All time NT

[auris1]

I know it's a bit negative idea, but how about the worst NT player ever? Here would be my candidates:

Actually ,it is ).
I would call them "one-hit wonder" boys . You know , getting to the top 12 just by being there at the right time at the right moment .
So maybe , just for the sake of the stats where we need more than one digit of entries , we should limit ourselves to the players who played more than one tournament / one game / one minute or shot?

[Mindozas]

I know it's a bit negative idea, but how about the worst NT player ever? Here would be my candidates:

G. Markevicius, K.Marciulionis, Prekevicius, Mazutis, Andriuskevicius, G. Gustas, Vasiliauskas, Kariniauskas

Would be really hard to go with one.

Only in NT or overall? Overall it's easily Mazutis, while in NT, well, it's complicated. Depends a lot on roster you have, chances you're getting

[LuDux]

So maybe , just for the sake of the stats where we need more than one digit of entries , we should limit ourselves to the players who played more than one tournament / one game / one minute or shot?

1995-2016, more than 1 tournament, rating points per possible game (for example S.Sabonis played 4 out of 9 games in 2015 and 6/6 in 2016, equals 15 games)

2 tournaments
Pačėsas 2,0
Šalenga 2,0
Jurkūnas 2,3
other Marčiulionis 2,5

3 tournaments
Slanina 1,4
Kavaliauskas 3,2

4 tournaments
Gustas 2,7

6 tournaments
Delininkaitis 3,6

Slanina?

[auris1]

1995-2016, more than 1 tournament, rating points per possible game (for example S.Sabonis played 4 out of 9 games in 2015 and 6/6 in 2016, equals 15 games)

2 tournaments
Pačėsas 2,0
Šalenga 2,0
Jurkūnas 2,3
other Marčiulionis 2,5

3 tournaments
Slanina 1,4
Kavaliauskas 3,2

4 tournaments
Gustas 2,7

6 tournaments
Delininkaitis 3,6

Slanina?

Well , that was a trick question , i have to say .
You can not be a worst player if you have been selected more than once , right ? You can have worst stats ,that is given , just because ...
But being a sport that i am ....
I am really surprised though that Gustas had been in 4 tournaments . So he is out just for the sheer number of being selected ,
Delininkaitis - he is so good at being so mediocre that is frightening . Seskus said , just a few months ago in one of his interviews , where he is being frank as he is and says too much , that Delininkaitis has told him that he was happy to stay in the corner for a whole of his career,yet averaging about 10 points per game . Yet , at 35 he had managed quite a few 30 plus games this year when needed. Whatever it is , Deli is still is one of them good players left from our past generation .So, not him either .
Salenga is metal .He is our Ginobly ,the guy who doesn't age and still carries the class and pedigree of old timers .
Bar others ,for me it would have to be a choice between Jurkunas or other Marciulionis ,

[Babajas]

Well , that was a trick question , i have to say .
You can not be a worst player if you have been selected more than once , right ? You can have worst stats ,that is given , just because ...
But being a sport that i am ....
I am really surprised though that Gustas had been in 4 tournaments . So he is out just for the sheer number of being selected ,
Delininkaitis - he is so good at being so mediocre that is frightening . Seskus said , just a few months ago in one of his interviews , where he is being frank as he is and says too much , that Delininkaitis has told him that he was happy to stay in the corner for a whole of his career,yet averaging about 10 points per game . Yet , at 35 he had managed quite a few 30 plus games this year when needed. Whatever it is , Deli is still is one of them good players left from our past generation .So, not him either .
Salenga is metal .He is our Ginobly ,the guy who doesn't age and still carries the class and pedigree of old timers .
Bar others ,for me it would have to be a choice between Jurkunas or other Marciulionis ,

Damn right it's not Delininkaitis, if it weren't for his heroic shooting in the 4th quarter against Bulgaria back in '09, we'd probably have ended our journey in the first round. For me, it's Mazutis if we just look at the stat line and overall team strength, but hey, many people were upset at Songaila for letting go of the ball after a rebound back in '11 against Macedonia, and giving them another chance at a possession which resulted in Ilievski nailing a triple. Jasikevicius also had his fair share of "good moments", the most notable being the semifinal game against Spain in Beijing, when he made a couple of turnovers in the waning minutes of a close game and blew our chances of going to the final. Even great players sometimes become the worst players overnight, which only goes to show the heterogeneity of thought in our basketball community.

[Straight forward]

Jasikevicius also had his fair share of "good moments", the most notable being the semifinal game against Spain in Beijing, when he made a couple of turnovers in the waning minutes of a close game and blew our chances of going to the final. Even great players sometimes become the worst players overnight, which only goes to show the heterogeneity of thought in our basketball community.

Remembering 2008 and this great game (one of the best games of 00's NT team, we walked step by step with rediculously strong Spain) I think Kleiza's stupid technical foul was one of the key mistakes when he grabbed one of Spaniards in the fast brake. Overall that was huge tournament, but too many players underperformed. FOA, Kleiza who played like a beast in the group stage (he was ~15pts player), completely vanished in the knock out stage and hurt NT with extremely stupid decisions. Second, Ksistof was one of the best 4 in Euroleague at that time, potential member of EL season top 5 (13pts, 62,6%, 57,9% in 20min for Siena) badly struggled and were missing his shots. Lastly, Siskauskas, at the time El MVP calibre player, wasn't that sharp and good as in 2007 EB. Saras on other hand was great till those clutch moments you mention and he struggled in the small final against Argentina. It's an off topic, but that just was a hell of tournament for Lithuania with a disappointing ending:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKrhqmB7xGY

[Mindozas]

Well , that was a trick question , i have to say .
You can not be a worst player if you have been selected more than once , right ? You can have worst stats ,that is given , just because ...
But being a sport that i am ....
I am really surprised though that Gustas had been in 4 tournaments . So he is out just for the sheer number of being selected ,
Delininkaitis - he is so good at being so mediocre that is frightening . Seskus said , just a few months ago in one of his interviews , where he is being frank as he is and says too much , that Delininkaitis has told him that he was happy to stay in the corner for a whole of his career,yet averaging about 10 points per game . Yet , at 35 he had managed quite a few 30 plus games this year when needed. Whatever it is , Deli is still is one of them good players left from our past generation .So, not him either .
Salenga is metal .He is our Ginobly ,the guy who doesn't age and still carries the class and pedigree of old timers .
Bar others ,for me it would have to be a choice between Jurkunas or other Marciulionis ,

Gustas was a good player, just those free-throws against Maccabi made him persona non grata in Lithuania and broke him down psychologically, even tho Tanoka was the most to blame there, but fans simply didn't care. Anyway, Gustas was having some decent games in EL in that Sabas' season.
I can't agree on Jurkunas or Marciulionis. Both were just way more talented than Mazutis.

[auris1]

I can't agree on Jurkunas or Marciulionis. Both were just way more talented than Mazutis.

As I said , in case you have missed it , all i wanted to do is to separate a bunch of players who were mistakenly invited to play for our NT once rather than the ones who played twice or more .
Regarding Mazutis , of course he was no good . But lets remember who invited him to the team in first place - Butautas , that's who. And Eitutavicius ? I think that was Butautas too .
i understand when coaches make mistakes by inviting young or youngish players and they do not perform , not then or afterwards .
ps
OK, so i might have been wrong regarding Eitutavicius . According to WIKI , he was just a candidate in 2010 team under Kemzura.
I just remember myself being angry of seeing him wearing national team shirts after Mazutis fiasco.

[Shawshank]

Top 3 by positions Ltu nt 1992-2016

1.Jasikevicius
2.Kalnietis
3.Chomicius

SG
1.Marciulionis
2.Macijauskas
3.Kurtinaitis/Kaukenas

SF
1.Siskauskas
2.Karnisovas
3.Stombergas

PF
1.Kleiza
2.Songaila
3.Ksistof

C
1.Sabonis
2.Valanciunas
3.Einikis

All time starting 5

Jasikevicius 2003, Marciulionis 1992, Siskauskas 2007, Kleiza 2010, Sabonis 1995 versions

[Hepcat]

Top 3 by positions Ltu nt 1992-2016

SF
1.Siskauskas
2.Karnisovas
3.Stombergas

I'd be inclined to move Artūras Karnišovas up to the #1 slot at SF. Karnišovas' 18.33 points per game ranks third behind only Šarūnas Marčiulionis' 20.24 and Arvydas Sabonis' 19.90 PPG totals. Ramūnas Šiškauskas tallied "only" 12.86 PPG which is #6 on the list of Team Lietuva players.

[CoachZ]

My humble contribution to the topic:

PG Jasikevicius
SG Marciulionis
SF Siskauskas
PF Songaila
C Sabonis

Personal Favorite: Macijauskas

Regarding Kleiza, I liked his game but I think that his 3-4 years of high level basketball are not really a great career for some other greats from Lithuania. I picked Songaila due to a more consistency and length of career.

[Babajas]

Top 3 by positions Ltu nt 1992-2016

1.Jasikevicius
2.Kalnietis
3.Chomicius

SG
1.Marciulionis
2.Macijauskas
3.Kurtinaitis/Kaukenas

SF
1.Siskauskas
2.Karnisovas
3.Stombergas

PF
1.Kleiza
2.Songaila
3.Ksistof

C
1.Sabonis
2.Valanciunas
3.Einikis

All time starting 5

Jasikevicius 2003, Marciulionis 1992, Siskauskas 2007, Kleiza 2010, Sabonis 1995 versions

Shawshank, can you elaborate on why you listed Kurtinaitis here? I don't know much about him because I was born in the 90s, but my dad, who frequented Halė back in the day, tells me he was a laid-back dude who rarely gave 100% on the court (that's why he remained injury-free for most of his career). That didn't seem to be the case with Kaukenas, who worked relentlessly on court getting to an open spot or beating his defenders off the dribble. Do you think Kurtinaitis's talent outweighs his seemingly lackluster efforts so that he can be placed on the same foothold as the energetic Kaukenas?

[Shawshank]

Shawshank, can you elaborate on why you listed Kurtinaitis here? I don't know much about him because I was born in the 90s, but my dad, who frequented Halė back in the day, tells me he was a laid-back dude who rarely gave 100% on the court (that's why he remained injury-free for most of his career). That didn't seem to be the case with Kaukenas, who worked relentlessly on court getting to an open spot or beating his defenders off the dribble. Do you think Kurtinaitis's talent outweighs his seemingly lackluster efforts so that he can be placed on the same foothold as the energetic Kaukenas?

Kurtinaitis was a winner ,i dont imagine how can you be a winner and do not play hard as your dad is talking? He was just smart and knowing when you play for real and when you can take game easy this was why his career was really long.For me averaging 15+ pts being only as 3rd option (after 2 best ballers in ltu history) looks good enough.About Rimas off the couart stuff talks is becoming legendary ) Maybe you have heard about 1988 when soviests become olympic champions and beat usa best student with robinsons,richmonds,mayerley and future nba all stars? so that lazy and laid dude scored 28 on americans and after game nbc announcers is saying kurtinaitis maybe is best shooter i ever seen (back in 1988)...And its was by american,you can see that game on youtube with nbc comentaries. Kurtinaitis was really good,maybe he didnt always played hard,but in most important game he was showing up other example 1996 semifinal when all team strugled and scored only combine 58...Rmas scored 21 of those 58 being 36years old in Olympic semifinal ! ...And Lithuania was very close beating jugoslavia. Kurtinaitis was one of those players you can surely go to war. I love Kaukenas and what he did in 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 so mentione him as possibility.

[Shawshank]

I'd be inclined to move Artūras Karnišovas up to the #1 slot at SF. Karnišovas' 18.33 points per game ranks third behind only Šarūnas Marčiulionis' 20.24 and Arvydas Sabonis' 19.90 PPG totals. Ramūnas Šiškauskas tallied "only" 12.86 PPG which is #6 on the list of Team Lietuva players.

Karnisovas and Siskauskas is an open discussion i agree.But its not fair to compare 90s and 00s statistics.Those 90s stars was scoring way more than 00s stars almost in any team.Basketball was diffrent. In 90s team played 6-7players and other was just for number.In 00s usually our teams were with long bench and shared the scoring.Macijauskas for me was best point scorer in our nt history,if he averaged like 15ts in 00s,i have no doubt he would have average over 20 in 90s,if he played 33-35minutes like 90s star players used to play,not 20-22 minutes in 00s.Siskauskas was better defender,was better playmaker,could play 3,5positions.Overall i take him over Karnisovas who was star no doubt in europe in 90s.But Siskauskas was doing more things for our nt team.If i could choose now to reborn Karnisovas or Siskauskas to our nt team,o would choose reborn Siskauskas we can play him in whatever positions is neeeded.As these days basketball is played,best players is those who playing in multiple positions like Siskauskas was doing in 00s.

[Straight forward]

I also wouldn't be sure about JV here...already. Dude had one really good tournament so far - 2015 (yet failed as the key player in the final). He was very good in 2014 also, but it's only non-pre Olympic WC and NT finished 4th. Yet Valanciunas didn't make any impact in OG. Played in 2 tournaments already. At this point Einikis is above him as he was very important in 1996, 2000 OG. Also E. Zukauskas ahead of JV atm, IMO, because he was the key of the defences of arguably the most talented NT ever 2003 and the only team which grabbed actual title (it sucks so bad that Lithuania has only one modern ball title...off course, I can only say f*** you Soviet Russia at this point, but even since 1992 we could grab at least few more of those). He was also pretty good in 2004 OG. And the same Javtokas or Darjus...both shared a lot of good tournaments...I agree that JV is probably most talented big after Sabonis (Ilgauskas at this point is irrelevant for the discussion), but yet he did too little...

I'd be inclined to move Artūras Karnišovas up to the #1 slot at SF. Karnišovas' 18.33 points per game ranks third behind only Šarūnas Marčiulionis' 20.24 and Arvydas Sabonis' 19.90 PPG totals. Ramūnas Šiškauskas tallied "only" 12.86 PPG which is #6 on the list of Team Lietuva players.

Have in mind that Siskauskas averaged 17,4ppg in official qualifying games (best scorer of NT) since 2001. In Eurobasket 2003 he averaged 14,8ppg. Again, Karnisovas was a great scorer, no doubt, but also was playing ~35 minutes...No-one played that much in 00's team because it was a deep team and BB was different. I'm pretty sure Siskauskas could do pretty much the same under those circumstances in terms of a scoring ot would be very close.

Karnisovas and Siskauskas is an open discussion i agree.But its not fair to compare 90s and 00s statistics.Those 90s stars was scoring way more than 00s stars almost in any team.Basketball was diffrent. In 90s team played 6-7players and other was just for number.In 00s usually our teams were with long bench and shared the scoring.Macijauskas for me was best point scorer in our nt history,if he averaged like 15ts in 00s,i have no doubt he would have average over 20 in 90s,if he played 33-35minutes like 90s star players used to play,not 20-22 minutes in 00s.Siskauskas was better defender,was better playmaker,could play 3,5positions.Overall i take him over Karnisovas who was star no doubt in europe in 90s.But Siskauskas was doing more things for our nt team.If i could choose now to reborn Karnisovas or Siskauskas to our nt team,o would choose reborn Siskauskas we can play him in whatever positions is neeeded.As these days basketball is played,best players is those who playing in multiple positions like Siskauskas was doing in 00s.

I agree with that. Also I think 2000-2005 Siskauskas was very much NBA ready in terms of physicality as well. He was athletic wing for a Euro. Later small injuries slowed him down a little bit. Karnisovas wasn't that athletic as young Siskauskas. Even as 28-32yo he had that sturdiness and toughness to get to he basket and to finish with a contact. Karnisovas didn't like contact basketball much. I actually agree what Karnisovas was more talented scorer, but Siskauskas was so much more universal and all around player. He literally could play quality minutes at 1-4 positions at the highest level, specially 1-3.