Lietuvos Rytas 2013/14

[macleopard13]

How will Rytas fare in this upcoming season?

Roster so far:
C: Lydeka
PF: Katelynas, Dilys
SF: Orelikas, Bendzius
SG: Seibutis, Blums, Babrauskas
PG: Nedovic, Redikas, Seskus

Leaving: Zubcic, Palacio, Jomantas, Buterlevicius

Help wanted: a center, preferably one who is physically sturdy, can rebound, and can play aggressive defense.

Guards: the guard positions are pretty much covered at this point in time. They're not stellar, but not too bad either. Nedovic will provide some good offense and fast breaks, and the versatile Seibutis will reprise his role as the leader of Rytas, with Blums coming off the bench to hit some threes. It will be interesting to see how the 18-year-old Seskus will handle the big stage. Hopefully we'll discover a future NT point guard in him.

Forwards: the forward positions look rather average. Orelikas, who looked great for most of the last season, will probably team up with Seibutis to score most of Rytas' points. Bendzius will come off the bench to score a couple of buckets. Hopefully these two can use their experiences gained in the Universiade in this upcoming season. The power forward is the position I'm worried about. Katelynas has only shown flashes of his good game. He hasn't been all that consistent offensively last season, and his defense isn't stellar. He's more of a bench player if you ask me.

Centers: Lydeka is the only one right now. He's done a nice job last season staying active on defense and rebounding when possible. A bit foul-prone, but a good buy from Rytas.

[Straight forward]

I thought Katelynas is leaving Rytas.

Nedovič most likely will be drafted, but might still stay in Rytas probably. I'm not a fan of him though. Rytas needs pure PG.

As much as I like what Šeškus can bring in his age group I don't see him in the main roster of Rytas next season. He should be loaned to any LKL team and to play solid minutes there. While being 19yo he probably will be ready. Not sure abour Redikas chances. Is he progressing? He seems stuck in even rather weak Rytas' roster.

All in all, the team must be improved a lot. They should bring back Jonas Vainauskas as general manager, IMO.

[hustlerlt]

I haven't been on these forums for over a year, but I need to scream in English for a few minutes. So basically I've seen this: http://www.basketnews.lt/news-64059-...l#.UfjWro1kPRI If you're not Lithuanian and don't understand anything that's written there, then what are you doing in this part of the forum, but it also says Rytas is close to coming to an agreement with Stevan Jelovac. Now I'll say this much, I have never seen him play. However quick look at his stats, and they tell you much more than you would ever need to see. 2 blocks in total during the past 2 years and 59 games. 4.1 three pointers attempted last year and 3.3 the year before (he played over 10 minutes less). Sure, it wouldn't be anything horrible if he was a PG/SG/SF, but he's a PF! He's everything that I hate the most when it comes to PF's. Shoots way too many threes? Check. Doesn't protect the rim at all? Check. Is one of the players that belongs to BeoBasket? Check. What in the hell are the management thinking? Does Raznatovic has a sex tape of Vainauskas? Because it's getting ridiculous.
I'm definitely not saying that all players from former Yugoslavia suck, that would be idiotic, but we're only getting the stereotypical ones. Last year we got Zubcic, who was soft as silk, Ivanov, who had a vertical of maybe 10 inches, Radosevic, who just plain an simple didn't give a f**k about showing any effort on defense besides jumping for boneheaded blocks, and Samardziski, who just plain and simple sucked and had 0 basketball IQ. The only exception was Nedovic, who's already gone. Now what do we have already? Milenko Tepic, once a player with good potential, now just playing like a scrub in Spain and doesn't have a real position. At least he's good on defense... Now we're getting another scrub in Jelovac. You know what's the most messed up part? Radosevic, Zubcic, Ivanov, Nedovic, Tepic, Jelovac, last years coach Dzikic all belong to BeoBasket. So we're basically just getting all foreigners just from one agency. This is just simply a horrible time to be a Rytas fan.

[madmax]

as a die hard BC Rytas fan, I can only commiserate my thoughts with hustlerlt unfortunately
ever since Vainauskas Jr left the managerial position in the club, it's been a downhill trend really. Last season culminated with nonsensical signings, empty arena and horrible play of ex-yugo players from Beobasket agency. If financial situation is really so bleak, why not just sign promising lithuanian kids and let them develop and lose games instead of watching those horrible mediocrities blow games away with their unwatchable basketball? Now I thought that this upcoming season will be a ray of light in the dark sky for me as a Rytas supporter, but it looks like the things are only gonna get worse....I like Tepic as a player, I really do, but how to explain his monumental sucking over the last few years? Will he manage to resurface as a promising all-around talent that he was before in Rytas uniform? I certainly hope so, but not holding my breath at the same time as well. And this new rumoured signing Jelovac or whatever - what's that all about? The club is going nowhere and it saddens me deeply as I can still remember glory days of this exciting club in not too distant past...nowadays all we are left with is trashings from arrogant greens without any fight or balls shown on the court. And that sucks my dear friends. Sucks badly

[hustlerlt]

So I came here, cried for a few minutes and Rytas signs Gecas Hopefully Jelovac won't come to Rytas and it was only a rumor.

[auris1]

If financial situation is really so bleak, why not just sign promising lithuanian kids and let them develop and lose games instead of watching those horrible mediocrities blow games away with their unwatchable basketball?

I think if anything,this is what lrytas tried to do and still doing...
It just them damn young promising kids - you know what happens to them after a year or two?
After a while they are not kids anymore and they do become a burden for a team because they seem never to progress anymore.
Good examples though,of when things works out well - Jomantas,coming at the age of 21 and being a very decent player for 4-5 years.Gecevicius - yep,he was good whilst playing for lrytas.
But how about Dainys,Sinica,Buterlevicius,Dilys,Kelys,Brazdauski s ,plus all them bunch of ex Perlas players.There is probably at least another 10 players i forgot about(Siksnius for one,Dulkys is another) .So just imagine them all in one team - where this team would be in LKL standings?They would not be in Europe too.
So it is either management makes bad choices with signings,or we just do not have enough good players - probably a bit of both.
So Beobasket provides cheap and kind of reliable options to fill the roster.I really liked Bjelica and bajramovic,few other too.
What really kills the team is them stupid signings like Palacio or that Bryant? guy...I mean ,common...

The thing that seems to work,at least for now,is singing cheap Lithuanian players,not too old,but with experience,like Seibutis,Katelynas,arguably Lydeka and hopefully Gecevicius.
They play with heart,gives it all and will leave as soon as a better offer is on the table)

Regarding Vainauskas jn.
fuck knows,to be honest with you.
Why does he have to beg for his job back on every single opportunity?
Just speak to your father,ffs. It is either yes or no,but dont do this in public - it is humiliating .

Redikas is damn awful though.

[macleopard13]

So I came here, cried for a few minutes and Rytas signs Gecas Hopefully Jelovac won't come to Rytas and it was only a rumor.

Go grab your tissue box - Rytas signed Jelovac: http://www.sportando.net/eng/europe/...l?ref=signings.

I think if anything,this is what lrytas tried to do and still doing...
It just them damn young promising kids - you know what happens to them after a year or two?
After a while they are not kids anymore and they do become a burden for a team because they seem never to progress anymore.
Good examples though,of when things works out well - Jomantas,coming at the age of 21 and being a very decent player for 4-5 years.Gecevicius - yep,he was good whilst playing for lrytas.
But how about Dainys,Sinica,Buterlevicius,Dilys,Kelys,Brazdauski s ,plus all them bunch of ex Perlas players.There is probably at least another 10 players i forgot about(Siksnius for one,Dulkys is another) .So just imagine them all in one team - where this team would be in LKL standings?They would not be in Europe too.
So it is either management makes bad choices with signings,or we just do not have enough good players - probably a bit of both.
So Beobasket provides cheap and kind of reliable options to fill the roster.I really liked Bjelica and bajramovic,few other too.
What really kills the team is them stupid signings like Palacio or that Bryant? guy...I mean ,common...

I think the coach is to blame too. Players need minutes and attentive coaches to progress. Foreigners can't do the job properly because of language barriers. A Lithuanian coach would really help young Lithuanians to develop - just look at Kurtinaitis. He was strict, but very attentive to developing young players. Gecevicius and Jomantas shone when he coached Rytas. I think a Pacesas-type coach would be ideal for Rytas at the moment.

[hustlerlt]

And Rytas got their main center in Andreas Glyniadakis... Of course he's from BeoBasket. You know what the sad part is? Vainauskas and Bauermann were deciding whether they need a young, athletic American center, or an old, experienced European.

[macleopard13]

From VTB League stats last year, I judge that Glyniadakis can't handle higher competition. He was held down to no rebounds against Khimki and 1/7 shooting in 18 minutes and down to 4 rebounds in 36 minutes against UNICS. He didn't shine even against Rytas. What a facepalm!

[hustlerlt]

http://bc.lrytas.lt/item/1076-gvainauskas-%E2%80%9Ekomanda-jau-beveik-sukomplektuota%E2%80%9C

Basically this tells us that the team only needs a PG and it's completed... Vainauskas is a complete imbecile. The thing I hate the most is that according to him Dilys will be our second PF... So comparing to Zalgiris so far, our bigs are worse, SF is basically the same, because neither team have good players there, but Zalgiris might actually get someone good, we have two good SG's against their one good SG, and PG so far looks abysmal for both, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Zalgiris got a better one as well. So all in all, great summer for Rytas.

[madmax]

http://bc.lrytas.lt/item/1076-gvaina...tuota%E2%80%9C
Basically this tells us that the team only needs a PG and it's completed... Vainauskas is a complete imbecile. The thing I hate the most is that according to him Dilys will be our second PF... So comparing to Zalgiris so far, our bigs are worse, SF is basically the same, because neither team have good players there, but Zalgiris might actually get someone good, we have two good SG's against their one good SG, and PG so far looks abysmal for both, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Zalgiris got a better one as well. So all in all, great summer for Rytas.

stop whining.
who are those better big guys from Zalgiris? I'll give you Jankunas, and that's about it. Javtokas is washed up and has been done for years now, not to mention being injury prone - no serious european team is even interested in him anymore. For all the crap you give to Glyniadakis, he still can at least defend and not blow wide open layups And yes, our guards will be better next season, that's not even debatable really. I was never a fan of Pocius and it's no wonder he couldn't get off the bench in Madrid - he sucks. All in all, if some guys won't fit into the team, they's just be replaced by other players during the season anyway.

[hustlerlt]

stop whining.
who are those better big guys from Zalgiris? I'll give you Jankunas, and that's about it. Javtokas is washed up and has been done for years now, not to mention being injury prone - no serious european team is even interested in him anymore. For all the crap you give to Glyniadakis, he still can at least defend and not blow wide open layups And yes, our guards will be better next season, that's not even debatable really. I was never a fan of Pocius and it's no wonder he couldn't get off the bench in Madrid - he sucks. All in all, if some guys won't fit into the team, they's just be replaced by other players during the season anyway.

Dude, look at it from a basketball fans perspective, not from a Rytas fans perspective. Javtokas is easily better than both Lydeka and Glyniadakis. I really think you never seen him play before, because Javtokas is ten times the defender the greek could ever wish to become, not to mention his mediocre rebounding. Jankunas is easily better than Jelovac and Dilys combined, hell, Klimavicius is probably as good as Jelovac. And to say that bad players will just be replaced is ridiculous. You remember who we got last season? O'Bryant, Palacio, Zubcic and Lydeka. Neither of those I would even call mediocre. The only position we have an advantage is SG and that's mainly because we have both Gecas and Seibutis. If Pocius wasn't so injury prone, he would be a much better choice than any of them. This team isn't strong enough to get to the Euroleague. This team will probably just barely get into the VTB playoffs.

[madmax]

Dude, look at it from a basketball fans perspective, not from a Rytas fans perspective. Javtokas is easily better than both Lydeka and Glyniadakis. I really think you never seen him play before, because Javtokas is ten times the defender the greek could ever wish to become, not to mention his mediocre rebounding. Jankunas is easily better than Jelovac and Dilys combined, hell, Klimavicius is probably as good as Jelovac. And to say that bad players will just be replaced is ridiculous. You remember who we got last season? O'Bryant, Palacio, Zubcic and Lydeka. Neither of those I would even call mediocre. The only position we have an advantage is SG and that's mainly because we have both Gecas and Seibutis. If Pocius wasn't so injury prone, he would be a much better choice than any of them. This team isn't strong enough to get to the Euroleague. This team will probably just barely get into the VTB playoffs.

you of course have every right to be very pessimistic about the club and the downhill trend which it has been going over the last few years...however, this current team looks to be stronger than the one from the last season, no matter how you slice it. And like always, I only tend to judge a team's potential when I see them play competitive games against strong opposition, forgetting all the prejudices against certain players. You've got to understand that taking some unknow young american center is just as big risk as signing proven euro veteran like Glyniadakis - team has to qualify for Euroleague and they need all the experienced euro ballers to achieve this goal. There's no guarantee that signing young americans would work either, as we all have learned long time ago anyway

[Dreamcatcher]

I don't give a fuck about comparison between Rytas and Zalgiris, but Rytas's front line is extremely weak and PF line is disaster. Dilys??? WTF, i thought he was already gone after last season. My gosh. I guess fat Orelik is going to be better than him.

I only hope old Vainauskas is bullshitting as he used to do earlier few times.

[auris1]

I don't give a fuck about comparison between Rytas and Zalgiris, but Rytas's front line is extremely weak and PF line is disaster. Dilys??? WTF, i thought he was already gone after last season. My gosh. I guess fat Orelik is going to be better than him.

I only hope old Vainauskas is bullshitting as he used to do earlier few times.

Hear hear - it is absolutely irrelevant as for now and will be till late April or so.
And i am not big fan of euroleague qualifiers too - teams need to decide if they want to spend big, long way before season even starts .That is not the case with lrytas,apparently,so why bother hosting tournament in Vilnius? And i can guarantee you one thing too - probably as much as half of this team's roster will finish the season elsewhere.