2024 Lithuanian NT

[Hepcat]

im sure dovydas giedraitis woud've been useless this game, dimsa and lekavicius are doing a great job defending these puerto rico guards.

Yes, Dovydas Giedraitis would have been completely useless. What good would a defensive specialist do on a day when the team scores a paltry 68 points shooting only 6/28 from three point range? The Lithuanian players simply couldn't shoot on a day when Puerto Rico was clogging up the paint thus allowing Lithuania to shoot from long range.

[zalias]

Yes, Dovydas Giedraitis would have been completely useless. What good would a defensive specialist do on a day when the team scores a paltry 68 points shooting only 6/28 from three point range? The Lithuanian players simply couldn't shoot on a day when Puerto Rico was clogging up the paint thus allowing Lithuania to shoot from long range.

true, that role is reserved to butkevicius, a guy who has been a complete negative on the court since 2022/23 season ended

[Hepcat]

Arnas Butkevičius is a forward though. The defensive specialist guard position was actually reserved for Tomas Dimša. If you check the numbers, Dimša's +/- was 0 despite taking no shots and thus scoring no points to help his own +/- stat. Lithuania's problem was therefore not in the defensive SG slot. But ultimately if you're looking for any defensive specialist on a day where Team Lietuva's real problem was scoring, you're barking up the wrong tree.

What bewilders me though is why Ąžuolas Tubelis got only 0:27 of court time when Tadas Sedekerskis got 12:52 on the floor on a day when Sedekerskis was a real disaster with a PER of 0 and a +/- of an absolutely ugly -20.

Ultimately though Team Lietuva really missed Jonas Valančiūnas and his production down low on a day when nobody could shoot the three. Valančiūnas would typically deliver noticeably more than the 10 points and 9 rebounds in the 26:53 minutes Domantas Sabonis played.

[Svajunas]

Maksvytis has to go. No question here.

SF was right, saying that Grigonis shouldn't be the primary playmaker.
As soon as I saw that PR was trapping Grigonis I knew we were in trouble. Maksvytis however, never adjusted during the game. Each attack they trapp grigonis , time runs for 6 second and offence stops.

This is sad really.
Sabonis, Jokubaitis both dissappointed the most. Since both of them should have been the primary players.
However I put this on coach.

[zalias]

awful coaching by maksvytis this game. how do you watch butkevicius/ulanovas miss shot after shot and make 0 adjustments all game?

kuzminskas said it the best, lithuania is simply awful in high stake games and its been the case for nearly a decade now. hopefully 10 years without medals and 8 years without olympics brings some change.

[Shawshank]

Again opponnets killed us by perimeter skilled players and our backourt couldnt deliver. NT lost that game

Alvarado+Waters+Howard= 53pts of 79

Jokubaitis+Grigonis+Lekavicius= 31pts of 68


Puerturco double teammed Sabonis and Grigonis and game plan was: others will need to score and they couldnt make shots in that hostile 15k arena


Players Kuz and Grigonis themselfs said we can change coaches every year,but at some point NT players have look at mirrow too. Coaches wont make stops,wont make wide open shots and wont show character for players.

Making just 1 top 8 in 8 years,its clearly not just coaching and there is bigger problems in ltu basketball.


All those talks that NT cant win because of Valanciunas slow game was myth. NT cant win because of weak perimeter players


68pts vs pesky Serbia defence, 68pts vs pesky puerturico defence 2games that LTU lost without a chance to win. Our perimeter couldnt create advantage 1 vs 1 and our offence was in stuck and desperation mode


Its sad reality of todays Lithuania basketball. We can emotionally blame coaches or nba centers but main problem is not there.

[Svajunas]

To be fair when Sabonis switched on those small guards he was quite ok this game. He even forced 1 or 2 turnovers which led to fast break points.
JV can't switch.

Yes the problem is weak guard line, but so is bad pnr defence with JV.
We lost yesterday not because of bad defence, but because of bad offence.
It was surprise for head coach, he said it himself, that they double teamed Grigonis. Even posters on this forum said that the offence will stop, when they will trap Grigonis.
What is a surprise for head coach, was visible for some here.
Say what ever you want to, but we have been out coached. Period.

Hopefully guards like Jakucionis, Indrusaitis and Rubstavicius will bring that slashing ability in the future.

I would have tried Sirvydis at least for 4-5 mins, to see if he can finaly hit the 3s. That in theory could have turned things around.

[zalias]

obviously coaching is far from the biggest issue in lithuanian basketball. not having any high level perimeter players has been a problem since 2010 but it doesn't seem like lkf is bothered by it. why try to make any changes or improvements when america is developing your players for you and all you need to do is fly to US once a year and beg for young players to play for lithuania if they are any good

[Straight forward]

Heart braking loss. This one hit even harder than the loss against Slovenia. That Slovenia had by far the best offense in entire qualification, not only Kaunas. This was a streaky PR without any world class talent and we didn't match their physicality, lust for win and motor. It wasn't just their shooting, they were at another level physically, in terms of effort, hustle and lust to win.

Maksvytis made many mistakes. Deadly mistake was let go D. Giedraitis ("I take Dimsa, that's my decision"). I knew it was a recipe for disaster already. Later I warned you further. I saw very clearly that Maskvytis screwed it with the game plan. He isolated Sabonis and Jokubaitis and merely a shooter Grigonis was pushed to the center of action. I knew he would chuck us up for another loss. Exactly the same numbers in both qualifications of Olympics (vs Slovenia and Puerto Rico), 3/11 (27.3%). I saw it clearly he can't drive, he can't create, he can't do nothing. He's not the guy who can brake the perimeter defense when we speak about serious defense and pressure. We actually lucky that he delivered against IC, cause the D was there already, but there was less pressure. Marius is just a role player, be it PAO or NT. If you push him beyond his natural self, you will suffer and pay. NT has been suffering because of that. He choked in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024.

The only guy on this team in perimeter who can play against real D and pressure is Jokubaitis and he showed it. My biggest problem with Maskvytis in his game that he sit down Jokubaitis with 32min to go, while we badly needed him on the court and only with him the ball was moving and he was able to get inside and create for himself and others. It was first moment when we started to trail, but he kept Jokubaitis on the the bench for 5 minutes. He came back at the middle of 3rd quarter and gave quality 4 minutes, NT started to look better, but after first turnover in the offense Maksvytis takes him off again and plays Lekavicius. It's just surreal. In all those stretches when Jokubaitis was sitting, Grigonis and others would just knead the ball and nothing was working, but Maksvytis kept doing this. Insanity. Jokubaitis had to play 30 minutes in this game. Maksvytis totally screwed again. The only positive from all this is that Maksvytis is gone. The worst that it could happen for Lithuanian basketball is that he would screw another Olympic basketball. Kazys is the worst coach ever to coach NT, the worst Olympic cycle ever. Tons of mistakes of roster selection, ignoring talent, plenty of deadly mistakes preparing game plan (or not preparing like Girgonis hint that they didn't prepare for the trap D). No thank you and see you never Kazys Maksvytis. It is the stretch that I as NT fan want to forget. Thank you only for getting the fuck off from Lithuanian basketball and not disrupting the progress of NT anymore.

Off course, it's not only on Maskvytis and not only tactics was crap. I equally disappointed that we lost physical and mental battle. We used to be famous for special mobilization and special lust to win and special hustle. We don't have it any more. Let's face it. We still are disciplined and coherent, but we lost the sparkle in terms of nerve and special effort and hustle. We lack guts, we lack physical fighting spirit. Players missing open shots are just inexcusable. There's no character, there's no EGO, there's no pride. We lack true LEADERS who could carry the flag.

Now will we have those leaders in near future? I think that Jokubaitis is a first proper piece for serious basketball ever since some let's say Kalnietis and he can even be better than Kalnietis. His season was disappointing and aside this game against PR he was also disappointing in qualification. He has to look at the mirror and understand that he became sleepy for 2 years now. He has to wake up and work harder. I think we have the situation when Jokubaitis is more talented than Kalnietis, but is not as natural leader as Kalnietis. I see Jokubaitis as an elite EL piece in his prime, but I don't think he's ultimate leader. I see him like one of perimeter leaders, but that's it. Nevertheless exactly from that kind of breed (at least) we have to build our identity again. I was begging for Jokubaitis brake out cause that's the only way we could lift our level. Building around Grigonis was total red flag and recipe for disaster. And we have a disaster.

Now good news. Lithuanian basketball is in good hands. We have pieces that will brake everything down (bad coaching, lack of talent, lack of character). Those names are 2. First and for most: Kasparas Jakucionis. Second, Matas Buzelis. Thirdly: Nojus Indrusaitis. These three names will be enough to claim back elite level of NT. We will be as good as we were in 1992-2008, it will be the same tier NT with these three names and complimented with very nice Euro elite pieces like Jokubaitis, Rubstavicius, Sirvydis. I'm telling you very straight, it's not speculation. Jakucionis as a lead guard is the guy that we didn't have for a very very long time. Like it's there NOW. There's no "ifs" around him, there's no "when" around him, he's already great. Even today he could be in the NT. I'm not joking. He very likely would be better today in the NT than Matas Buzelis (who is more about the upside, but also will be a beast). To me it's simple - you have to have those pieces that will lift you or you won't achieve it. Luckily we have it. With Grigonis and Lekavicius as the main guards we didn't win anything. I admit that SS was right saying that after Kalnietis/Seibutis the worse guards will come. You were right on this one. Grigonis/Lekavicius came and that was worse. But luckily next guards gen is absolutely at another level, like it's radical shift. We have those pieces and it's coming. My projection is that Jakucionis could fight for the spot in the NT already next year being 19yo. He's that good. Whenever NT will go for it, it's another question, but we have world class player in him, we have world class player in Buzelis, we have nearly world class player in Indursaitis, and tons of Euro elite talent as Jokubaitis, Rubstavicius, Sirvydis, Brazdeikis, Lelevicius, Murauskas and so on. This is total plot twist for Lithuania. Learn this name: Kasparas Jakucionis. He has Marciulionis, Jasikevicius, Macijauskas and whatever you want in him. Lithuanian basketball is about him literally. I'm not exaggerating, he will literally determined our capabilities and chances. Only with such player we can achieve something. So start measure LTU basketball temperature through Kasparas lens. Our BB is in his hands (and Buzelis). Only such level player can truly carry NT at contemporary basketball. Learn it, understand it, preach it.

[Toruko]

Now good news. Lithuanian basketball is in good hands. We have pieces that will brake everything down (bad coaching, lack of talent, lack of character). Those names are 2. First and for most: Kasparas Jakucionis. Second, Matas Buzelis. Thirdly: Nojus Indrusaitis. These three names will be enough to claim back elite level of NT

The only certainty is that youll get more talent. Its also really difficult not to get more talented player than now. First its too early to praise them to heavens, second you use the word "elite" too carelessly.

[Straight forward]

The only certainty is that youll get more talent. Its also really difficult not to get more talented player than now. First its too early to praise them to heavens, second you use the word "elite" too carelessly.

Regarding Jakucionis, it's not too early. Very strong opinion. He's there.

[Saip]

It's funny to read about the future when basketball is played now i mean now. Next year, not yet another year. Over the years, I have matured and I care less and less about basketball and sport in general and the shameful defeats of the Lithuanian national team mean less and less to me, as i have grown a thicker skin. That and this defeat mean nothing at all.

[Toruko]

Regarding Jakucionis, it's not too early. Very strong opinion. He's there.

He has shown nothing rn. Let him play in the pro fields then we can see if hes really elite.

[Straight forward]

He has shown nothing rn. Let him play in the pro fields then we can see if hes really elite.

Oh, he's there man. In his case there's zero doubt he'll be good at PRO. He's dropping something like 12pts in 4 minutes in ACB/EL as a PRO. Seriously he filled all the bars be it EL ANGT/BWB/Nike Hoop Summit, NT, whatever. He looks amazing in Illinous practices and people talking like he might be the best player there from day one. And next him are other first round prospects as Will Riley. Off course, you never know with NCAA, but in his case I think he will be killing it. He'll be huge with U18 this summer.

I'm not exaggerating LTU BB is in his hands. He's that good.

[Toruko]

Oh, he's there man. In his case there's zero doubt he'll be good at PRO. He's dropping something like 12pts in 4 minutes in ACB/EL as a PRO. Seriously he filled all the bars be it EL ANGT/BWB/Nike Hoop Summit, NT, whatever. He looks amazing in Illinous practices and people talking like he might be the best player there from day one. And next him are other first round prospects as Will Riley. Off course, you never know with NCAA, but in his case I think he will be killing it. He'll be huge with U18 this summer.

I'm not exaggerating LTU BB is in his hands. He's that good.

I know that he is your best prospect. Its not difficult too see whats obvious. I have some issues with your wording. You use the word "elite" too easily. I dont deny he is a solid prospect but he has to show it. I will watch him closely at the U18 tournament. ANGT etc. means not much.