Lithuanian Point Guards

[Straight forward]

So I've seen enough. A. Marciulionis will be a player. From the first glance unconvincing campaign in NCAA is not an issue. He is simply very team oriented player and sticks to his role precisely. Yes, threes limiting him thus far and to some extent it's a problem, but I've seen enough - his combination of explosiveness, skill and IQ is for real, he can slice the D like a butter. Fluid and nice euro step (his dad's invented ), quick move to the left and he has an easy lay up, strong precise bullet pass and so on. Shoots 60% from 2. That's the biggest improvement compared to last season. He's already ripped and strong. If threes felt, his scoring numbers would increase though. So I hope he can figure this out cause it's primarily psychological.

[Straight forward]

That's facilitation. That's the dime. You can't learn it. You either have or not. Augustas has it:

https://www.secsports.com/video/35096777/augustas-marciulionis-makes-beautiful-pass-basket

[Straight forward]

Augis' strong drive - two and one:

https://twitter.com/saintmaryshoops/status/1604662398501064704

[Straight forward]

Jokubaitis is clock ticking bomb in the Europe. On the first glance, he took a step back, but he actually silently improving his facilitation game. He needs just a little bit more sheer experience and development and he's about to explode as one of the most if not the most dominating PG in Europe. This season it obviously won't happen while Barca has still basically prime Satoransky, but next season I can see a chance of him truly braking out.

https://twitter.com/EDemirNBA/status/1604974866276315136

https://twitter.com/EDemirNBA/status/1601805475879608320

https://twitter.com/eurobballviews/status/1602621327365607426

[Straight forward]

Velicka keeps cooking in both BBL and FIBA Europe Cup. He's No.1 in assists in FIBA Eurocup with 7,6apg and No.2 in BBL with 8.1apg. Not too shabby for a combo. I've got confused with this guy's upside. Here's 13 assists game's highlights. He's playing like Kalnietis in United League when he was MVP before joining Zalgiris recently. Rather similar facilitation game, just flashier:

https://twitter.com/ChrisSchmidt27/status/1602282263248572418

[Straight forward]

Should we worry about Jokubaitis already? I think it's primarily about the role, but there's definitely certain slump compared to last season. The consequence of "star illness"? It was felt last summer that the status of celebrity and extreme hype around changed him, but every player has to go through this. I don't think there's a threat long term.

[Dreamcatcher]

Just his situation right now is not as it was expected by everyone. The most positive expectations were that he would be among Barca's best players this season and then maybe NBA in the season after. But it's already not like that at all.

But there is one thing. It's a question. Is Saras a good coach for Jokubaitis at all? I mean it was supposed that yes, but why? It was Shiller a coach when Rokas got plenty of playing time in Zalgiris . Before that Rokas had had quite a a hard time under Saras sitting on the bench after each silly mistake. So it's a question what would be if Saras would have stayed in Zalgiris. So it's even a bigger question now. There were games where Jokubaitis looked not bad but played fewer than 10 min.

In the last 5 EL games he averaged fewer than 9 min. In all 15 games he averaged about 13 min scoring 4 pts. He played 20 min only in 2 games and scored 10 pts only in one game. It's too bad for the current EL rising star.

[Straight forward]

Well, we don't know all the story. We don't know how Jokubaitis works in practices, is there any issues with confidence. Maybe he a little bit laid back in terms of discipline recently, maybe not. I personally got a sense he never got back to his pre-injury physical shape. He was leaving his opponents behind before that injury, after that he's a little different, like not getting 100% tuned physically. That may be the issue of not working hard enough.

But I think essentially what we are witnessing - Saras is saving his own ass in Barca. He needs wins after last season failure. And now he has no time to develop Jokubaitis. He needs to get as much as he can from Sato, Lapro, Higgins and such. He needs titles. That's the difference. When Jokubaitis plays 3 minutes in EL game, you know it's not about his performance.

Last season it was incredibly, nearly sensationally beneficial for Jokubaitis. He became one of more important players for Barca and was closing many close games for superclub. But this season has been disappointment. I think now no-one would argue that Jokubaitis would be in so much better situation if had a chance to be starting PG of Zalgiris. I'm a bit concerned about next season. Even more frustrated Saras will look how to increase his playing time? Cause I don't see Barca winning the title. Saras improved Barca a bit compared to previous coaches, but he's not able to make it real dominant force. I believe no-one will make Barca as such, it is not the club build for wins. The culture is lazy and it will never change, just as Barcelona city won't change. Saras improved Barca's culture a little bit, but he's not able to completely brake it. Besides, I do think Saras' basketball is outdated. Even if he will skip the teams and will start coaching some, I don't know. Fener or Maccabi, he must make changes in terms of his BB style and even personality.

[Dreamcatcher]

Laprovittola is also a case. Maybe the most important one. Saras ''found'' another pg as almost the best player in the team. He is playing the most minutes among all players - in the team where you can find Mirotic, Higgins, Satoransky. He is also averaging about 15 min - almost like Mirotic. But Mirotic is the best pf in Europe and Lapro before Barca was not a good player in EL (In Real and Barca).

[Dreamcatcher]

I believe no-one will make Barca as such, it is not the club build for wins. The culture is lazy and it will never change, just as Barcelona city won't change. Saras improved Barca's culture a little bit, but he's not able to completely brake it.

It's smth that is stupid. There are not any clubs that are not build for wins. All you need is a really good coach and good, right players. And a bit of luck of course (like pretty much everywhere). Barca won EL 2 times and dominated in football for some period.

Fener could win EL when Obradovic came. Before that Turkish team had not ever been in f4 i think. But with Obra they got there every single time (winning 1 time in 3 attempts if i recall correctly).

[Toruko]

Well, we don't know all the story. We don't know how Jokubaitis works in practices, is there any issues with confidence. Maybe he a little bit laid back in terms of discipline recently, maybe not. I personally got a sense he never got back to his pre-injury physical shape. He was leaving his opponents behind before that injury, after that he's a little different, like not getting 100% tuned physically. That may be the issue of not working hard enough.

But I think essentially what we are witnessing - Saras is saving his own ass in Barca. He needs wins after last season failure. And now he has no time to develop Jokubaitis. He needs to get as much as he can from Sato, Lapro, Higgins and such. He needs titles. That's the difference. When Jokubaitis plays 3 minutes in EL game, you know it's not about his performance.

Last season it was incredibly, nearly sensationally beneficial for Jokubaitis. He became one of more important players for Barca and was closing many close games for superclub. But this season has been disappointment. I think now no-one would argue that Jokubaitis would be in so much better situation if had a chance to be starting PG of Zalgiris. I'm a bit concerned about next season. Even more frustrated Saras will look how to increase his playing time? Cause I don't see Barca winning the title. Saras improved Barca a bit compared to previous coaches, but he's not able to make it real dominant force. I believe no-one will make Barca as such, it is not the club build for wins. The culture is lazy and it will never change, just as Barcelona city won't change. Saras improved Barca's culture a little bit, but he's not able to completely brake it. Besides, I do think Saras' basketball is outdated. Even if he will skip the teams and will start coaching some, I don't know. Fener or Maccabi, he must make changes in terms of his BB style and even personality.

Saras will be history next season. He will return to Zalgiris or he wont work.

[Straight forward]

Saras will be history next season. He will return to Zalgiris or he wont work.

I think there still would be bunch teams that would want him. Maccabi, Milan (OMG, Davies would drop dead instantly ), Pana come to my mind. He's definitely not a fraud or something. He just needs to understand that BB changed, Obradovic' coaching and Jasikevicius' playing time is over. EL is different. BB is different. You need shooters, you need pace, you need improvisation, you need passion to win it.

[Straight forward]

Jokubaitis got unleashed in ACB. 27min, 12pts, 8as:

https://twitter.com/FCBbasket/status/1608191844596289536

[Straight forward]

I'm not sure both Tubelis and Marciulionis are happy with their NCAA nicknames though Zu sounds like Zoo. And Marciulionis nickname is GOOSE...

Anyway, here's a nice strong lay-up. I think he moves impressively even with added mass. He will be hard to contain going to the cup. Not as explosive and tremendous as his dad obviously, but he still has an above average physical profile for Euro PG. Shoots 2P% 58,5 which is huge improvement compared to last season, but threes still don't fall though:

https://twitter.com/saintmaryshoops/status/1608651935661559809

[Straight forward]

Jokubaitis 13pts, 10as double-double. I like his facilitation game, getting sharper. But in terms of scoring he's not as sharp and aggressive as last season. Very hard to say the reasons, hopefully it's temporary.

There's what Jasikevicius said after the game. I wished he was more explicit on the situation:

"We have high hopes that Jokubaitis will be the same as last season"

https://twitter.com/RubenBaezR/status/1611838992483483648

https://twitter.com/FCBbasket/status/1611825596056891392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1611825596056891392%7Ctwgr%5E20adcef40d03ff0adca8b7f9ba897822acd2dc0c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.basketnews.lt%2Fnews-183463-ispanijoje-nuostabus-jokubaitis-ir-triuskinama-barcos-pergale.html