Domantas Sabonis thread

[auris1]

this...Jonas always had a nice shooting touch. Shooting the basketball is not something that you can develop - a player either has it or not. Just look at Shaq's or Dwight Howard's shooting woes

I am not sure what do you mean here? Surely this is that you work on during your whole carrier,no? You can go from here with two options - some players got mechanics right,like Ray Allen,but they still train extra hard .Some maybe develop individual traits,like Einikis or Visockas,and they are successful with that.Majority of people are average shooters,you know,because of law of average.

And some,like Shaq or Dwight Howard on the other hand, are extreme examples of i don't give a shit anyways attitude- yet both of them arguably were /are the best centers in NBA.
Was Sabas very good shooter at the age of 17?
Honestly,i do not remember. But he got decent in the end.

[mbenga]

And some,like Shaq or Dwight Howard on the other hand, are extreme examples of i don't give a shit anyways attitude- yet both of them arguably were /are the best centers in NBA.

I don't think Howard's problem is he doesn't give a shit, he simply has horrible touch and poor coordination.

Was Sabas very good shooter at the age of 17?
Honestly,i do not remember. But he got decent in the end.

At 18 he was already pretty decent so i assume 1 year earlier he wasn't all that bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyzUZWVLJy8

[madmax]

I am not sure what do you mean here? Surely this is that you work on during your whole carrier,no? You can go from here with two options - some players got mechanics right,like Ray Allen,but they still train extra hard .Some maybe develop individual traits,like Einikis or Visockas,and they are successful with that.Majority of people are average shooters,you know,because of law of average.

And some,like Shaq or Dwight Howard on the other hand, are extreme examples of i don't give a shit anyways attitude- yet both of them arguably were /are the best centers in NBA.
Was Sabas very good shooter at the age of 17?
Honestly,i do not remember. But he got decent in the end.

Sabonis was always a skilled player, so shooting was the least of his worries I reckon...as for your point of develping one's shooting skills, you're correct of course. But you're making a mistake by comparing guards or perimeter players to big men, who are naturally not as coordinated and fluid in their mechanics as smaller guys. Let's take Lebron as an example - a very skilled and dominant perimeter player without any doubt. But guess what? He still can't crack at least 80% from the charity stripe, no matter how much he tries and whatever technique he uses. And that is precisely because he's not a natural shooter. There is simply a ceiling to how much one can improve realistically

[auris1]

I don't think Howard's problem is he doesn't give a shit, he simply has horrible touch and poor coordination.

In music terms he is "tone deaf" - so if he was in the band,no matter how long he would practice for,he would never be good at singing.As a drummer (enter text here with drummer joke)?
So yeah,probably he is better of by lifting weights in a gym instead of shooting practices

[Straight forward]

So at the end of the day Domantas didn't play as dominant as Jonas did in the similar case and that's not surprise (at least not for me). But his numbers are still impressive. Besides, I haven't seen this tournament so maybe someone could give a short review about his game?

[macleopard13]

Domantas will play for the main Unicaja team next season. I can't wait to see him playing alongside Kuzminskas . Both of them are in good hands for next season.

[Straight forward]

Domantas Sabonis in the starting line-up of Unicaja and the very first game in ACB. Not bad for 17 yo? Finished with 6 points and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes.

[Dreamcatcher]

It's great for a kid to get solid minutes in ACB, but he wants to go to NCAA next year.

[macleopard13]

It's great for a kid to get solid minutes in ACB, but he wants to go to NCAA next year.

Bad idea. Playing time isn't guaranteed there at all and the level is much, much lower there than in ACB. I suppose he wants to get some good American education, but that may come at the expense of his basketball career/skills.

[Dreamcatcher]

Bad idea. Playing time isn't guaranteed there at all and the level is much, much lower there than in ACB. I suppose he wants to get some good American education, but that may come at the expense of his basketball career/skills.

Completely agree. As a basketball player he should stay at Spain where he is able to play in ACB being so young. But he or his father or both of them are looking for an education.

[omgsomuchpotential]

Completely agree. As a basketball player he should stay at Spain where he is able to play in ACB being so young. But he or his father or both of them are looking for an education.

I don't necessarily agree. While it is true that both ACB & Euroleague are miles ahead of NCAA-level competition, Domantas might get to shine against inferior NCAA talent and might just up his draft stock to a lottery pick, which guarantees bigger rookie contracts in the NBA. I'm not quite sure if the education argument is valid, because it is very likely that he's only going to be there for 1 year (minimum required before entering NBA draft).

I think staying 1 year in ACB/Euroleague and then 1 year of college before going to NBA is a win/win situation. He'll get a lot of valuable experience this year playing against grown experienced men, and that should really help him dominate the NCAA competition. Here's hoping he'll go to university of his place of birth (Oregon), where he should get some respect for his name too, as his father was one of the greatest blazers of all time even being riddled with injuries at that time.

[Hepcat]

As a basketball player he should stay at Spain where he is able to play in ACB being so young. But he or his father or both of them are looking for an education.

An education (academically speaking) is not why basketball players go to U.S. colleges. If Domantas and his father really want him to get an education, summer school at a European university would be the best option.

[Dreamcatcher]

http://unicaja.diariosur.es/noticias/2013-10-15/debut-sabonis-unicaja-obstaculo-20131015.html

It's not easy to play in Europe and then to do the same in NCAA without problems. Kanter had to miss one season.

[Miškinis]

http://unicaja.diariosur.es/noticias...-20131015.html

It's not easy to play in Europe and then to do the same in NCAA without problems. Kanter had to miss one season.

He will not have any problems as he did not sign any pro contract with Unicaja. It is mentioned about this right here

[macleopard13]

I picture the NCAA as a bad place to develop because so many Lithuanian players' careers failed to take off after they left the NCAA. Countless prospective Lithuanians (Kavaliauskas, Katelynas, Dulkys, Zavackas, etc.) ended up in LKL/Eastern European basketball clubs because of limited playing time/positional changes. For example, Bareika entered the NCAA as a prospective Lithuanian PG in 2009 (I think). Now, he'll be leaving as a SF. Is that how talents should be developed?