All time NT

[Straight forward]

Kalnietis in 2010 played better than Jokubaitis in 2022 in my eyes who watched games closely because Mantas wasnt outplayed in every single game ending in close games by opponents guards . Thats their stats eff diffrence was 1 or 2 pts to one or other side thats says nothing to me.

As main playmaker Kalnietis run and controled team better in 2010 than Jokubaitis did in 2022.But Mantas was 2 years older so lets give time to Jokubaitis time to mature and become smarter.

It's very debatable. Cause there's so many similarities in terms of Kalnietis 2010 and Jokubaitis 2022 performances. A bit up and down in the tournament and more consistent performances down the stretch of the tournament. Kalnietis had 3.4asp/1,8TO, Jokubaitis 4apg/2TO. I basically agree that Kalnietis looked more convincing, he played better defence and at that point was a little better athlete that current Jokubaitis, but I'm not sure about the control of the game. It's really close. That's exactly my point. 21,7yo Jokubaitis was basically playing the same quality basketball as 24yo Kalnietis and that was my exact prediction before EB. I expected that.

Again, it's not really important whenever great players brake out, being 22 or 25, or when do they make all tournament team. Siskauskas made all tournament team only when he was 29 in EB 07. But he's absolutely top 10 all time Lithuanian player, one of the most complete players ever seen.

[Shawshank]

For me nothing debatable there. When Kalnietis had ball in 2010 i felt ball is in safe/smart hands,when Rokas had ball in 2022 far from that

Kalnietis in 2010 was not a little bit better athlete,he was dunking from free throw line in those days and flying over the floor in fast breaks. Jokubaitis cant do that.


Siskauskas at 22 in 2000 Olympics when he was NT rookie Kazlauskas put in starting 5 together with Stombergas (over older Timinskas) and asked Ramunas guard all best guards/wings.

Siskauskas offensively can say break through in 2005,but in 2003-2004 he was one of 4 key offensive players+ always was asked to guard opponnets leaders and be part time PG also.

If coach needed Siskauskas could average 15pts already in 2003 no problem,but coach needed diffrent things from him in that offensively loaded team.


Those top 10 all timers ltu players already were very good at 21-23 old age in men NT. Better than what Jokubaitis shown in 2022 eurobasket.

Thats why i always say there are generational tallents that comes like 2-3 players per decade and 99% of players *others* with lower standarts for them

[Straight forward]

Well, that team was successful so everything about it seems to be better. But the fact is that Jokubaitis didn't turn the ball over more than Kalnietis and dished a bit more assist per minute than Kalnietis did. There was no fundamental difference between 10 Kalnietis and 22 Jokubaitis. As I wrote before, Jokubaitis' efficiency rating was even better. I mean he had 13pts, 5assists, 15eff, only 2tos playing 32 minutes against Spain. You can't ask more than that, Kalnietis wasn't doing more than that in WC. And it was really close game. I'm not even sure which team is better - 2010 or 2022, despite 2010 being more successful.

Again, we should compare only PGs. Jasikevicius as 21-22yo wasn't as ready to contribute as Jokubaitis. And it's not even a debate that 21-22yo Jokubaitis was better than Kalnietis of this age. It's nut even close. 20yo Kalnietis was a nut case and streetballer. Macas was constantly yelling on him for constant nonsense ball hogging. And he was no-body, bench warmer on trashy Zalgiris team. Jokubaitis already had a solid season with Zalgiris (under Schiller) and solid showing in Olympic qualification.

So ATM Jokubaitis is a head of Saras and way a head of Kalnietis, looking retrospectively. And it's not only that. Not even Jasikevicius had such consistent decision making as a prospect, didn't have such clutch gene (again, 21yo made tons of clutch points for Barca last season). That what makes him special and very likely to end up at the level of all time top 10 eventually.

It's not really fair to compare Jokubaitis with Siskauskas and Macijauskas. They were playing position 2 generally, so their job was scoring mainly. And, again, Macijauskas was 23,5yo when he rocked in 2003, Siskauskas already broke out in 2003 with 15ppg but he was 25yo at that time. So far we only seen how 21,8yo Jokubaitis played and he played pretty good, among top 4 players. When he will be 23.8yo in Olympic qualification 24, we will be expecting a little bit more, even if I feel like he will truly brake out in 2025.

[Straight forward]

I think you also should understand better the fact that Jokubaitis is 3rd youngest EL player to reach 400 total PIR and 3rd youngest to reach 200 total assists. The majority of those came from playing for a knock out stage chasing Zalgiris and elite club Barca. Only players like Rubio, Doncic are a head of him. That alone is huge indication that not only Jokubaitis might end up being top 10 all time Lith player, but might even be aiming for something more than that in whole Europe context.

[Straight forward]

About athleticism. You're also wrong thinking Jokubaitis can't run. He's terrific in open court. At times hardly stoppable. Can go coast to coast. Kalnietis was a better leaper, but that's it. I could even argue that Jokubaitis has tougher body core and deals with the contact better than Kalnietis while slashing. Yes, Kalnietis was a better athlete a bit, but not by far. Ability to dunk from FT is far from what athelticism mean

https://twitter.com/EurohoopsTR/status/1566430320307601409

https://twitter.com/EurohoopsTR/status/1566430320307601409

And there's the difference. Jokubaitis is incomparably more skilled, smooth and better decision maker. 22yo Kalnietis (or even probably Saras) could only dream about such things. Yet another clutch bucket against Valencia after a nasty hesitation move, and how much he runs Barca's offensive possession in last minutes. Impressive.

https://twitter.com/gaboloaizaperez/status/1622722915547357187

[Straight forward]

Will there ever be more explosive guard than Sarunas Marciulionis? Unmatched toughness, athleticism, mobility, skill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE2xxYV8nCM&ab_channel=Basketball1980

[Dreamcatcher]

Will there ever be more explosive guard than Sarunas Marciulionis? Unmatched toughness, athleticism, mobility, skill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE2x...Basketball1980

Augustas Marciulionis.

[Straight forward]

Augustas Marciulionis.

Sonny Weems son

We had only 2 truly gifted guard athletes - Marciulionis and Siskauskas. Those two, specially being U25, could leap, go explosive and dunk on people. Young Varnas seemed close, but his wings fell off once he bulked up. Iggy, Indrusaitis, Lelevicius (and even Rubstavicius) are pretty athletic and can leap some, but not on Marciulionis and Siskauskas level in terms of explosiveness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkcZSQuqS0Q&ab_channel=MrStoGas

[Straight forward]

At 0:40 Lelevicius executes an impressive poster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdKmL_ubYNc&ab_channel=EASTPLAYERSWORLD

[LuDux]

Young Varnas seemed close, but his wings fell off once he bulked up

Injury, surgery, surgery complication and another surgery to fix complications from first surgery probably had more of an impact.

S.Jovaisa was allegedly dunking from FT line

Few more no's and this summer we'll be seeing this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMQT8QViCL0

[Straight forward]

Most dominant Lithuanians at Youth Level per efficiency of all time (I excluded U16 stage cause such things as Edvinas Seskus with +26 or Varnas with +19 eff happen in that stage, so it's either U18, U19, U20...):

Valanciunas 33.1
Kleiza 29.9
Jankunas 24.9
D. Sabonis 23.3
Sedekerskis 21.9
A. Tubelis 21
D. Motiejunas 20.8
Krivas 19.9
Murauskas 19.6

So far from this list no single bust.

Guards:

M. Gecevicius 18.5
A. Velicka 18,3
M. Jogela 17,7
M. Rubstavicius 17,3
R. Jokubaitis 16
L. Lelevicius 16
S. Jasikevicius 15.4
M. Pocius 15.1
A. Macijauskas 14.7
A. Juskevicius 14.7
R. Seibutis 14.4

You can clearly see that some guys are early bloomers (Seskus with 26.7eff in U16 and only 11,6eff in U20) and some are late bloomers. Some all time great as Macijauskas, Jasilevicius were not extreme standouts, good, but not great at Youth level.

[Shawshank]

FIBA Basketball World Cup Top rebounders of all time

1. Scola 280reb in 41 played games
2. Oberto 224reb in 32games
3.J.Ortiz 212reb in 33games
4. Varejao 195reb in 29games
5.P.Gasol 186reb in 24games
6.M.Gasol 172reb in 32games
7.D.Nowtizky 157reb in 18 games
8.H,Haddadi 154reb in 15games
9.J.Gomes 143reb in 30games
10.D.Santiago 130reb in 30games

20.J.Valanciunas 120reb in 14games
23. L.Kleiza 116reb in 18games
25.R.Gobert 115reb in 17games



Jonas in this world champ if he gonna again be top 5 rebounder of tournament like he usually is , he will finish somewhere between 6th and 7th rebounding place of all time and in not much games played compared to other top 10 rebounders

[Shawshank]

1998 NT game that ltu tv did show and very few lithuanian have seen it


1998 Goodwill semifinal LTU vs Usa from Madison Square Garden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIAPjGP7Zq8

[Shawshank]

Lithunian player his age 18-30

2003 u-19 World champ silver medal
2004 u-20 Europe ch bronze medal
2005 u-20 Europe ch silver medal
2005 u-21 World ch gold medal
2007 Universiade gold medal
2007 Eurobasket bronze medal
2008 Olympic games 4th place
2010 World ch bronze medal
2013 Eurobasket silver medal
2014 Word ch 4th place
2015 Eurobasket silver medal



damm I didnt realise how much medals one lithuanian have won in 12 years spam and did that with not some overhelming tallent teams at all


This players record in critical 1/4 games was 11-1 in 2003-2015


Simply ultimate winner

[Shawshank]

answer is here, last u-21 world champion team

2005hjfdjhgk.jpg