Could Lithuania have done better?

[lithonbashooters]

Interesting discussion today saying that could the Lithuanian team have gone further in this WC 2006 with a different coach.

It seems Antanas Sireika has now had 5 years at the top job and after winning 2003 EuroBasket has not acheived as much as hoped. Following on from the disappointments of these 2006 World Championships where LTU have narrowly lost to Turkey and Greece have managed to scrape past Brasil and lost heavily to Spain in the Quarterfinals. It seems now maybe as good a time as any to look at finding a replacement for headcoach to lead this talented National team to glory in the 2008 Olympics. Maybe someone like Brian Goorjian could be looked at as a candidate as he took the Australian basketball team which is not as talented as Lithuania but nearly had his Boomer team beat Greece and Turkey.

Could Sireika have acheived more with the Boomers or could Goorjian have had LTU finish top of Group C and be in a position to be playing a semi-final against USA for a spot in the final

What would have happened if Jonas Kazlauskas was still coach?

Very interesting indeed.

[Genjuro]

I don't think Lithuania had the pieces to get it done. If your point guards are Kalnietis and Gustas, and you don't have any single guy in the perimeter that can play one-on-one and create for the rest of the team, you're pretty much screwed. To get to the quarterfinals has been a moderate success, in my opinion. There's no way this roster could compete with Argentina, USA, Spain or Greece.

It was pretty much like last year: it was impossible to get past France. With only Siskauskas generating game from the perimeter, it was too easy for a team like France, with superb perimeter defenders, to stop Lithuania. Considering how well Lithuania played the rest of the Eurobasket (and their qualyfication for this Worlds), I would say that it was another success.

In my opinion, Sireika has done a good job these two years. You can't expect more from the teams you had in competition.

[CG]

I don't think Lithuania had the pieces to get it done. If your point guards are Kalnietis and Gustas, and you don't have any single guy in the perimeter that can play one-on-one and create for the rest of the team, you're pretty much screwed. To get to the quarterfinals has been a moderate success, in my opinion. There's no way this roster could compete with Argentina, USA, Spain or Greece.

It was pretty much like last year: it was impossible to get past France. With only Siskauskas generating game from the perimeter, it was too easy for a team like France, with superb perimeter defenders, to stop Lithuania. Considering how well Lithuania played the rest of the Eurobasket (and their qualyfication for this Worlds), I would say that it was another success.

In my opinion, Sireika has done a good job these two years. You can't expect more from the teams you had in competition.

i agree

[Miškinis]

What can I say about this team - SHAME. It's not worth to be in WC top8.

[qiangdade]

The outcome could not have differed alot even if u had beaten greece or some other team. Fact is lithuania lacks the pg's to create and organize. Kalnietis is a prospect, gustas is not nt level. Imo this lith team could not have reached the semis.

[Billy]

The outcome could not have differed alot even if u had beaten greece or some other team. Fact is lithuania lacks the pg's to create and organize. Kalnietis is a prospect, gustas is not nt level. Imo this lith team could not have reached the semis.

I concur wholeheartedly.
The size underneath the basket was second round material but the lack of skills on the perimeter was what killed this team. Fact is that a nation as small as Lithuania cant afford to have their best players turn down the NT and still be competitive beyond the second round.

All respect to the ones who actually turned up though.

[CG]

sorry no

[ncroc]

Ersan İlyasova first block then alley-opps

http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/modules/habervideo/video.asp

[kestas]

What can I say about this team - SHAME. It's not worth to be in WC top8.

indeed. Sireika and co. have floped so hard, it's unfreakingbelievable. one day he's dismissing all critisisms and hinting Lithuania will go on to the Final game, and just three days later he's a coach without any future whatsoever in the Lithuanian NT. It's like Gustas missing the last free throws against Maccabi - no one wanted to see his face or hear about him for at least a year after that as he was immediately lended to some remote team in Russia

indeed, from hero to zero. the most exact phrase one could come up with when talking about Sireika now. he's lucky he left Zalgiris, coz Lithuanian fans will not forget this performance for some time to come.

sure, today we probably played better than against Spain, but not by much. and the ending was just plain pathetic. Macas just kept on loosing balls like they were gonna blow (no pun intended). overall the most ridiculous final ten minutes this team could come up with. they have one more chance to clean up their image (a little bit) against Germany, but this should have no influence on the future of our coaches as well as Pavilonis (head of NT support fund, a man heavily responsible for the list of candidates).

[kestas]

The outcome could not have differed alot even if u had beaten greece or some other team. Fact is lithuania lacks the pg's to create and organize. Kalnietis is a prospect, gustas is not nt level. Imo this lith team could not have reached the semis.

last year we played without Songaila, Macas, Kleiza, Kalnietis, etc.. yet apart from the quarterfinal game against France, other five matches were perfect. Lithuania won 5 games by big margins. this year we brought a star laden team.. to say we lost because Saras was missing doesn't make sense. the whole of the team was off ballance, there were no understanding on offense, players improvised, played individually.. everytime they passed your muscles trembled in fair of a turnover.. sure, we had bad small blayers - for that people responsible for the list of invitees must be fired asap. there are good players out there, we should not be going to the World championships with Macas and three mediocre players..
but the actual problems with the squad we did have seemed to be somewhat deeper. even with this bunch we had to win todays game against Turkey by 15.
Opponents knew our game, while we had no alternatives. and even that famed game of ours looked average and unrecognasible.. for that our coach must be fired (or resign) asap.

[LuDux]

Could Lithuania have done better?

It's very difficult to say "No" then majority of game were lost by few points or after TO's, but

last year we played without Songaila, Macas, Kleiza, Kalnietis, etc.. yet apart from the quarterfinal game against France, other five matches were perfect.

Let's compare:

2005, Siskauskas: universal, after season in Italy
2006, Macijauskas: shooter, after season on NBA bench

2005, Ginevicius: 4 years and 61 game in Euroleague
2006, Kalnietis: 4 games and 66 minutes in Euroleague

Kleiza: 21 year old newcomer, last played fiba basketball 2 tears ago

So, with weaker team and against stronger opponents and without playing good basketball we managed to be 5-6 european team. Not bad

[Genjuro]

last year we played without Songaila, Macas, Kleiza, Kalnietis, etc.. yet apart from the quarterfinal game against France, other five matches were perfect. Lithuania won 5 games by big margins. this year we brought a star laden team.. to say we lost because Saras was missing doesn't make sense. the whole of the team was off ballance, there were no understanding on offense, players improvised, played individually.. everytime they passed your muscles trembled in fair of a turnover.. sure, we had bad small blayers - for that people responsible for the list of invitees must be fired asap. there are good players out there, we should not be going to the World championships with Macas and three mediocre players..
but the actual problems with the squad we did have seemed to be somewhat deeper. even with this bunch we had to win todays game against Turkey by 15.
Opponents knew our game, while we had no alternatives. and even that famed game of ours looked average and unrecognasible.. for that our coach must be fired (or resign) asap.

I guess they invited everybody they should invite (although perhaps a guy like Seibutis could have been handy in this team). The basic problem was people turning down invitations (Jasikevicius, Siskauskas or Kaukenas) and injuries (Ginevicius). It happens that those four guys were absolutely crucial in this team. Without any of them, with the pieces you have, the outcome was pretty logic. You fear turnovers because there wasn't any player capable of controling the game. Macas had to step up trying to become a go-to guy, but he's not, by any means. He's just a world class shooter that needs to work off the ball.

You beat a pretty nice Italian team in quarterfinals (they had a weak roster, but they played a fairly solid tournament). Ok, you lost against Turkey, but in my opinion the motivation is very different. Lithuania was European champion just two years ago, and they knew this game was useless; meanwhile Turkey has something to prove after several years of horrible results, and they are a young team that want to show that they don't need the likes of Turkoglu or Okur.

[erainmania]

i think guards rules the game.and lithania lacks of a quality guard who s capable of reading and leading the game.gustas is not enough to lead this team..beside that i cant see team ambition as in earlier ..

[kestas]

I guess they invited everybody they should invite (although perhaps a guy like Seibutis could have been handy in this team). The basic problem was people turning down invitations (Jasikevicius, Siskauskas or Kaukenas) and injuries (Ginevicius).

in fact, we did not invite Salenga and Slanina. at all. Slanina is a very solid shooter (deffinitely better than Delininkaitis, imho), while Salenga is a decent allrounder with very good passing skills. also many think we should try to bring Pacesas back to our camp (I'm not so sure though) - he was not invited as well. and also people think that this team had too many tall guys. a lot of people are saying that M. Zukauskas did not deserve to go by any mile and we should have invited a guard instead of him, someone with better offense (majority of our players have better offense than current Zukauskas). while the duties of Zukauskas could go to the hands of Jankunas, who is already better, but played much less..
and regarding Ginevicius.. I serisously doubt he's better than Gustas.. Pacesas has more experience than both of them put together, however short term such inclusion would be. wihle Seibutis was in the camp, but didn't make it for some reason.. I think that a guys like Jonas Maciulis or Lukauskis could be more usefull at this point (say, isntead of M. Zukauskas )..

in any case, it would be unwise to say we underachieved only because we had wrong players.. simply the team did not click, the play was chaotic. Saras would not be on court all the time and he, I must remind you, is an average ballhandler as well.. he too stops when pressed..

[lithonbashooters]

in any case, it would be unwise to say we underachieved only because we had wrong players.. simply the team did not click, the play was chaotic. Saras would not be on court all the time and he, I must remind you, is an average ballhandler as well.. he too stops when pressed..

Do you think now that Lithuania need to take the bold step of getting a new coach and new players and start rebuilding for the 2012 Olympics as it seems with this squad they will struggle to get top 4 in 2008 Olympics? I also agree even if Saras and Zee were in the team would not have been enough to make up for the 20pt loss to Spain....