2024 Lithuanian NT

[Hepcat]

Team Lietuva is getting roasted on the boards because of this lack of height! The Poles grabbed five of ten rebounds from Lithuania's glass in the first quarter! The Lithuanians grabbed only one offensive rebound.

[Straight forward]

I was surprised that Polish guys looked more physical and mentally better prepared for the game. Only short bench screwed them. IDK what's the reason behind this. Starting 5 with Lekavicius, Dimsa, Giedraitis, Ulanovas, Geben looked toothless. Not a single guy who can brake the defence, to slash in hard or to create at the proper level. Ulanovas is the best player from this bunch and later he looked solidly, but it was really bleak view at the start when Polish dudes still had their stamina on. This roster lacked a player who could brake the ice and make the difference. In 90s Sabonis, Karnisovas used to come to qualifiers and they did it, ATM we don't have such player, even when we have some EL players. Obviously Jokubaitis, Grigonis, Brazdeikis are superior to any player of this roster individually, but still it was a bit depressing to see how meh EL level players as Ulanovas, Giedraitis, Lekavicius looked against Poland in the first half.

Lekavicius is done. He doesn't have the same burst, explosiveness. Marciulionis is a must. His creation, athleticism, physicality and defense is already at another level in comparison with declining Lekavicius. R. Giedraitis didn't show anything to make me optimistic. His body on a declining side more physicality wise (just as Ulanovas BTW). Both at the start of their decline. Giedraitis made some shots, but missed others badly. Can't treat him as consistent shooter or player. In the NT he has been beyond trash and I don't see how this changes much.

Sirvydis didn't play much and he still needs to improve his defensive awareness.

Regarding Maksvytis, a win is a win. He's not Maksoliunas. He will do the job. But overall again he showed that as a NT coach he will never provide FULL PACKAGE. Even when we are sweeping the opponents, he shits his pants and glues Tubelis on the bench. TBH he deserved this treatment of the crowd, IMO. Why? Because he provided red flag cutting Sedekerskis in 2022 for trash like Zemaitis, Zukauskas, he laid a red carpet for trashy Kariniauskas in 2023 without any competition (and the dude gave zero shots against Serbia and something like -15 +/- for that matter). Maksvytis will never be a coach who utilizes the talent optimally, sets the tone long term, makes the moves that has to be made to make whole NT pyramid march forward optimally. He also said that Giedraitis is a top player in EL which is complete nonsense and he also said that Olisevicius "absolutely" deserves to play higher Eurocup/Euroleague which is also nonsense in terms of EL. This reminds me when he announced that Cizauskas is marginalized without a reason and then Cizauskas went straight to second or third French league after this "revival".

We have a mediocre, provincial coach who will never ever be more than that. Zalgiris stretch was the highlight of his career. He will remain Eurocup level coach (at best) for the remaining of his career, IMO. It's about mentality a lot. Mentality wise he is not build for top tier BB as EL or LTU NT. He knows how to work with mediocre players as Olisevicius and Maldunas. He can make those better, but he will never know how to handle all talent pool and handle whole pyramid.

[Straight forward]

LTU basketball state in a nutshell:

Talent is coming, obstacle - coaching.

If Jasikevicius won't take next Olympic cycle, I'm afraid we will waste tons of chances. Unless it will be 2003 case when we had enough talent to win it all with mediocre coaching.

[Shawshank]

Interesting to look who played most minutes in game were coaches was trying to win and not f** around againts very solid Poland team with couple euroleague players.


Dimsa 25min,Ulanovas 22min,Lekavicius 21min,R,Giedraitis 20min, Normantas 15min, Sirvydis 12min

Thats some indicator how head coach sees those players in his rankings.


Yesterday i wasnt impressed with neither of those guards. But i hated Lekavicius performance. Dude is forcing lots of shots and wants to do too much instead of doing his PG job


Maldunas have real shot being invited to main camp. Coaches clearly likes what he brings : his defence,his awareness were to be and good acting skills after contact in defence.

He is one leaders in entire lkl with forced offensive fauls.In theory that what coaches need from 3nd center in his 4-5minutes playing hard,ability to give diffent look like switching defence and willingness to sacrifice his body doing dirty work.

But in Olympic summer its diffrent even euroleague players usually agrees with such small role.Podcasters saying same thing today even Dmo most likely would agree with 3rd center role in his first and last olympics. Is that even plus for NT i dont think so,but its hard to cut euroleague big and keep some uleb big.



Olisevicius 20pts its like Bendzius past performances . Those shooting PF is very important,because thats were whom 2 days chaotically prepared window teams is risking from going to help rotations.

Overall NT played really good game and shooted ball suprisingly well.

[Straight forward]

This Poland team was meh. They have one solid EL player and that's it. They don't have a single guard. They shot the ball crappy and dished no assists. Only physicality and pretty spot on reads kept them in a game in the first half.

Regarding Olympic roster this NT has from little to none relevance. There's basically only Ulanovas who would play meaningful role (and maybe a little role for Sirvydis who I think has more in the tank than showed tonight), that's it. Maksvytis clearly showed he's not ready to trust Tubelis and probably needs more defensively aware big, but I will remind that Maldunas was absolutely irrelevant against Serbia and whole WC 2023 tournament generally. Maldunas is definitely not an answer.

The true is, Ulanovas is the only completely established proper piece for serious basketball from this qualifiers team. Lekavicius declined, he's meh. That's not the same Lekavicius as we seen in 2019 WC. Dimsa and Margiris were meh and disappointing in WC generally and nearly completely lost against Serbia and Olympics will be even higher level. R. Giedraitis will be lost again and will waste the spot again if taken.

Reality is that from 2023 WC roster there been only 4 players who matches the required level to compete at the highest level and that was Sedekerskis, Jokubaitis, Valanciunas, Brazdeikis. That's all. From this roster I see only Ulanovas who can realistically add stuff. Sirvydis still needs a year or two to be consistent and he badly needs to fix few issues defensively which I think he can. Tubelis in the same situation generally.

So we have Sedekerskis, Jokubaitis, Valanciunas, Brazdeikis, Ulanovas + Sabonis, Grigonis, Butkevicius. That's 8 players of definite NT level. All others are not of NT level or in question because of decline or because they are not exactly there yet or because they are simply mediocre trash.

I actually wanted to see D. Giedraitis who I think with his elite skill (defense) deserves to be called true NT level player. A player who slows down one after another elite EL guard is definitely usable in high level competition.

All these Dimsases, Normantases...I don't even talk about Kariniauskases, Maldunases...That's not NT material. Whatever they are, they can't compete at the highest level. They are meh. In 2008 (or even better 2000 and 2004) when LTU still was legitimate international contender, there was no several places for such pieces.

Are those 8 true NT level players are enough? I think getting to Olympics and aiming to get out of the group is proper goal, but that's it. LTU NT is not there yet if takes 2-3 non NT level players and no single elite guard in the perimeter (Jokubaitis on the edge, might brake out, but that will be seen). So, current level still blows even if we will have stronger roster compared to what we had in 2020 (2021).

[Shawshank]

8 main players they exactly are ones that should be game changing players versus Serbias not ask that from 10-12th NT players that plays 5 minute.


What coach needs near top 8 players? other most talented offensive players ? or specific type players that would help hide weaknesses of main players and bring something main players cant like do dirty work?


Thats why players like super solid two way Dimsa being combo PG-SG type 5th guard,D.Giedraitis for guarding small players,Maldunas switching high iq defence from center position or shooting PF Kuzminskas/Bendzius can be usefull pieces for small roles .


I dont see what Sirvydis,Tubelis,R.Giedraitis.Lekavicius can bring what top 8 lithuanian players cant do ? Who cares that they have more individual talent if their best skills duplicates with best players skills and dont bring what best players is missing.

There will be only 1 ball NT dont need 12 offensive minded players.


Building winning team Its not about collecting 12 most talented offensive players thats never works.Its about building winning mechanism when players clearly knows who is main ones and who is there just to do specific things in couple minutes.

[Straight forward]

Thats why players like Dimsa being combo PG-SG type 5th guard with good size,D.Giedraitis for guarding small players,Maldunas switching high iq defence or shooting PF Bendzius can be usefull pieces for small roles .

More or less yes. But the problem is that such players as Dimsa, Normantas, Maldunas are not good enough for the highest level. Dimsa let Serbian guards go through too easily. He also tends to go up and down scoring wise, streaky. Both his defensive and offensive presence is not consistent enough or even not enough for top tier bb. F.e. Butkevicius is more athletic, stickier and more consistent focus wise defensively than Dimsa who is a solid defender, but that's it. That's the difference. Butkevicius is elite at D end and true NT piece who can help to fight against serious teams and Dimsa not really (or only in few games out of 10). Butkevicius' defensive presence (when he's healthy and 100% ready) is there every night and every minute. As well as D. Giedraitis. Only him I treat from mentioned above as really proper role player and tend to call him true NT material already. His defensive presence is great and extremely consistent. I know that Butkevicius and D. Giedraitis will give me what I need going against teams like Serbia. Their D will be there at the needed level. Dimsa, Normantas, Maldunas won't be able to lift it.

If you want to win at the high level, your role players should be really good as well. It doesn't matter if you play 5 or 20 minutes, but you have to have the level.

Serbia's role players as Dobric, S. Jovic, Avramovic could bring needed intensity for the highest level of BB, while our guys as Dimsa, Normantas, Maldunas couldn't...

Just saying Lithuania is not there yet to aim really high realistically if we have to go with such pieces as role players. We need to establish couple of elite perimeter players and to have true NT level role players to compete for high goals.

I would give Sedekerskis the undersized 5 position. Maksvytis used him at 5 not enough in WC. And I would be looking for Butkevicius and D. Giedraitis to cement perimeter defense in the first place (not Dimsa or Normantas).

[Shawshank]

Its waaay more important for NT results in short 2 week tournaments is what level is your top 5 players especially perimeter leaders.Those 10-12th players plays no role in real elimination games.


Fiba 2 week short tournaments mostly all about top 8 players. Canada had 8 nba players and played them heavy minutes and was ok because its only 6-7 real games. Last 4 canadians of 2023 roster i would be suprised anybody can even name who they were without google help.


Box out or grab rebound or put your body infront when opponnets attacks , play tough defence for 5-7min player dont need to have euroleague offensive.tallent. Thats why most coaches way more often trust experience player who have been there before and can adapt better comming cold of the bench than some cold scared NT rookie could.


Playoofs boxscores indicates most team plays 8-9 players at max in close game. Role 10-12th players is more for group games.

Elimination game comes coaches trusts top 7 players and plays 9 bodies.


That team will have more tallent in theory at 10-12th positions can help in like one group game somewhere but most games is won and lost by top 8 players.


2003 eurobaskets winners Gustas,Praskevicius,Salenga combined scored 0 pts in 3 playoofs games and barely played.It was all about top 8 players like it always is.

[Hepcat]

It seems to me that the Lithuanian team came out tight in the first half in front of their home crowd but once they got over their jitters and Coach Maksvytis made some adjustments at the half they pulled away from the Polish team. These were the stories of the game though:

1. Poland 14 turnovers to Lithuania's 4. Lithuania 12 points from turnovers: Poland 2.
2. Lithuania 13/33 from three point range; Poland 6/23..
3. Lithuania 46 points from the bench; Poland 14. That's very typical though for a Team Lietuva for which it's usually tough to pick an obvious starting five. Meanwhile Poland clearly has a very short bench.



But what's with this jeering of Coach Maksvytis in Vilnius? I'm sick and tired of all these yahoos in Vilnius and Kaunas being about nothing but their club favourites. When it comes to the national team, parochial loyalties need to be set aside.

[Straight forward]

Playoofs boxscores indicates most team plays 8-9 players at max in close game. Role 10-12th players is more for group games.

Elimination game comes coaches trusts top 7 players and plays 9 bodies.


That team will have more tallent in theory at 10-12th positions can help in like one group game somewhere but most games is won and lost by top 8 players.


2003 eurobaskets winners Gustas,Praskevicius,Salenga combined scored 0 pts in 3 playoofs games and barely played.It was all about top 8 players like it always is.

I talked about Dimsa, Normantas, Kariniauskas more in the perspective of WC 2023 where they all played meaningful roles. In that context those players simply were too weak.

Now with all pieces (if all will be available), we can get away with much better rotation. I have 9 players who would be locks in my book. Those 8 mentioned and D. Giedraitis because of his defense. The rest 3 is not so important, but always hate to see players who do not deserve to be there and are not NT material.

The best example is 2004 NT. There was no single complete trash on the team. The worst player was Vidas Ginevicius, but he was better player than such as Zemaitis/Kariniauskas. He could really play D, really solid D. He could shoot the ball. He played only 44 minutes in entire Olympics, but he shot the ball well in his minutes and played solid D.

All I know though that we will definitely use back up PG. It's unlikely that Maksvytis will throw Grigonis or some other SG at 1. It didn't seem his choice thus far. So my biggest concern is back-up PG. Kariniauskas is a nightmare, I won't even start (as well as Zemaitis). Lekavicius is declining. Dimsa and D. Giedraitis are not sufficient facilitators. It will be a problem. We need ready to go Marciulionis. IDK if he can help this summer already, but the fact is we need him badly. We need capable back-up PG. If Kariniauskas will make the team, I'm instantly depressed.

[Hepcat]

I will watch closely Dimsa,R.Giedraitis,Sirvydis,Normantas in this window games

Which of them will look the best being on same team.

Well it was Rokas Giedraitis who delivered the most in Thursday's game against Poland.

From that kvartet only Dimsa have experience playing PG position and will have some chances make team as backup PG.

I'm guessing that Coach Maksvytis will go with a dedicated PG as a second PG because he's been doing precisely that to this point. There are several seasoned candidates from which he can choose on the basis of their play this season.

[Shawshank]

Kariniauskas in 2023 helped NT more than most backups PG did in the past including 2003 Gustas.. Kariniauskas was good in 2 freaking games and not againts africa or assia but againts Greece and Usa. Me and you both were wrong,Karinaiuskas helped way more than anyone expected after all that hate he got.

Diffrence between us i accept i was wrong before tournament,you still singing same songs and ignoring 2 critical games where Karinaiuskas was not worse than main PG Jokubaitis was.

Kariniauskas 2023 version was better and clearly helped more than 2003 Gustas, 2007 Gustas,2008 Prekevicius 2009 Mazutis, 2014 Vasiliauskas,2015 Lekavicius,2016 Kariniauskas, 2022 Zemaitis. Talking about him like he was worst backup PG in NT ever have is ridiculous .


I disagree 10-12th players should be not who deserve on his individual performanes in clubs, but who fits best players and adds something new to them in those couple minutes.

if we are creating best team possible thats the way to go


If are creating some fantasy team of 12 most tallented offensive players and dont look do they fit or not . Sure we can go this way,but this is beginners level bulding team of sexy names,but not creating real mechanism and adding specific pieces to hide holes our best players have.


Im strongly against collecting fantasy team of sexy names. If is see that skillsets of D.Giedraitis,Dimsa,Maldunas,35old Kuzminskas at PF fits best players better im saying that.

[Hepcat]

I was surprised that Polish guys looked more physical and mentally better prepared for the game. Only short bench screwed them.

The Poles were bigger and stronger. It's a good thing indeed that they didn't have the bench to maintain their physical dominance over a forty minute stretch.

Starting 5 with Lekavicius, Dimsa, Giedraitis, Ulanovas, Geben looked toothless. Not a single guy who can brake the defence, to slash in hard or to create at the proper level. Ulanovas is the best player from this bunch and later he looked solidly, but it was really bleak view at the start when Polish dudes still had their stamina on.

It wasn't Edgaras Ulanovas but Rokas Giedraitis who was the best performer from that starting five against Poland though. Lukas Lekavičius was particularly ineffective.

Lekavicius is done. He doesn't have the same burst, explosiveness.

"Explosiveness"? What concerns me more was a starting PG dishing out only 1 assist with an EFF of 1 over 20:39 of playing time against Poland, particularly since his lack of height leaves him at a disadvantage on defence. He must do better against Estonia.

Marciulionis is a must. His creation, athleticism, physicality and defense is already at another level in comparison with declining Lekavicius.

Augustas Marčiulionis a "must"? Yeah, he's gone from two lousy seasons in the NCAA to a decent season this year. But that's hardly enough to earn a spot on the national team.

R. Giedraitis didn't show anything to make me optimistic. His body on a declining side more physicality wise (just as Ulanovas BTW). Both at the start of their decline. Giedraitis made some shots, but missed others badly. Can't treat him as consistent shooter or player. In the NT he has been beyond trash and I don't see how this changes much.

But he was better than Ulanovas and easily the best of a disappointing starting five.

Regarding Maksvytis, a win is a win. He's not Maksoliunas. He will do the job.

Just like Dainius Adomaitis, Coach Maksvytis has shown the ability to gather up whichever players are available from the recreational leagues and playgrounds of Lithuania to cruise through qualifying windows while almost every other European coach has struggled. The ability to mold a team from less than the best players says a lot about a coach right there.

But overall again he showed that as a NT coach he will never provide FULL PACKAGE. Even when we are sweeping the opponents, he shits his pants and glues Tubelis on the bench. TBH he deserved this treatment of the crowd, IMO. Why? Because he provided red flag cutting Sedekerskis in 2022 for trash like Zemaitis, Zukauskas, he laid a red carpet for trashy Kariniauskas in 2023 without any competition (and the dude gave zero shots against Serbia and something like -15 +/- for that matter). Maksvytis will never be a coach who utilizes the talent optimally, sets the tone long term, makes the moves that has to be made to make whole NT pyramid march forward optimally. He also said that Giedraitis is a top player in EL which is complete nonsense and he also said that Olisevicius "absolutely" deserves to play higher Eurocup/Euroleague which is also nonsense in terms of EL.

Nonsense! You've been spouting the same old horse-crap for at least the last seven years! You've consistently vilified every Lithuanian coach for passing over your favourite young darlings, darlings who I might add haven't shown their ready for the big time. E.g. You know full well that Tadas Sedekerskis showed up tentative and afraid of making mistakes at the national team camp in 2022 and thus unready for the team. Yet you still keep insisting that Maksvytis should have taken Sedekerskis. Cut out the retconning; cut the crap. .

We have a mediocre, provincial coach who will never ever be more than that. Zalgiris stretch was the highlight of his career. He will remain Eurocup level coach (at best) for the remaining of his career, IMO. It's about mentality a lot. Mentality wise he is not build for top tier BB as EL or LTU NT. He knows how to work with mediocre players as Olisevicius and Maldunas. He can make those better, but he will never know how to handle all talent pool and handle whole pyramid.

Unfortunately for your tired narrative, Osvaldas Olisevičius and Gabrielius Maldūnas were hardly mediocrities against Poland. They actually proved to be Lithuania's two best players. Yet you keep sneering at them regardless of their performance.

Why can't you judge players on the basis of their play instead of your preconceived notions of who's good?

[Straight forward]

Kariniauskas 2023 version was better and clearly helped more than 2003 Gustas, 2007 Gustas,2008 Prekevicius 2009 Mazutis, 2014 Vasiliauskas,2015 Lekavicius,2016 Kariniauskas, 2022 Zemaitis. Talking about him like he was worst backup PG in NT ever have is ridiculous .
.

You're making one crucial mistake. I will explain. I have no intention to disrespect what Kariniauskas did in WC 2023. He had very good game against USA and it was historical, even if meaningless tournament wise win (just as in 2004). He had some good performances here and there and was better than he looked in exhibition (where he looked more than pathetic). But you missing the point that 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 were tournaments when we were WINNING. It's all about that. You have to win. In basketball Lithuania should win. It's our NT sports and we put tons of money, effort and heart into this. Why I'm against Kariniauskas? Cause he can't bring wins. That game against USA was a fluke and horrible prove that USA doesn't prepare for the games. They didn't care who Kariniauskas is and he just went to his strong hand all day long, he happened to make his threes that day and here you go. That doesn't mean that Kariniauskas is a stud, you know He was trash against disciplined and prepared Serbia. They scout opponents. My point is, Kariniaskas can't bring what it's needed, what's it take to win. And that's the goal. Kariniauskas problem that he sucks defensively and offensively he's a ballhog and slow decision maker. He can't shoot and he can attack only smaller guards going to his left. If you know all that, it's easy to stop him and he screws many possessions with his slow ballhoging. Those couple of games are meaningless. Cause Greece was trash, they barely survived against second tier teams in WC, they were really weak and USA was badly coached. To me it's a question whenever a role player can give you something against real deal opponents in the knock out stage or not The way today's game increased in intensity, there's no way we can survive with one PG as we did with Saras (and Siska actually helped a lot as swiss knife player) or Kalnietis.

So I don't care if Kariniauskas provided here and there in WC, it was shitty team which didn't win anything. I want to see LTU NT winning again. And Kariniauskas ain't no helping do that. He can't. That's my point. Taking him again is meaningless waste. That's how it is. IDK if Lithuania has today a back up who can help in real deal games, but surely it's not Kariniauskas. We seen that 0 shots and -15 +/- against disciplined Euro powerhouse.

If you just want trash to run around and play around a bit here and there, you can have it, I want LTU NT winning. And, GOD, Kariniauskas and such has nothing to do with winning at high level

[Shawshank]

Not bakcups is deciding who wins or not


Teams who won medals its because top 7 players not because random bench guys or backup PG mad huge influence in that

NT 2023 didnt won medal not because Karinaiuskas or Bendzius sucked.They played their backups roles better than most of us expected


Our top 7 guys wasnt good enough compared to opponnets main 7 guys last 8 years thats the main reason NT didnt win anything.

But i have nothing against NT 2023 team those players overperform their tallent and gave joy and real hope for fans .

From 2017-2023 LTU NTs. Thats 2023 team gave me most joy watching them. Those players really fought hard and gave everything they had.Serbian mountain was just too strong.


NT 2019-2022 teams was way bigger dissapointments compared to their tallents and i got way less joy supporting them.

Wanna win LTU NT need to increase top 7 players levels is simple as that.Especially on perimeter. Stop wasting time talking about 9-12th end bench players that makes no diffrence in winning.


Germany won gold not because their 9-12th guys did something . Germany won because Schroder and Wagner was unstopable even for serbian defensive dogs.