2023 Lithuanian NT

[Straight forward]

People who think that M. Normantas is serious piece for serious level competition (like Dimsa established himself as one) are wrong. I'm fully convinced taking Margiris would generally be the same story as taking Zemaitis. Not worth it. It would be a waste of the spot. Give it to one from Rubstavicius/Marciulionis.

[Straight forward]

Jokubaitis, D. Giedraitis
Brazdeikis, Dimsa

+

Rubstavicius/Marciulionis

We have a backcourt for 2023.

[Straight forward]

Jokubaitis, D. Giedraitis, (Marciulionis/Rubstavicius)
Brazdeikis, Dimsa
Butkevicius, Sirvydis
Sedekerskis, Kuzminskas, (Tubelis/Bendzius)
Sabonis, Valanciunas

In my opinion that pretty much will be the team if Sabonis comes (if Sabonis doesn't come Tubelis should be a lock, or Motiejunas in). If Tubelis comes he probably will prevail against Bendzius (why Bendzius needed when there's Kuzminskas?). I hope Maksvytis learned his lessons and won't take mediocre scrub, someone like Zemaitis, this time.

I would be perfectly satisfied with perimeter presence, specially knowing that you can move Butkevicius and Sirvydis to play some 2 as well if needed.

[Shawshank]

Jokubaitis, D. Giedraitis
Brazdeikis, Dimsa

+

Rubstavicius/Marciulionis

We have a backcourt for 2023.

backourt to do what take 15th place in world cup and go home after group stage again ?



Balciunas telling fairy tales how 23 old players are way more motivated,so loosing half of our euroleague players no big deal

As always bring same 2010 example doenst matter that nothing similiar repeated in next 12 years .



From Balciunas talks good news was Brazdeikis and Sedekerskis is more in than out

Grigonis,Lekavicius,Giedraitis,Ulanovas,Sabonis is more out than in.

[Straight forward]

backourt to do what take 15th place in world cup and go home after group stage again ?



Balciunas telling fairy tales how 23 old players are way more motivated,so loosing half of our euroleague players no big deal

Yeah, that's why I say that roster for 2023. Well we'll get out of the group surely. And will face Greece and USA fighting for PO spot. And we can contest Greece, specially if Sabonis comes. Obviously we are underdogs and most likely will lose, but we can legitimately contest. That roster that I named is not trash. On other hand, even 100% roster wouldn't be medal contender objectively. We're not there yet. Specially in WC were USA, Australia and likely Canada also come as red hot contenders. So yeah, there's no pressure for that team and that's good. I don't think many fans would seriously expect medals from Lithuania even with 100%.

To me so far it's only Grigonis and Lekavicius as a loss. R. Giedraitis has been non factor and Ulanovas is out for ages now. It's funny how some fellows are mad that there's no Ulanovas. It's just a continuation of his retirement. How many chances that 32yo Ulanovas will want to play after another heavy EL season? And will he even be needed much with even better Brazdeikis, Sedekerskis and panning out 24yo Sirvydis at 3? Come one, let's just move on, the guy played in previous decade last time...

The way I see it, it's a good non pressure WC where we can go with some new pieces and fight hard with fresh legs not being too anxious. At least it's a good chance to give roles for such players as Sedekerskis, Sirvydis, Tubelis, D. Giedraitis and even to test some Rubstavicius/Marciulionis, get their feet vet. That will give us some benefits even for 2024, let alone longer term.

There's no doubt we have more chances to reach semis in Olympics, than to reach it in 2023. The way I see it we may have very serious team in 2024. Sabonis in complete prime, Jokubaitis and Brazdeikis at that point should basically be elite pieces (someone calculated that Brazdeikis' impact in the second half of the season in EL was similar to Mike Jame's impact). Hopefully Grigonis comes back for maybe his last NT campaign, in the form of 12-14ppg kinda scorer. Very deep bench with JV and multiple EL level players. Timing is slightly unfavorable for LTU (I predict that Rubstavicius will already be pretty much elite SG in 2025, which obviously changes a lot, but not exactly there in 2024 yet), but I think there's no doubt that in very small tournament as Olympics we'll have a decent chance to get to the semis. In WC we need to get out of the group, play well in the next one and beat at least Greece, and then to beat Serbia in 4finals. In Olympics you play well in the group, get 4finals opponent and if you beat it, you're in semis. Much more simple path, if you avoid death group.

[LuDux]

backourt to do what take 15th place in world cup and go home after group stage again ?

Let's not critisize it until we know playing and substitution times and tactics he's preparing for Maksvytis

[Straight forward]

Butkevicius and Dimsa in. Gotta love Butkevicius attitude and stamina. He sends the right message.

[Shawshank]

Offensively our backourt will be suspect either way now after no Grigonis

Around Jokubaitis and Brazdeikis I would put 3 tough defensive dogs Dimsa,Normantas, Giedraitis

Going with Arnas and Sedekerskis from other positions I see tools to win grinding type games like Zalgiris 2023 did in euroleague

[Straight forward]

I don't see the point to have M. Normantas. FOA, he was trash in LKL playoffs. It was obvious he's too slow and too limited against serious defense. What we seen in 4th quarter? Steps out of the court, then loses the ball against Dimsa. Too key mistakes. His biggest value is that he sort of can guard 1-3 positions, but mainly 2-3. His lateral quickness is not on the level of Giedraitis (IMO, the best 1-2 defensive guard defender in Lithuania), Dimsa and Butkevicius (the best 1-3 defensive player in Lithuania). Yeah, it's nice that he is sturdy and can even stay with physical SGs -SFs down low, but but for that we already have Butkevicius and Dimsa. In terms of overall quality Normantas is inferior to these 3 Zalgiris defenders.

To me it's simple - Normantas hasn't reached NT level. It's pretty obvious. 99% going with such breed is disappointment.

We have to wait and see how Marciulionis and Rubstavicius look with reserve NT, but knowing the lack of back-up PG Marciulionis should be observed closely. I have a feeling he may be the stickiest defender at 1-2 positions along with D. Giedraitis in the country already. If he can prove he's ready to bully people defensively already and to provide facilitating punch, I'm all in with him. Rubstavicius also was better in playoffs than Normantas. But there's Brazdeikis, Dimsa, D. Giedraitis at 2, so I'm looking more at what Marciulionis has as he's the only serious true PG package after Jokubaitis ATM (again, Velicka is still too wild and not fundamentally sound as PG).

From facilitation point of view I liked D. Giedraitis ball movement most yesterday. Perfect drives and precise kick-outs. I think he's slightly better than Dimsa at 1 with his precise decision making and facilitating at one. But even Giedraitis doesn't feel very comfortable at 1 and is not complete facilitator. He's not that dominant ball handler in the first place. When we lose Grigonis and Lekavicius we loose plenty of ballhandling and decision making. This should be addressed in the first place. Most likely we'll have to give those back-up minutes to Dimsa/Giedraitis, at least they already tested at EL with it, but also we need to see what Marciulionis has. He stepped up for Saint Marry's in the March Madness. All these Zemaitis, Margiris, Kariniauskas kinda scrubs is dead end, IMO.

If Sabonis out, facilitation issue is even bigger. Sabonis is a big part of ball movement and creation. If he's out, NT will be way too dependent on Jokubaitis' and Brazdeikis' aggression. That' gonna be a problem. Some teams will try to play box and one emphasizing Jokubaitis as by far the best player with the ball in the roster. So assume the ball goes off from Jokubaitis hands we'll see a lot of forced decisions by Brazdeikis, Dimsa, Butkevicius.

If Sabonis in, we have to go with more shooters.Then maybe Rubstavicius makes more sense than Marciulionis. Sirvydis likely playing quite a lot if he's looking good. Bendzius may even prevail instead of some Tubelis.

To me, we should have plenty of defensive upgrade and overall depth with Butkevicius, Dimsa, D. Giedraitis, Sedekerskis. I don't need Normantas. If Marciulionis ready, there's another defensive beast if incomparably higher upside that Normantas.

My main issue with this NT will be balldangling, facilitating, creation.

[Shawshank]

In nomall circumstances neither Normantas,Neither Giedraitis,Neither Zemaitis is NT guards.

Dimsa would be just 50/50,but NT will miss atleast 3 guards so this not normal guard list this summer


Also 4th guard Brazdeikis once again repeating after game 5 he isnt sure will he play for NT. When he will leave for his holiday to Usa/Canada thats not given he will return this summer.


Normantas has captain qualities is not accident his best game was Game 5 in Kaunas hostile envirenment like in France away game too in window game

Normantas main competion will be Rubstavicius most likely



If Marciulionis want to make team his competion is Giedraitis.They are both small guards that can defend mainly PG.Coaches very rarely takes 2 small guards

Normantas,Dimsa has size and strenght to defend PG-SF players.Rubstavicius has lenght to defend same 3 positions. Such playes is perfect for switch defence

[LuDux]

My Worst Case Scenario NT'2023 Overly Extended Roster: Valančiūnas Motiejūnas Gudaitis Birutis Kairys Echodas Tubelis Bendžius Sedekerskis Kulboka Kuzminskas Žukauskas Radzevičius Sirvydis Butkevičius Varnas Rubštavičius Normantas Jogėla Dimša Giedraitis Velička Žemaitis Kariniauskas Jokubaitis Marčiulionis

[Straight forward]

Normantas has captain qualities is not accident his best game was Game 5 in Kaunas hostile envirenment like in France away game too in window game

His best game was 2 turnovers in crunch time and 4 overall and shabby 9eff points? That's the least NT needs Normantas didn't stand out in a single game against Zalgiris. He was completely shut off compared to his regular season's numbers.

Yeah, let's take all gutsy LKL level players to the NT... Lipkevicius (OK, he doesn't "deserve" to be on this list, but still), Skucas, Seskus, Gailius, Bickauskas. All scrubs (meaning average players by all means) who have captain's quality.

You can clearly see with eye test alone Normantas is not NT material of NT. He's not as talent, as coordinated, as high IQ players as those of Zalgiris. D. Giedraitis is different talent player, different tier. Maybe now it's not super evident, but with sharper eye it's pretty obvious.

And why not to have couple of guys who can guard pure guards, those small super skilled guards? Usually that's the key to stop them. Be it Patty Mills, Schroder, Brown, some USA guards. I would rather have both D. Giedraitis and Marciulionis, true guards who can bite their agile opponents as bulldogs, stick with them instead of having someone like Margiris who sort of good defender, sort of slow fat ass who would surely be schooled by elite true guards. If he's that good why he wasn't stopping no Taylor? I seen Giedraitis biting to best Rytas' guards, I seen Butkevicius and Dimsa doing that, but I didn't see Normantas doing this.

Anyway, we talk too much about one scrub. I don't really care about him. To think that the guy who has been nearly completely irrelevant all LKL playoffs long can be some sort of serious role player for the NT is basically a dream.

[Straight forward]

My Worst Case Scenario NT'2023 Overly Extended Roster: Valančiūnas Motiejūnas Gudaitis Birutis Kairys Echodas Tubelis Bendžius Sedekerskis Kulboka Kuzminskas Žukauskas Radzevičius Sirvydis Butkevičius Varnas Rubštavičius Jogėla Dimša Giedraitis Velička Žemaitis Kariniauskas Jokubaitis Marčiulionis

+1 for not including Normantas, but I wouldn't include Zemaitis, Kariniauskas. Both wasted their spots for good already. One in 2016, other 2022. We should invite Jakucionis. At least elite prospect. If he will waste the spot, this will be for a reason. Not sure Varnas reached the level to deserve a chance. Not shinning in Canada too.

It will be interesting to see how Jogela looks with reserve NT. I didn't pay too much attention during the season.

[LuDux]

+1 for not including Normantas,

Sorry about that

[Giannis34GOD]

So what is the status of Sabonis? He will play or not? Thanks...