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OK, so what made Kings the best offensive team in NBA? 3 things:
ISO scorer (Fox), Sabonis, shooting wings.
Well, obviously we won't have such player as Fox, but (I'll get later to it)...
But let's speculate for a minute whenever NT will ever utilize Sabonis to the fullest.
ATM, the problem is clear. We have only Grigonis as a shooter. Our forwards are non offensive and limited in terms of shooting (Uke, Butkevicius). Jokubaitis is not a great shooter too, but Fox also is not a great shooter. What Fox does is getting inside super well, creating all sorts of problems. The good news that Jokubaitis is also a strong slasher and great decision maker. We seen some flashes of good chemistry between Jokubaitis and Sabonis last summer and that is promising.
Now can we get shooting wings? Well, I don't see anyone as good as Kevin Huerter coming, but there's some good pieces coming.
FOA, Rubstavicius. I have no doubt he'll be terrific shooter and he's brilliant off ball player. He is a better off ball shooter even than Grigonis (well, he will be). He utilizes the space perfectly, constantly moving without the ball and he doesn't need much space and time to set his shot. Perfect piece around Domas. (Later on, I think Indrusaitis will be more or less similar, with more ISO game, but Domas and Indrusaitis won't play many tournaments together duo to age difference).
Murauskas showed this season that he can be very effective off ball scorer/shooter. It was a surprise cause I always imagined him as ballhog, ISO scorer. And he has that a lot in him. Nevertheless this season he shows how flexible he is and he embraced that off ball shooter's role for Lietkabelis willingly and PRO. Murauskas will be able to do all sorts of things, including spot on off the ball movement/shooting. Good fit, even if Murauskas himself probably would like to be a guy with the ball more. The good news that he can adapt to different situations.
And then off course Buzelis. He is super versatile and essentially team player so I hope we can find proper fit of playing Domas centric BB and allowing Buzelis to be creator and one of the main protagonists offensively as well. In other words, in Buzelis you have a piece that you can build around at 3 as point forward. Can dominant point forward and point center co-exist in positive way? I sure hope so. I think here the good news most LTU players are naturally willing to make adjustments to the benefit of the team. My optimism comes from the fact that Buzelis is showing some unguardable catch and shoot presence here and there. If Buzelis turns out to be really reliable shooters with his 6'10 size, look out. We would see plenty of open shots. But then again, we can't reduce Buzelis to off ball kinda player. He's too gifted for that. Once he will be ready, it will be huge science how to utilize Domas and Buzelis together. Nevertheless, it should be great chemistry hopefully as Buzelis can do it all - Shoot, handle, drive, cut, facilitate.
Sirvydis is another perfect fir for Domas. Sirvydis is off the ball catch and shoot kind wing. He's a good cutter too, so I think they would find pretty good chemistry. As well as D. Giedraitis should be a nice fit too. And if Lelevicius can fix his accuracy (accuracy is the only problem I have with him), he's absolutely brilliant fit next Domas. I see all these 3 players as a role players more, even if Lelevicius has a chance to be nearly complete player if he can improve his shooting game.
Guys like Rubstavicius, Sirvydis, D. Giedraitis, Lelevicius seems to be very good fit next to Domas. But the long term key will be to find the right chemistry between 3 main pieces Sabonis, Buzelis, Murauskas. All are guys that you can basically build around and how we are gonna use them will be very interesting to see (Jokubaitis is also there, but he can adjust to anything, he has 100% BB IQ).
But the problem is that for 2023 only Grigonis is available as ready and made shooter. Maybe we can expect some-one from D.Giedraitis/Sirvydis making the roster. But none of these yet can snatch bigger and more impactful role. Rubstavicius, Murauskas, Buzelis, Lelevicius still are too raw. The problem is that Iggy is pretty horrible fit cause he can't shoot and he's more effective with the ball in his hands than vise versa. I would use Iggy in the second line-up, specially in the moments Sabonis is resting.
Most likely we'll have to rely on Jokubaitis, Grigonis, Ulanovas, Kuzminskas as those who takes shots after Sabonis' passes and we simply don't have enough of reliable shooting power which will limit the ability to utilize Sabonis to the fullest.
I would say that probably Jokubaitis' development and the addition of Ulanovas are our biggest reserves and improvements compared to 2022. Hopefully the addition of say Sedekerskis, Tubelis, D. Giedraitis would make a little impact too, but it won't be all that much impactful.
This Olympic cycle remains very problematic. We have very good prospects, but they still need couple of more years and then the picture of NT may change radically. But as 2023-2024 goes we have pretty good, but not good enough to truly make noise, kinda team.
ISO scorer (Fox), Sabonis, shooting wings.
Well, obviously we won't have such player as Fox, but (I'll get later to it)...
But let's speculate for a minute whenever NT will ever utilize Sabonis to the fullest. ATM, the problem is clear. We have only Grigonis as a shooter. Our forwards are non offensive and limited in terms of shooting (Uke, Butkevicius). Jokubaitis is not a great shooter too, but Fox also is not a great shooter. What Fox does is getting inside super well, creating all sorts of problems. The good news that Jokubaitis is also a strong slasher and great decision maker. We seen some flashes of good chemistry between Jokubaitis and Sabonis last summer and that is promising.
Now can we get shooting wings? Well, I don't see anyone as good as Kevin Huerter coming, but there's some good pieces coming.
FOA, Rubstavicius. I have no doubt he'll be terrific shooter and he's brilliant off ball player. He is a better off ball shooter even than Grigonis (well, he will be). He utilizes the space perfectly, constantly moving without the ball and he doesn't need much space and time to set his shot. Perfect piece around Domas. (Later on, I think Indrusaitis will be more or less similar, with more ISO game, but Domas and Indrusaitis won't play many tournaments together duo to age difference).
Murauskas showed this season that he can be very effective off ball scorer/shooter. It was a surprise cause I always imagined him as ballhog, ISO scorer. And he has that a lot in him. Nevertheless this season he shows how flexible he is and he embraced that off ball shooter's role for Lietkabelis willingly and PRO. Murauskas will be able to do all sorts of things, including spot on off the ball movement/shooting. Good fit, even if Murauskas himself probably would like to be a guy with the ball more. The good news that he can adapt to different situations.
And then off course Buzelis. He is super versatile and essentially team player so I hope we can find proper fit of playing Domas centric BB and allowing Buzelis to be creator and one of the main protagonists offensively as well. In other words, in Buzelis you have a piece that you can build around at 3 as point forward. Can dominant point forward and point center co-exist in positive way? I sure hope so. I think here the good news most LTU players are naturally willing to make adjustments to the benefit of the team. My optimism comes from the fact that Buzelis is showing some unguardable catch and shoot presence here and there. If Buzelis turns out to be really reliable shooters with his 6'10 size, look out. We would see plenty of open shots. But then again, we can't reduce Buzelis to off ball kinda player. He's too gifted for that. Once he will be ready, it will be huge science how to utilize Domas and Buzelis together. Nevertheless, it should be great chemistry hopefully as Buzelis can do it all - Shoot, handle, drive, cut, facilitate.
Sirvydis is another perfect fir for Domas. Sirvydis is off the ball catch and shoot kind wing. He's a good cutter too, so I think they would find pretty good chemistry. As well as D. Giedraitis should be a nice fit too. And if Lelevicius can fix his accuracy (accuracy is the only problem I have with him), he's absolutely brilliant fit next Domas. I see all these 3 players as a role players more, even if Lelevicius has a chance to be nearly complete player if he can improve his shooting game.
Guys like Rubstavicius, Sirvydis, D. Giedraitis, Lelevicius seems to be very good fit next to Domas. But the long term key will be to find the right chemistry between 3 main pieces Sabonis, Buzelis, Murauskas. All are guys that you can basically build around and how we are gonna use them will be very interesting to see (Jokubaitis is also there, but he can adjust to anything, he has 100% BB IQ).
But the problem is that for 2023 only Grigonis is available as ready and made shooter. Maybe we can expect some-one from D.Giedraitis/Sirvydis making the roster. But none of these yet can snatch bigger and more impactful role. Rubstavicius, Murauskas, Buzelis, Lelevicius still are too raw. The problem is that Iggy is pretty horrible fit cause he can't shoot and he's more effective with the ball in his hands than vise versa. I would use Iggy in the second line-up, specially in the moments Sabonis is resting.
Most likely we'll have to rely on Jokubaitis, Grigonis, Ulanovas, Kuzminskas as those who takes shots after Sabonis' passes and we simply don't have enough of reliable shooting power which will limit the ability to utilize Sabonis to the fullest.
I would say that probably Jokubaitis' development and the addition of Ulanovas are our biggest reserves and improvements compared to 2022. Hopefully the addition of say Sedekerskis, Tubelis, D. Giedraitis would make a little impact too, but it won't be all that much impactful.
This Olympic cycle remains very problematic. We have very good prospects, but they still need couple of more years and then the picture of NT may change radically. But as 2023-2024 goes we have pretty good, but not good enough to truly make noise, kinda team.
Let's have another complete black hole defensively...
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