zalgiris has played last season.
10. Ramunas Butautas. EuroBasket 2009 exposed his weaknesses as a tactician and coach. He allowed too much freedom to his players, but when the players needed some guidance, he just wasn't there to offer it. However, he has done a good job with the Lebanon team, giving China a run for their money in the Asian Championship 5th place match-up.
 

What? Seriously? Unproven puppies as Adomaitis, Maksvytis are better than Sireika? What exactly they did? Sireika is a champ of Europe. He handled the team composed of peaking Jasikevicius and tons of euroleague's true stars (you can ask Kazlauskas how tough is to deal with that, far from every time it was an easy task, 2009, 2011...), he is 3 time LKL champ with Zalgiris. He's not a great strategist, but has personality and guts to handle the highest calibre Lith teams. Even in Zalgiris he had to deal with nut cases like Tanoka Beard and he did. And those were times when to grab LKL title was a real thing. Not now when soft teams as Neptunas and Lietkabelis reaching the finals...


If you rank by actual abilities and not achievements I would put Jasikevicius at the top. Can't remember when Kazlauskas' impact was as obvious and most importantly impressive, effective and all around as Jasikevicius' last season in Zalgiris. He made Zalgiris the borderline elite EL's club of very mediocre roster. In this case to me it would be 1. Saras. 2. Kazlauskas. 3. Kurtinaitis. 4. Sireika. 5. Kemzura
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What? Seriously? Unproven puppies as Adomaitis, Maksvytis are better than Sireika? What exactly they did? Sireika is a champ of Europe. He handled the team composed of peaking Jasikevicius and tons of euroleague's true stars (you can ask Kazlauskas how tough is to deal with that, far from every time it was an easy task, 2009, 2011...), he is 3 time LKL champ with Zalgiris. He's not a great strategist, but has personality and guts to handle the highest calibre Lith teams. Even in Zalgiris he had to deal with nut cases like Tanoka Beard and he did. And those were times when to grab LKL title was a real thing. Not now when soft teams as Neptunas and Lietkabelis reaching the finals...

If you rank by actual abilities and not achievements I would put Jasikevicius at the top. Can't remember when Kazlauskas' impact was as obvious and most importantly impressive, effective and all around as Jasikevicius' last season in Zalgiris. He made Zalgiris the borderline elite EL's club of very mediocre roster. In this case to me it would be 1. Saras. 2. Kazlauskas. 3. Kurtinaitis. 4. Sireika. 5. Kemzura

First of all, this list is just my opinion - I'm not even sure that one can use quantifiable substance to accurately draw a qualitative premise. I ranked Sireika behind Adomaitis and Maksvytis because he hasn't won anything significant in the last ten years other than a couple of bronze medals in domestic competitions. He got his butt handed to him by his assistant Giedraitis in 2011 and by Seskus in 2012 in the third place match-up. Next, he became a head coach of a Japanese team, which wasn't even a top contender in Japan Basketball League despite having some foreign talent. Then in Juventus, he delivered some surprises, but also lost some games where Juventus was a clear favorite. Overall, he's done a good job in the LKL since his return, but so has Adomaitis and Maksvytis. Don't get me wrong, Antanas has given a lot to Lithuanian basketball, but I don't see him as being "better" than the two aforementioned coaches at the moment, especially if we consider the last ten years of coaching experience (I probably should've been more specific, sorry about that).
 
Could be in 1998-1999 :p

Around the same time period I think he did his best job with the national team at the 2000 Olympics. That team was talented but overachieved by eliminating a super talented Serbian team in the quarterfinals and took Usa to the wire in the semifinals before winning the bronze against Australia on their home court.
 
Around the same time period I think he did his best job with the national team at the 2000 Olympics. That team was talented but overachieved by eliminating a super talented Serbian team in the quarterfinals and took Usa to the wire in the semifinals before winning the bronze against Australia on their home court.

Indeed. 2000 was an amazing surprise. I remember very well how this team traveled to Sydney without any expectations. We lost our two biggest NT stars in Sabas and Karnisovas, both were injured. That was huge blow. Team was very young, most of the players without any Olympic experience, most coming from very tough seasons, then the one who supposed to be a leader, Einikis, was having behaviour issues and was kicked-out from NT, but later brought back. But what was supposed to be a disaster turned out into one of the most astonishing achievements in our bball history, not only in terms of final result, but also the way we reached it, playin' great bball. Basically similar to the one Zalgiris played in 1998-99
 
The difference is that Kazlauskas had stud point guards in Šaras and Tyus Edney back than (and stars like Stombergas, Anthony Bowie). Jasikevicius could only dream about such creative and elite players last season. That's why to me he did more impressive job as coach, he had to create an oiled mechanism to achieve as much and he did. Edney could do a lot by himself alone. Jasikevicius was making everyone better around him. Not that I want to take anything from Kazlauskas. It was amazing times of Lithuanian basketball.
 
Wait , no Vladas Garastas ?
He is / was a legend . I never particularly liked him for one or another reason as a coach, and at the end , when he was presiding our bb federation , i just did not liked him at all.
Yeah , nowadays he seems like very outdated and old school , but on the other hand , this was a very powerful and successful figure at his peak , like almost globally , beit long long time ago .
Lets say that i honestly can not put him anywhere in your list just the same like you can't put a dinosaur into zoo because their are extinct . Still , you can not deny the fact he existed .
 
Wait , no Vladas Garastas ?
He is / was a legend . I never particularly liked him for one or another reason as a coach, and at the end , when he was presiding our bb federation , i just did not liked him at all.
Yeah , nowadays he seems like very outdated and old school , but on the other hand , this was a very powerful and successful figure at his peak , like almost globally , beit long long time ago .
Lets say that i honestly can not put him anywhere in your list just the same like you can't put a dinosaur into zoo because their are extinct . Still , you can not deny the fact he existed .

Yes, he undoubtedly was a successful figure (had all the right personality traits to be a fine coach), but my list reflects the current coaching situation, as mentioned in my last post, and last time I checked, Garastas is no longer coaching. Your excuse to extol an archaic basketball figure seems rather out of place, forgive me for being so blunt.
 
The difference is that Kazlauskas had stud point guards in Šaras and Tyus Edney back than (and stars like Stombergas, Anthony Bowie). Jasikevicius could only dream about such creative and elite players last season. That's why to me he did more impressive job as coach, he had to create an oiled mechanism to achieve as much and he did. Edney could do a lot by himself alone. Jasikevicius was making everyone better around him. Not that I want to take anything from Kazlauskas. It was amazing times of Lithuanian basketball.

Agree with you about Edney being a "stud", arriving to Kaunas with some NBA experience under his belt. But Jasikevicius? He was still a new kid on the rise in European basketball when he played in Sidney. He showed potential in Olimpija, but had much to prove. Lithuania surprised everyone for similar reasons as in 2010 - nobody expected Lithuania to get to the medal round, and many teams underestimated it. Kazlauskas was able to instill the right attitude on a young and hungry team. When you consider those two factors together, you get a strong showing at a prestigious tournament. Jasikevicius also had both factors working for him this past season - right from the beginning, no one expected Zalgiris to do well, and when Zalgiris gained momentum, teams found it difficult to stop it. This is not to say that Jasikevicius did not impress the team with a better approach to games - but I find your argument regarding Jasikevicius "outranking" Kazlauskas in ability somewhat flawed. If we were to normalize their ages, however, then by all means, I would agree with you. Nevertheless, the nature of this topic is very subjective, and we can fight about this all day and night and not come to a consensus.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The difference is that Kazlauskas had stud point guards in Šaras and Tyus Edney back than (and stars like Stombergas, Anthony Bowie). Jasikevicius could only dream about such creative and elite players last season. That's why to me he did more impressive job as coach, he had to create an oiled mechanism to achieve as much and he did. Edney could do a lot by himself alone. Jasikevicius was making everyone better around him. Not that I want to take anything from Kazlauskas. It was amazing times of Lithuanian basketball.

Man, Kazlauskas won freaking Euroleague and did it with his own style. When slow basketball dominated the courts, he came with fast paced game and blew everyone away. That's the key. He managed to build such team. Of course you need tools to do so. Edney was no one when he came to Europe, of course he proved to be vital on court, but let's say, the same Edney never won EL again bein' in better teams, actually none of Zalgiris players did
 
Yes, he undoubtedly was a successful figure (had all the right personality traits to be a fine coach), but my list reflects the current coaching situation, as mentioned in my last post, and last time I checked, Garastas is no longer coaching. Your excuse to extol an archaic basketball figure seems rather out of place, forgive me for being so blunt.
Fair enough , because I just did not scroll back enough to catch your last prior to your last post .
But just as a suggestion -how about Algirdas Paulauskas ?
He coached our NT team , beit women , and other as well (Polish NT team)? Google is very spare on him , I do not know why. As a club head coach he was very successful as well with jobs in our telecom team , whatever it was called , as well with Russian clubs .As far as going to the Euro league final 4 stages quite a few times . I am sure someone like Ludux has more stats , but he was top coach like just a few years ago .
 
Fair enough , because I just did not scroll back enough to catch your last prior to your last post .
But just as a suggestion -how about Algirdas Paulauskas ?
He coached our NT team , beit women , and other as well (Polish NT team)? Google is very spare on him , I do not know why. As a club head coach he was very successful as well with jobs in our telecom team , whatever it was called , as well with Russian clubs .As far as going to the Euro league final 4 stages quite a few times . I am sure someone like Ludux has more stats , but he was top coach like just a few years ago .

Do you mean Alfredas Vainauskas, who recently coached Utena women's team? He used to head Rytas back when it was just starting out. The guy had a lot of potential too - won a couple of domestic and regional tournaments with young Siska and Macas, even vanquished a team led by our NT coach in LKL. But he chose to continue his career in women's basketball, made a name for himself in 2012 as European women's coach of the year, and lost it the next with that Russian NT fiasco, so I'm not really sure his experience warrants a place in the top 10. Maybe in the top 20.
 
Do you mean Alfredas Vainauskas, who recently coached Utena women's team? He used to head Rytas back when it was just starting out. The guy had a lot of potential too - won a couple of domestic and regional tournaments with young Siska and Macas, even vanquished a team led by our NT coach in LKL. But he chose to continue his career in women's basketball, made a name for himself in 2012 as European women's coach of the year, and lost it the next with that Russian NT fiasco, so I'm not really sure his experience warrants a place in the top 10. Maybe in the top 20.

He meant what he wrote - Algirdas Paulauskas, a women bball coach. He was assistant coach to Vydas Gedvilas when our women NT won Eurobasket back in 1997

Talking about all-time best coaches and Garastas. Latter surely would be among top ones. Lot of people simply ignores him cause he coached Sabas' generation, so it's a common thought that basically anyone could coach it and win, Sabas would do it all. But actually, Garastas was really good coach even without Sabas on board. He proved that at first in youth level when he lead small town Birzai team to Lithuanian top, which was kinda huge, who could challenge top guns like Kaunas or Vilnius??? then he took a risk to take a charge of Zalgiris, when club was in very tough situation and none really wanted to take responsibility, so he managed to take Zalgiris from relegation candidate to league finals very next season. That was huge achievement. When Sabas showed up, Garastas was the one who trsuted young fellow no matter all the mistakes he made. Overall, he was not just good tactitian, but first of all very good psychologist. He knew where to push the players, where to let it go. I mean, that, I guess we all know that discipline back then was far from current one :) No wonder players called him a father too. After he was kicked out from Lith bball for a while, after we retrieved our independence, in one season he managed to lead some Slovakian club to it's title... Of course, when our first Olympic team was build, players on their own, against federation decision, called Garastas to comeback and be a coach of it. Everyone knew how valuable Garastas is to a team

Other than that, we had really good coaches like Stepas Butautas, Vytautas Bimba, Feliksas Kriauciunas, Konstantinas Savickas, maybe I forgot some others too
 
He meant what he wrote - Algirdas Paulauskas, a women bball coach. He was assistant coach to Vydas Gedvilas when our women NT won Eurobasket back in 1997

Talking about all-time best coaches and Garastas. Latter surely would be among top ones. Lot of people simply ignores him cause he coached Sabas' generation, so it's a common thought that basically anyone could coach it and win, Sabas would do it all. But actually, Garastas was really good coach even without Sabas on board. He proved that at first in youth level when he lead small town Birzai team to Lithuanian top, which was kinda huge, who could challenge top guns like Kaunas or Vilnius???

Do you mean Zalgiris and Statyba? Did they really play in republican championships?
 
Do you mean Zalgiris and Statyba? Did they really play in republican championship?

No, you got me wrong here. As I wrote, it was on youth level, back in those days it was competitions between the cities/towns, don't know how to call it correctly. Kaunas, Vilnius obviously gathered the biggest pool of talent, at times it was Panevezys who could challenge them, but it was practically impossible for a town like Birzai to be among the best
 
No, you got me wrong here. As I wrote, it was on youth level, back in those days it was competitions between the cities/towns, don't know how to call it correctly. Kaunas, Vilnius obviously gathered the biggest pool of talent, at times it was Panevezys who could challenge them, but it was practically impossible for a town like Birzai to be among the best

Sorry, missed that

Spartakiada
 
Back
Top