Kaunas Zalgiris Thread

[Straight forward]

Lonnie Walker hasn’t adapted to European basketball yet (and likely won’t, as he may return to the NBA). He also seems to disrupt Žalgiris’ team chemistry. On the other hand, his raw talent and individual skills are undeniable (did you see some of his first-half performances in the EuroLeague?), but they haven’t translated into consistent success in Europe so far.

Even when he had couple of big games, It was clear it's not sustainable. Dude needs plenty of space to gather momentum, he's not good with tight space, he takes tons of difficult shots which are bad shots for him (he doesn't make him consistently). I'm not sure he ever can be good in EL. He should play G League or NBA. And he sucks at D.

Franscisco is good for Zalgiris, but he probably won't make NT. He's not even close to be elite guard in EL. He's galaxies away from say prime Lorenzo Brown. Not even close to be able to lead FIBA powerhouse, but good enough for Zalgiris.

BTW, Trinch was right on Giedraitis. With him playing big role Zalgiris is better. Zalgiris slump started when Giedraitis dropped off with injury and came back being very innactive offensively. Trinch tried to go all the way with Walker and Francisco offensively and that was a big failure. Now that Giedraiti is playing well again Zalgiris basically has their best true guard duel. I just don't like that Sirvydis is kept on a short leash. He is ready to give more. OK, it was a Butkevicius night, but overall Sirvydis deserves bigger role.

[Dreamcatcher]

Franscisco is good for Zalgiris, but he probably won't make NT. He's not even close to be elite guard in EL.

France is full of talented and strong players like no other European country, so whether Francisco makes NT is uncertain - but it’s not the point anyway. Saying he’s not close to being an elite EL guard isn’t accurate. He’s a very hot player, averaging 13 pts for a borderline playoff team, and he has already decided some endings. He seems well on his way to earning a spot on a stronger team.

On the other hand, you’re overrating Giedraitis. He missed the only one game In Madrid, where Zalgiris took a confident win. While he overperformed at the start of the season, his contribution has dropped significantly since then, even though his minutes almost haven’t decreased meaning Trinchieri overplayed him. Yes, Italian seems to like him, but I’m not a fan of the way Trinchieri handles player rotations overall. You mentioned Sirvydis’ small role, and I partly agree. There were some games where Trinch could have let Sirvydis stay on the court longer. But what about Brazdeikis? Two years ago he averaged 11 points in his debut season (only Evans did better), and Žalgiris made the playoffs. Then he played well in NT. Yet now, according to Trinchieri, he’s the 13th player in the rotation while trushManek gets a chance every game. How about that?

[Toruko]

In the world of SF you are not elite PG if you are not at least at Doncics level everything below is trash.

[Shawshank]

LTU NT Candidates

Zalgiris

D.Giedraitis 25min 7pts eff. 6,0
Ulanovas 22min 6,3pts eff. 8,1
Butkevicius 22min 4,7pts eff. 7,4

Sirvydis 17min 8,8pts eff. 7,6
Brazdeikis 13min 6,1pts eff. 5,2
Lekavicius 7min 2,6pts eff. -0.2


all role players and neither of them two 2 players.

3 defenders and 3 offensive players

Zalgiris is one of better defensive euroleague teams and 3 defenders plays more minutes than offensive players.


Near Francisco 3 defenders makes more sense i agree with Trinchieri.

[Dreamcatcher]

Today Brazeikis suddenly started from the start and was perfect by scoring 12 pts. But then Trinch took him off from the game and that's it. What is it? Meanwhile, his favourite player Giedraitis played a lot and in 27 min his PIR is minus 2. And he wasn't any kind of defensive changer. Sirvydis, by the way - 12 seconds. Thank God, I'm not Zalgiris fan. I would be pissed off by Trinchieri's rotations.

[Straight forward]

Today Brazeikis suddenly started from the start and was perfect by scoring 12 pts. But then Trinch took him off from the game and that's it. What is it? Meanwhile, his favourite player Giedraitis played a lot and in 27 min his PIR is minus 2. And he wasn't any kind of defensive changer. Sirvydis, by the way - 12 seconds. Thank God, I'm not Zalgiris fan. I would be pissed off by Trinchieri's rotations.

Obviously Trinchieri likes Giedraitis because of his defence. He will never be high efficiency guy, but he gets his job done. Regarding Sirvydis, he has to go with either him or Iggy in certain games. There's a big traffic in positions 2/3 so sometimes some-one wouldn't play. I'm against Sirvydis playing so inconsistent minutes, specially when Trinchieri losing.

As for Iggy, he is good when he has complete freedom and allowed to do his things. Take some difficult shots, to play with swagger. Strong EL teams as OLY and even current Zalgiris to certain extent try to take away that from him and he will struggle. For him it would be best to play for some more style wise open Eurocup team or some low EL team as ALBA maybe. Iggy is just a shadow of himself as system player and Trinchieri asks him to be system player.

[Straight forward]

Franscisco is good for Zalgiris, but he probably won't make NT. He's not even close to be elite guard in EL. He's galaxies away from say prime Lorenzo Brown. Not even close to be able to lead FIBA powerhouse, but good enough for Zalgiris.

Now, it's even more obvious. Francisco can't pass and that's a big problem for Zalgiris. I totally agree with Suliauskas. I was repeating he can ball, but he can't pass and thus Zalgiris lacks failitator. I was laughing when people were doubting whenever Jokubaitis is good enough to be a starting level PG for Zalgiris I said he wouldn't even be as starter, he would be franchise player, best player. Trinchieri and Zalgiris management had to say him you will be the key, the leader, the face of the team, and they failed with it. Whatever they talked him, Maccabi just said that they see him as main PG and that made the decision. Now what we see that no-one can move the damn ball in Zalgiris and such as Sirvydis standing open for weeks and the ball doesn't reach him. Francisco is so bad passing off the step out that it hurts my eyes. And when I see that I realize how amazing Jakucionis already would be in EL LOL He's a master in such situation. He would turn the ball over here and there, but also would just move the ball like fucking god compared to reckless scrubs as Fransciso, Walker and other second rate players. Jokubaitis is Magic Johnson in terms of reading the game, IQ and passing, LOL. Zalgiris screwed big time letting Jokubaitis go. Such players as Walker, Sirvydis, even Francisco would be better playing with Jookubaitis and he would feed them. Birutis and Smailagic would also be way better. I'm all for high IQ, decision making and passing ballers in comparison with those agile, athletic, but reckless and limited second rate afro- Americans or afro- French. It's not a winning BB. Only dudes like Lorenzo Brown who not only has agility, but also elite decision making can be true ballers in Euroleague.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGuYlWp2b74&ab_channel=Augustas%C5%A0uliauskas

[Straight forward]

Franscisco is good for Zalgiris, but he probably won't make NT. He's not even close to be elite guard in EL. He's galaxies away from say prime Lorenzo Brown. Not even close to be able to lead FIBA powerhouse, but good enough for Zalgiris.

Now, it's even more obvious. Francisco can't pass and that's a big problem for Zalgiris. I totally agree with Suliauskas. I was repeating he can ball, but he can't pass and thus Zalgiris lacks failitator. I was laughing when people were doubting whenever Jokubaitis is good enough to be a starting level PG for Zalgiris I said he wouldn't even be as starter, he would be franchise player, best player. Trinchieri and Zalgiris management had to say him you will be the key, the leader, the face of the team, and they failed with it. Whatever they talked him, Maccabi just said that they see him as main PG and that made the decision. Now what we see that no-one can move the damn ball in Zalgiris and such as Sirvydis standing open for weeks and the ball doesn't reach him. Francisco is so bad passing off the step out that it hurts my eyes. And when I see that I realize how amazing Jakucionis already would be in EL LOL He's a master in such situation. He would turn the ball over here and there, but also would just move the ball like fucking god compared to reckless scrubs as Fransciso, Walker and other second rate players. Jokubaitis is Magic Johnson in terms of reading the game, IQ and passing, LOL. Zalgiris screwed big time letting Jokubaitis go. Such players as Walker, Sirvydis, even Francisco would be better playing with Jookubaitis and he would feed them. Birutis and Smailagic would also be way better. I'm all for high IQ, decision making and passing ballers in comparison with those agile, athletic, but reckless and limited second rate afro- Americans or afro- French. It's not a winning BB. Only dudes like Lorenzo Brown who not only has agility, but also elite decision making can be true ballers in Euroleague. And Jokubaitis even today is better than Francisco, let alone after 3 years when he will be 27yo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGuYlWp2b74&ab_channel=Augustas%C5%A0uliauskas

[Dreamcatcher]

Zalgiris collapsed at home against Bayern, making even a play-in spot almost unreachable. Naturally, discussions have been taking place in the days following the loss. The big question is: who is more to blame - Trinchieri or the players? I’d say both.

I started disliking Trinchieri this season, mainly because of his rotations and the way he treats certain players, and it seems I wasn’t wrong. However, when, in a must-win home game, only Francisco steps up as a real threat, the responsibility also falls on the players.

As for Trinchieri, if he weren’t a respected coach but someone like Maksvytis, he’d probably be on the verge of being fired. In fact, I believe that with Maksvytis, Zalgiris wouldn’t be doing any worse - maybe even better.

There’s also responsibility on those who re-signed Manek and brought in Mitchell. The lack of strong foreign players is a major issue. Local players won’t win games in EL - at best, they might pull off a few isolated victories. That’s why you get Francisco scoring 33 points while nobody else steps up. You have Sirvydis missing all five of his three-pointers (four of them wide open), while Bayern’s shooters, on the other hand, hit more than 50% of their attempts (OK, Obst is a local player, but still).

[Toruko]

test1

[Straight forward]

I was never thinking about T. Sabonis as a head coach, but it would be super interesting to see at the HC position. To me his persona is more of an assistant, but maybe he is that young coach after Saras that we are looking for? As NT I'm all in for kicking our Trinch and try Sabonis.

[Straight forward]

This recent version of Brazdeikis reminds his 2022/2023 version when he landed in Europe. Seems better conditioned, pretty mobile and determined. Hopefully we'll see this version in the NT this summer. If he would be such kind of player on a constant basis he would be one of the best in Europe, but well he's not.

[Dreamcatcher]

This recent version of Brazdeikis reminds his 2022/2023 version when he landed in Europe. Seems better conditioned, pretty mobile and determined. Hopefully we'll see this version in the NT this summer. If he would be such kind of player on a constant basis he would be one of the best in Europe, but well he's not.

He's still the same player. He hasn't changed. And why would he? Naturally, his shots don’t always fall, and at times he faces tough defense, not realizing when a match-up isn’t in his favor for his usual isolation plays. The only real difference this season is that Trinchieri has decided in certain games that Ignas isn’t good enough to play or even make the roster. As a result, Brazdeikis has been eager to prove himself, seemingly trying to convince the Italian coach that he was wrong. I didn’t like that - it’s poor treatment of the best Lith player in Zalgiris.

[Straight forward]

He's still the same player. He hasn't changed. And why would he? Naturally, his shots don’t always fall, and at times he faces tough defense, not realizing when a match-up isn’t in his favor for his usual isolation plays. The only real difference this season is that Trinchieri has decided in certain games that Ignas isn’t good enough to play or even make the roster. As a result, Brazdeikis has been eager to prove himself, seemingly trying to convince the Italian coach that he was wrong. I didn’t like that - it’s poor treatment of the best Lith player in Zalgiris.

I would say Trinchieri misshandled Iggy and Sirvydis. Specially Sirvydis cause he was ignoring him a bit even when he was playing really well. Iggy on other hand really sucked so many times. Like he comes out and makes some silly foul or some horrible defensive play, like not even trying hard enough. So that caused Iggy's problems. Even if Trinchieri overdid with it, I at least understand why he had a problem with Iggy. Sirvydis on other hand was just ignored and his minutes was limited when he played well. But not to be entirely high on Sirvydis, I have to say I hate to see those long missing streaks. That's not good. Off course, even Milaknis had some slumps, but I would love more consistency for Sirvydis in terms of shooting and he should go to the rim more too.

My problem with Zalgiris staff overall, why Trinchieri needed Iggy? He will never be system player. Never. He's best when he acts like an ultimate ISO players, playing with huge swagger. In his mind he's much better player than his actual skills allow and that's his strenght. You have to allow him to play like this and take some tough shots too. If you take away this swagger from Iggy he becomes extremely bleak player, basically a no-body. He was good in EL only when Maksvytis was giving him freedom.

To me Brazdeikis is not the best Lithuanian. I would give an edge to Sirvydis. He's more complete overall. Just Trinchieri really mishandles him and treats like shit. He should be having much more complete and deeper role. But with that said, in shape and aggressive Iggy is a good piece for both NT and Zalgiris currently.

[Dreamcatcher]

I hate to see those long missing streaks. That's not good. Off course, even Milaknis had some slumps, but I would love more consistency for Sirvydis in terms of shooting and he should go to the rim more too.

Sirvydis hasn’t proven himself to be a good shooter this season. His three-point shooting is merely average and simply inconsistent, but what’s more unsurprising is his struggle from the ft line - just over 60% in both EL and LKL. Considering that he’s not a strong defender either, his impact is quite limited without reliable shooting. He can drive to the basket occasionally, but since he’s not a primary ball handler, he doesn’t get many opportunities to do so. At this point, Brazdeikis is still the better player in my eyes.