Ąžuolas Tubelis thread

[LuDux]

I now Tubelis exceeds everyone with his freshman season numbers. Sabonis, Kleiza, Songaila, Karnisovas, everyone. That doesn't mean he'll necessary be better than some of my mentioned players, but he's surely the best Lithuanian freshman ever. That's huge. 12.2pts, 6.8rbs, 1.3as.

Impressive but we can't compare current NCAA and NCAA of 90s/00s

[Straight forward]

Impressive but we can't compare current NCAA and NCAA of 90s/00s

How NCAA changed? I have no time today to go after this. I have an impression that it remained pretty much the same, at least ball game style while, maybe a little less talent these days since players go to NBA really early.

[LuDux]

How NCAA changed? I have no time today to go after this. I have an impression that it remained pretty much the same, at least ball game style while, maybe a little less talent these days since players go to NBA really early.

I don't think it's little less

[Straight forward]

I don't think it's little less

Even if so, his instant impact as a freshman is super impressive. We know that Domas had a lesser of a season in pretty much the same NCAA era recently. That speaks a lot. And Tubelis' FIBA and EL YOUH performances deals well in comparison with our star bigs. As 17yo in U18EB, he had 14.9/12.6/2.4, compared to JV's 19/10.6/0.3 and Domas' 14/11,4/1,4.

Off course, if he will play in U19 WC, it will be the best test. And we would have more clear picture of his upside. He would likely go there against such as Chet Holmgren (possible first pick in 2022), Sengun, Garuba, Yannick Nzosa and other elite bigs.

[Toruko]

Idk why you guys are so unsure about Azuolas. He is a solid big. I like very much what I see. Especially his handles in transition are amazing and he started shooting from outside. Lithuania has enough ready bigs right now. There isnt any rush to bring him on the table right now.

[auris1]

Very recently in fact. Kšyštof and Darjuš Lavrinovičius! (It's difficult to ascertain that there are two of them I know.) And they're both still playing for Vytis at the age of 41.

Well, in my defence , they are known as brothers. And then I lose my case

[Straight forward]

Tubelis named Freshman of the Week with 17pts/11.5rbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wb86mP0Pl8

Now I'm looking forward to see if Maskoliunas will include him to Kaunas camp. I'm OK with either call, but it seems he could mess around with those broad shoulders and beefy arrs already.

[Straight forward]

Interesting thoughts by Tubelis on Europe's and NCAA differences and talks about best opponents he faced. Miller says Tubelis has been putting on real work, and improved shooting comes from that too:

In Europe, they won’t shoot in the fifth second (of the shot clock) or do unexpected shots,” he said. “In Europe, you just need to stay as long as you can, but here you need to receive that physicality and try harder.”

“When I played against the Mobley brothers, they’re kind of the same size and weight as me, so I tried to do my best and to be strong and to be tough,” Tubelis said. “And of course it’s more motivation to play against top five pick, so I think I did a really good job. But against for example (Jamie) Jaquez from UCLA or (Eugene) Omoruyi from Oregon, they’re smaller size and I need to improve on my defense against them. I need to play smarter, to not leave my feet.”

“If you look at him shooting the ball, especially from the corners right now, early this season that would have been an afterthought,” Miller said. “But right now he’s shooting it with an abundance of confidence, and one of the reasons is he’s put in a ton of work. He’s early to practice, he works at it during practice, after practice. I mean, these are guys that love the game and have really been consistent in terms of their work ethic and Azuolas is right there with all of them.”

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketball/2021/2/23/22297901/azuolas-tubelis-exceeding-expectations-arizona-wildcats-freshman-lithuania-forward-nba-draft-return

[Straight forward]

Tubelis with another game winner! I never could imagine he will improve shooting so much in a year:

https://twitter.com/RKelapire/status/1365774193657176065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1365774193657176065%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.azdesertswarm.com%2Fbasketball%2F2021%2F2%2F27%2F22304896%2Farizona-washington-basketball-final-score-recap-wildcats-reaction-miller-tubelis-postgame-takeaways

[Straight forward]

So Miller specified that Tubelis is 6.9 something (I guess 6.11 with shoes). He should remain a guy who can easily play both positions, specially that his shot looks much better. What I missed in Arisona from Tubelis is his drives, he has much more of that and lived with that in Lithuania.

[Straight forward]

Ąžuolas Tubelis wins second straight Pac-12 Men's Basketball Freshman of the Week honors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXi1oaCaG90

Heck of a freshman season. IMO, best overall from Liths, or one of the best surely. Made enough noise to attract scouts properly now, but I have no doubt he'll stay in NCAA for one more season and will be looking to increase his chances in 2022 NBA drafts.

[Straight forward]

Tubelis makes Pac-12 All Freshmen Team. Along with teammate Bennedict Mathurin (Canada), Jabari Walker, Efe Abogidi (Nigeria) and potential No.1 NBA draft pick Evan Mobley (compared to A. Davis).

Well, this season so far Sabonis became MVP (and skills competition winner), Grigonis became EL Months MVP and Tubelis made All Freshman team (along with 2 weeks MVPs awards), Birutis became ACB months MVP (but once the league got rolling he declined a lot). That's ours individual trophies this season thus far. Let's see if Jokubaitis can snatch EL Rising Star Award and whenever Grigonis will make EL first or second team.

Why EL doesn't have All EL Defensive Team award? It's so lame, makes them look like a joke of a league.

[Mindozas]

Tubelis makes Pac-12 All Freshmen Team. Along with teammate Bennedict Mathurin (Canada), Jabari Walker, Efe Abogidi (Nigeria) and potential No.1 NBA draft pick Evan Mobley (compared to A. Davis).

Well, this season so far Sabonis became MVP (and skills competition winner), Grigonis became EL Months MVP and Tubelis made All Freshman team (along with 2 weeks MVPs awards), Birutis became ACB months MVP (but once the league got rolling he declined a lot). That's ours individual trophies this season thus far. Let's see if Jokubaitis can snatch EL Rising Star Award and whenever Grigonis will make EL first or second team.

Why EL doesn't have All EL Defensive Team award? It's so lame, makes them look like a joke of a league.

Exactly that defines if one league is a joke or not. EL, ACB, LKL and most of European leagues are joke, while G-League is amazing

[Straight forward]

Exactly that defines if one league is a joke or not. EL, ACB, LKL and most of European leagues are joke, while G-League is amazing

You got my point nevertheless In NBA it's really respected awards, and important indication for plenty of players. You could say scouts and GMs sees everything nevertheless, but, IMO, this award should exist. How important it is Gobert is the best example, what kind of a contract he received while being a defensive player. I just really think it should be emphasized and to some extent our own BB culture also didn't pay enough attention to ISO defence. It's also highly important when it comes to comparisons and BB history analysis. Players like Jordan, Lebron, Durant comes to those all time best ballers discussions because being in All Defensive Team comes as one of the key arguments. When we usually discuss EL greats, very often we forget this argument. Like there's no way Jasikevicius is even close to some Ginobily because the latter was a 2 ways beast and Saras sucked at D. But when it comes to Saras some of his irrational supporters forget about it because EL never praised and awarded D enough, that's one of the reasons.

[Mindozas]

You got my point nevertheless In NBA it's really respected awards, and important indication for plenty of players. You could say scouts and GMs sees everything nevertheless, but, IMO, this award should exist. How important it is Gobert is the best example, what kind of a contract he received while being a defensive player. I just really think it should be emphasized and to some extent our own BB culture also didn't pay enough attention to ISO defence. It's also highly important when it comes to comparisons and BB history analysis. Players like Jordan, Lebron, Durant comes to those all time best ballers discussions because being in All Defensive Team comes as one of the key arguments. When we usually discuss EL greats, very often we forget this argument. Like there's no way Jasikevicius is even close to some Ginobily because the latter was a 2 ways beast and Saras sucked at D. But when it comes to Saras some of his irrational supporters forget about it because EL never praised and awarded D enough, that's one of the reasons.

I got your point and you went simply too far with your conclusion calling leagues a joke just cause they doesn't have some post-season award. Its irrelevant to what you wrote in this post. In Europe nobody closes their eyes for some defensive efforts, everyone in close to bball circles (coaches, agents, players themselves) knows players' prons and cons. In Europe there's no such stats based culture or usually contract bonuses depending on some post-season awards if you are making to some "team of the season" like in NBA. We have MVP, some starting 5 (or couple), best defender, best scorer, and that's perfectly fine, not some long lists, which are needed for bonuses and stats junkies, but literally changes nothing, that's it