Kaunas Zalgiris Thread

[Straight forward]

A slump or the start of serious crisis?

[Svajunas]

I don't know. I was never conviced thath Shiller is doing a good enough job. Obvious mistake was overplaying leaders vs Cbet and obviously there are many more, but I guess our record is still ok, so can't be asking more of him yet.

[Straight forward]

Oh, snap, Lekavicius blew it with one missed free throw and now Zalgiris guards (Lukas, Marius, Rokas, Thomas) have 60/61 FTs

On a serious note, despite Shiller's transition and struggles with EL culture, Zalgiris is highly enjoyable team. If I could switch T. Walkup with something more watchable at 1, it would be pure pleasure.

[Shawshank]

Zalgiris open running game getting back to reality after other euroleague clubs getting in shape.

Trying playing open games with more tallented teams will not work in long run.Zalgiris will not win alot of games in 90s scoring wise.

This week both games in 4 querters we saw high quality guards deciding games 1 vs 1 when you let them all game long scoring and feeling it, they gonna make even tough shots later on and burn you.

Kazlauskas,Jasikevicius starts everything from defence when you have limited team your main plan should be trying to put your opponents in uncomfortable situations. Only then you search for offensive pluses your team could have.

Schiller is more Adomaitis type plays open offensive game , but also do not disturb what opponents wants to play.It could work if your team would have more than average tallent.For Lithuanians guards of last 10+ years I very doubt that a winning formula.

But atleast NT trio Grigonis,Lekavicius,Jokubaitis getting seriuos minutes againts top players every week, that should pay dividends for NT.

That trio can score they proved that manny times,but can they make stops defensively in game endings?

Getting such lessons in last 3 minutes from M.James or Delaney/ Punter in game endings it should make your finishing game skill better at some point with more experience being in them.

[Dreamcatcher]

I didn't like how Grigonis got himself in a foul trouble in the last games, i treat him as a smart player. On the other hand, i was surprised that the team played even better without him and could make some comebacks.

[Straight forward]

I think Schiller can do a little bit better job adjusting his defensive game plan to each team, that's what we should ask more from him. But other than that, Zalgiris is losing to stronger clubs, as simple as that. Higher quality players closes the games, it's as simple. Jasikevicius spoiled us with his ability to get from average players more than any other coach, but generally Schiller is doing OK.

[Dreamcatcher]

Grigonis needs a better team where the opponent team wouldn't be able to do like that: not letting him to breath giving a freedom to crappy Walkup. But Grigonis uses most of the holes he has this season and his numbers are great. But it's not great to eatch him.in this Zalgiris team

Interesting, how Saras would coach Jokubaitis today. He didn't give him any solid minutes after his bad movements. Today Rokas missed his first 5-6 shots, but still played in the end ( solid 21 min overall) scoring 4 pts in a row but finished with -1 EFF. On the other hand, there aren't many options to choose. Foteigners guards should be better.

P.S. Both Zalgiris and Rytas clubs found crappy defensive coaches and gave them 3 years contracts.

[Shawshank]

i never seen anybody playing worse pikenroll defence than Sved + Monroe,its basketball comedy not defence Our Lekavicius + Valanciunas looks like solid defenders compered to those 2 from chimky... atleast Lukas and Jonas is trying to defend, Sved and Monroe literally dont even try those 2 thinks only how they gonna score on other side.

Kurtinaitis must sit down those two offensive lazy asses down to the bench and limit their time badly or chimky gonna get 100pts every time in euroleague and Kurtis get fired soon.


Zalgiris in last 7 games defensive performance were pts allowed: 94, 93,85,87,98,83 + asvel using 7 players scored 50pts in first half and got tired in second half without normal rotation and finished with only 74pts and zalgiris managed barely beat them being behind all game.

Zalgiris went in those games 1-6 (with one win against Asvels 7 covid players rotation) .

Schiller you better start bulding team defence now or you gonna end up with Kurtinaits celebrating christmas without a job.Zalgiris have very slim chances winning games in euroleague every time getting to -20 deficits in 3querter and allowing opponents 85pts+


Jasikevicius demands Barcelona stars playing defence.Barsa by far best defensive euroleague team with only 69pts allowed on average so far this season.Thats how you win on highest level. When the last time Barcelona team leaded anything in any sport in defence ?

Hopefully Maskoliunas learned thing or two in last 5 years with Saras and will show in our NT some defences too next summer, when he will get more than 3 days to prepare team.

[Svajunas]

This is a first time in years when Im not waiting for Zalgiris games anymore.

The defense is bad, is litterally bad. How the teams exploit our ice defense is funny to the point where it's sad. They are shooting unguarded 3s game after game.

The next game is againts Barca, I guess +30 for barca is a reasonable guess.

[Mindozas]

Zalgiris in last 7 games defensive performance were pts allowed: 94, 93,85,87,98,83 + asvel using 7 players scored 50pts in first half and got tired in second half without normal rotation and finished with only 74pts and zalgiris managed barely beat them being behind all game.

Zalgiris went in those games 1-6 (with one win against Asvels 7 covid players rotation) .

Schiller you better start bulding team defence now or you gonna end up with Kurtinaits celebrating christmas without a job.Zalgiris have very slim chances winning games in euroleague every time getting to -20 deficits in 3querter and allowing opponents 85pts+


Jasikevicius demands Barcelona stars playing defence.Barsa by far best defensive euroleague team with only 69pts allowed on average so far this season.Thats how you win on highest level. When the last time Barcelona team leaded anything in any sport in defence ?

Hopefully Maskoliunas learned thing or two in last 5 years with Saras and will show in our NT some defences too next summer, when he will get more than 3 days to prepare team.

Forget Saras, coaches like him happens in teams like Zalgiris very rarely. He simply spoiled us. On other hand, just remember a year ago, when Zalgiris was in that 9 games losing streak, general opinion of public was not much different - Saras schemes doesn't work, it's oldschool, where is offense, players need more freedom, fck the defense, we need points and etc. Now we have more offense, more freedom, but... teams like Zalgiris can't live with offense alone. I won't gonna crucify Schiller, not now at least, for Saras every season it took time to gel all the system, lot of time, now Schiller does it from different angle, but he tries, he cares, he wants to be better and improve, and he works a lot, I respect that and that's why I'll give him more time. Moreover we have no resources to change coaches like socks and not much of option to choose from. i mean Schiller worls here for a bit over 200k, which is probably the cheapest coach in EL. Anyway, it's damn tough to fill Saras shoes, pretty much impossible for a coach who coaches for the first time in Europe, is from different bball school, and expectations are a bit unrealistically high. Let's face the truth again - we are not top8 caliber team and lately never were roster-wise. But Saras pushed us that high, to the limits. That's kinda reality check now for most. But it happened in most starts of the season, so I'll judge it all in few months, I hope Schiller will find some solutions to improve defensive game

[Hepcat]

Hopefully Maskoliunas learned thing or two in last 5 years with Saras and will show in our NT some defences too next summer, when he will get more than 3 days to prepare team.

Maybe, maybe not. How long was the Team Lietuva mini training camp in July? Don't forget that the team below (which looked a lot better on paper than the team that will play today) gave up 92 points in 45 minutes against Estonia:

Mantas Kalnietis - PG
Lukas Lekavičius - PG
Rokas Jokubaitis - PG
Tomas Dimša - SG
Marius Grigonis - SG
Edgaras Ulanovas - SF
Arnas Butkevičius - SF
Tadas Sedekerskis - SF/PF
Arnoldas Kulboka - SF/PF
Eimantas Bendžius - PF
Laurynas Birutis - C
Marek Blaževič - C

[Svajunas]

Jesus, forgot about that. This team looks so much better.

ONe thought crossed my mind in the suffering yesterday. Maybe in a such a short period of preparation coach should give more freedom to the players? It was obvious watching when Birutis tryied to post up time after time, or when Miniotas didin't take the open three... They were trying to play after plan, while lesser opponents has beaten them again with share will.

[Straight forward]

Saras didn't miss an opportunity to encourage his project Vasturia, naming him among 4 creative Zalgiris' players I believe he meant Jokubaitis, Grigonis, Walkup as the rest and Lekavicius as one of those "who knows their role well". It's more than understandable, but to me Walkup and Vasturia do not qualify as creative players per se Walkup to me is still just a crazy project at 1, if not his great D and hustle he would be out of EL because he can't play 2 and he's not 1, Zalgiris wasn't able to sell him if I'm not mistaken, there wouldn't be much EL teams that would want Walkup is PG, IMO. And Vasturia is just lacking a little bit of class, just needs to be more polished and skilled, to be truly valuable EL player, but with the ball in his hands he likely would be a little bit more effective. In other words, those 2 are creative players under Saras control, but not under status quo EL environment,

[Hepcat]

One thought crossed my mind in the suffering yesterday. Maybe in a such a short period of preparation coach should give more freedom to the players? It was obvious watching when Birutis tryied to post up time after time, or when Miniotas didin't take the open three... They were trying to play after plan, while lesser opponents has beaten them again with share will.

You could be right. I've also been wondering whether Coach Maskoliūnas' failing may be that he's trying to instill overly complex systems in too short a period of time. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) is the operative byline for a coach in these short windows.

[Straight forward]

Greens stayed in the game with Barsa pretty nicely. Jokubaitis continues to deliver, he's now third best scorer of Zalgiris with 8,8ppg. It's refreshing to see his elite size, toughness, skill and IQ for a point guard. From Lith guards he felt most comfortable against arguably the best defence in Europe. Lekavicius is too small to bang with big guards, even Grigonis struggles with it. Despite a loss it was really enjoyable game. Youngster's development has been so insane that now I'm not sure who will be the best Zalgiris' guard at the end of the season.