2023 Lithuanian NT

[Shawshank]

In last 5 minutes i want to see this lineup in 2023 atleast tried in close games

Dimsa,Butkevicius,Brazdeikis,Ulanovas,Sabonis

Switch everything,good size in all positions.

3 smart experienced dudes still in their athletic peak that defensively will be pain in ass for opponents, one elite long passer that sees everything and one wild unpredictable mustang in my eyes good mix of everything

If mustang will be too wild that day grigonis/jokubaitis in

most important thing there is chance that lineup will make stops when NT will need them !

[Straight forward]

When you think about it 7,2ppg, 2,8apg in LKL kinda PG made 2022 NT....

[Linas Kreiza]

In last 5 minutes i want to see this lineup in 2023 atleast tried in close games

Dimsa,Butkevicius,Brazdeikis,Ulanovas,Sabonis

Switch everything,good size in all positions.

3 smart experienced dudes still in their athletic peak that defensively will be pain in ass for opponents, one elite long passer that sees everything and one wild unpredictable mustang in my eyes good mix of everything

If mustang will be too wild that day grigonis/jokubaitis in

most important thing there is chance that lineup will make stops when NT will need them !

I like that. I'm an Ulės fan since day one. Butkė is a cool dude. Iggy is also cool. Dimša can score and bring some energy. And Sabukas can pass the ball.

[Straight forward]

We get to see Wemby going on us again...

Unleash Krivas to contest him Seriously, nor we nor other countries have anything to put in front of him...

I wonder how this will effect FIBA basketball. Something like forcing him to foul out probably is one of the ways to keep him out of the game? But how? He's agile and flexible with that size. Maybe bullying him in the post positions is one of the ways. I'm afraid prime Wemby will create another dominant dynasty of BB, just as Spain did with Pau and all the depth. I kinda enjoyed completely open EB 2022, but it won't last too long.

[Straight forward]

In last 5 minutes i want to see this lineup in 2023 atleast tried in close games

Dimsa,Butkevicius,Brazdeikis,Ulanovas,Sabonis

Switch everything,good size in all positions.

3 smart experienced dudes still in their athletic peak that defensively will be pain in ass for opponents, one elite long passer that sees everything and one wild unpredictable mustang in my eyes good mix of everything

If mustang will be too wild that day grigonis/jokubaitis in

most important thing there is chance that lineup will make stops when NT will need them !

The problem is that Ulanovas is undersized and too small for bigger PFs like Gainnis, Markkanen, Cancar, Vezenkov and such. In such cases I would rely on Sedekerskis at 4. But I'm not against to try Ulanovas at 4 at all.

With Dimsa the problem is that he's a bad decision maker. He can play D and he can shoot (if it's his night...he's super streaky). But his decisions is crap. He goes like from -4eff to +14 when he shoots well. When you pair Dimsa with anothe 2 bad decision maker in the perimeter - Butkevicius, Brazdeikis, you have a problem. You don't have a single decision maker. Well, in your line-up Ulanovas would be play making and sharpening things, but it's probably not enough.

Sabonis is a glue guy and paradigm player that you can build general identity and he can establish presence that will make NT better, but he's not a clutch player. He's not a player who can take the ball and go for his own buckets. We still need that guy with the ball in the clutch. IDK if we can put Ulanovas in this position. It works so far for Zalgiris, but he's also not exactly this guy. Our best chance is Jokubaitis' growth and even current presence, but the problem is that he is not very good defender.

I'm OK to give a chance for such line-up, but essentially it would work much better if it was some-one like D. Giedraitis. A guy who is a good defender and a good decision maker. But unfortunately this season Giedraitis progress wasn't as expected and he always has issues with health.

In 2-3 years I hope Marciulionis will occupy that position when you want DEFENSE and still solid play making at 1. He should become that guy of a short stretched playing bully defense and likely closing some games.

Dimsa is neither good decision maker or point guard. But probably we won't have any better option and we'll have to give it a shot. Just to give a little bit of a chill on Dimsa, he's a 15mpg, 3.3eff kinda guy for Zalgiris in EL. It only looks good when his shots fall...and it happened only in 3 games this season in EL. I would suggest to keep expectations on him reserved cause solid D is the only good thing that he does on a daily basis.

[Shawshank]

Nobody cares about your theories, coach will put what works in reality.

Dimsa,Butkevicius,Ulanovas,Brazdeikis works in euroleague thats 10 more important fact than your theoritical horoscope very biased predictions on beloved players.

Daily guard defence that what our backourt lacked alot in 2022 when Arnas had to defend everybody.


Start putting finger on Sabonis for all star is not good enough to be just good,NT need great Sabonis. Untill Sabonis will show he can dominate fiba courts nobody will put most producing player Valanciunas on bench .

Not coach must make this desicion,but Sabonis show with his play that its time for that . Coaches in 2022 they put Sabonis inside and JV near 3point line,but when Sabonis couldnt take advantage of Cancar/Muric inside in Slovenia game and looked overpowered with just 6pts in 34min against France giants coaches said enough we will go now to plan B

And Valanciunas produced his best game with NT jersey. Picturing like only Valanciunas is getting balls inside and Sabonis is not getting touches is funny and simply not true.

Domas shoots 6-7 shots not because he dont get touches,he touches ball more than anybody, but he shoots only layups and from 2m distance when he manages to fight his way that close to the basket. If he would shoot open 4-5m jumpers (that opponents gives him) it would be 12-13 shots attempts and his game would be way easier.


Sabonis himself have to step up in fiba, not his fan blame everybody else for his average game according to his level he can

Pikenrolas trio when discused who played better in eurobasket and who should get best lithuanian player award for 2022 said it was Jonas and Pakenas is big Sabonis fan and tried find arguments but even he admitted that. Kleiza and Vysniauskas was sure who played better in eurobasket.

[Svajunas]

Nobody cares about your theories, coach will put what works in reality.

Seems like you care, since you always replay.

[Straight forward]

Sabonis ready for WC 2023:

https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/news/sabonis-the-world-cup-is-going-to-be-very-exciting

TBH, I would love to see how JV absent NT would look. How it would change the dynamics, the hierarchy, defense, intensity. I'm not saying that NT would be necessary better, but I think it would be very healthy experiment. I simply don't believe we can win anything with the identity - Valanciunas' stagnant, slow offense + zero defense. This sh...has zero chance.

Really waiting when we will make a real shift from that shit finally...

[LuDux]

TBH, I would love to see how JV absent NT would look.

I don't believe you. You have 20 pages in 7 threads to convince me you are honest

[Straight forward]

I don't believe you. You have 20 pages in 7 threads to convince me you are honest

You should trust the holistic goal more...In sports it's fun win, and that's what I want to see NT doing. That's all what's it about.

[Straight forward]

OK, Jokubaitis got used to this, but why I'm starting to have a hard time seeing Jasikevicius working with new generation of NT. I'm not sure new generation would dig it. If they had a contract, if that's a club, well, you signed for it. But that's voluntary act playing for the NT. Not even talking about his BB style. Brazdeikis barely coping with Maksvytis, he would lose it working with Jasikevicius

[Straight forward]

https://twitter.com/FIBAWC/status/1621515402147930121

[Straight forward]

Maksvytis; "we gotten slower and became static". Duh...Just don't forget to start Valanciunas and give him 10-12 post shots per game again, Kazys...

[zalias]

i dont think they got slower and static by choice

[LuDux]

i dont think they got slower and static by choice

Still the fault of Valanciunas. Or maybe fault of Brezhnev. Has anyone seen than in the same place? Curious