2025 Lithuanian NT

[Straight forward]

Balciunas and Kleiza talk about the the focus should lean more towards "motivation" instead of "mastership". It could be preparing masses to the fact that some players may skip NT because Kurtinaitis coming and off course it depends what kind of players it is. But it also could be the idea to make NT younger, hungrier, as it happened in 2010. Off course, it's completely different context and all, but I just don't see the point of sticking to the same hierarchy. Previous hierarchy brought nothing for us. Zero. Tons of losses, that's it. The focus should shift on prevailing gen (Sabonis, Jokubaitis, Sedekerskis, Brazdeikis, Sirvydis) and upcoming gen (Buzelis, Rubstavicius, Marciulionis, Tubelis and such). I'm really tired watching over best mediocre players (Grigonis, Ulanovas, Butkevicius, Lekavicius, Kuzminskas). I'm absolutely OK with none of the latter tier being completely out of the NT. I'm totally OK. They could help, but that help is not sufficient. Some of them can be, I'm also OK with that, just saying that it's not necessary. Their participance doesn't guarantee us nothing as we know. Plain and simply nothing. It's more like it guarantees that we won't achieve anything actually, specially if they will be dragged to key roles. I'm OK with NT being younger and hungrier, but I won't be OK if Kurtinaitis will bring some kind of "Mazutis" and "Jomantas" or "Prekevicius" kinda stuff into NT. The key here will be the construction of the roster. Maksvytis failed with it from the start and it was pathetic Olympic cycle overall. It's important to start strong. If Kurtinaitis will be bringing Normantases, Echodases and Zemaitises, Maldunases like Maksvytis did we gonna be in trouble again. Kurtinaitis must makes some bold moves. Give the team to Jokubaitis, Buzelis, Brazdeikis, Sedekerskis, Sabonis if those are available. Keep upcoming pieces as Sirvydis, Marciulionis, Rubstavicius close and give them minutes. Make couple of cheeky moves like integrating Murauskas as a young player. Now that would be strong ambitions to create a real team.

If we will see Normantases I will know we are screwed again...

[Dreamcatcher]

DC, I'm not nazi cause I don't want to genocide anyone. I just think that blood thirty Russians, those who support Putin's regime should be stripped off the citizenships or right to live in democratic countries as Lithuania. Only those who are compatible with democracy and are not spreading any support to the blood spiling line can stay. I don't want to kill a single person, I want Russians to stay the fuck in their country with rare exceptions.

You don't need to genotize anyone to be nazi, because nazism isn't an act of genotizing. It's ideology. Attributing negative traits, such as being degenerates or having something wrong with their genes to an entire ethnic or national group, like Russians, aligns with key aspects of nazi ideology and is a form of ethnic essentialism and biological determinism. These ideas are not exclusively tied to physical acts of violence but are part of the belief system that underpinned nazi racial ideology. Wanting Russians to stay the in their country is one thing (not related to nazism), but what you wrote before is very close to nazi ideology.

Civil war in Ukraine started in 2014 on April. Since February 2022 it's the war between Ukraine and Russia.

[Hepcat]

Dude, you're so clueless all the time. Just stop being pathetic please. You have no idea what's happening in Ukraine ATM obviously and what Russians do to them. They are literally trying to destroy them, it's genocide. You obviously don't understand what it means not only for Ukraine, but Baltic States and Lithuania among them also.

Cut the fucking crap! You constantly leap to "conclusions" with nary a shred of evidence. For your information, I'm well aware of what's happening in Ukraine. And I despise the neo-Soviet KGBeast Vladimir Putin who's made no secret of his desire to reconstruct the Soviet empire which shipped my father's brother off to Siberia where he died. For the record I think Canada and the rest of NATO should arm the Ukrainians to the teeth to fight back against the Soviets. (Incidentally Canada has the second largest population of ethnic Ukrainians in the world after Ukraine.) So you can fucking stuff it. Bastard. God damn you to hell!

But the point here is you made one of your outrageous over-the-top statements about Lithuanian basketball:

Kazys maksvytis neutralized Jokubaitis and Sirvydis for the sake of giving everything to Grigonis.

Any "neutralizing" that was done was done by the players themselves. Check their play. And when someone (Dreamcatcher in this case) found your statement risible, you responded with this off-the-wall attack which could only lead to an off topic flame war:

Why do I smell Russian moron in you sometimes? Most of the times you're OK, but every now and then your ethos is like Russia's degenerates. Is that a coincidence?

Why? What the hell were you thinking? This is a thread to discuss Team Lietuva 2025. Why did you drag it into the dirt? Keep stuff like this off the board.

[Hepcat]

Balciunas and Kleiza talk about the the focus should lean more towards "motivation" instead of "mastership". It could be preparing masses to the fact that some players may skip NT because Kurtinaitis coming and off course it depends what kind of players it is. But it also could be the idea to make NT younger, hungrier, as it happened in 2010. Off course, it's completely different context and all, but I just don't see the point of sticking to the same hierarchy. Previous hierarchy brought nothing for us. Zero. Tons of losses, that's it. The focus should shift on prevailing gen (Sabonis, Jokubaitis, Sedekerskis, Brazdeikis, Sirvydis) and upcoming gen (Buzelis, Rubstavicius, Marciulionis, Tubelis and such). I'm really tired watching over best mediocre players (Grigonis, Ulanovas, Butkevicius, Lekavicius, Kuzminskas). I'm absolutely OK with none of the latter tier being completely out of the NT. I'm totally OK. They could help, but that help is not sufficient. Some of them can be, I'm also OK with that, just saying that it's not necessary. Their participance doesn't guarantee us nothing as we know. Plain and simply nothing. It's more like it guarantees that we won't achieve anything actually, specially if they will be dragged to key roles. I'm OK with NT being younger and hungrier, but I won't be OK if Kurtinaitis will bring some kind of "Mazutis" and "Jomantas" or "Prekevicius" kinda stuff into NT. The key here will be the construction of the roster. Maksvytis failed with it from the start and it was pathetic Olympic cycle overall. It's important to start strong. If Kurtinaitis will be bringing Normantases, Echodases and Zemaitises, Maldunases like Maksvytis did we gonna be in trouble again. Kurtinaitis must makes some bold moves. Give the team to Jokubaitis, Buzelis, Brazdeikis, Sedekerskis, Sabonis if those are available. Keep upcoming pieces as Sirvydis, Marciulionis, Rubstavicius close and give them minutes. Make couple of cheeky moves like integrating Murauskas as a young player. Now that would be strong ambitions to create a real team.

If we will see Normantases I will know we are screwed again...

The best players should be invited to the team. Period. Sedekerskis, Sirvydis, Buzelis, Rubštavičius, Marčiulionis, Tubelis and Murauskas should only be invited if and when they show themselves to be good enough. Whether they're good enough will be apparent from the numbers they put up in the upcoming season. And yes, I know that Sedekerskis, Sirvydis and Tubelis were on the team last summer. Unfortunately they sucked on the court and a couple of them may have been guilty of premature drinking and partying. That's not the kind of player that should be anywhere near Team Lietuva. Singleminded focus is necessary for victory these days. And that's probably why Mindaugas Balčiūnas and Linas Kleiza raised the topic of "motivation".

[Shawshank]

***coach neutralised Jokubaitis and Sirvydis*** ... haha only blind biased homer with zero objectivity can talk such nonsenses

Did NT coach neutralised Jokubaitis in Barcelona too for 3 years or dude simply was partying too much and lost competion to other euroleague guards?


Sirvydis missed every single long shot 0 from 11 and was total disaster in defence total

Im sorry if player missing every open 3pointer it means player didnt handled the pressure .Coaching staff created open looks for him.


Im almost sure that from 4 players who did drinking and younger player who broke the tv in that room activities included Sirvydis and Jokubaitis. Those 2 were seen in Palanga night club one day before training camp.

No suprise they both underperformed in 2024 summer after doing such activities at nights.


Dinosour expert litttle brain cant get how Grigonis was by far best player in 2024 and how Sirvydis could suck for 2 summers even more than R.Giedraitis did in previuos summers

[Straight forward]

You don't need to genotize anyone to be nazi, because nazism isn't an act of genotizing. It's ideology. Attributing negative traits, such as being degenerates or having something wrong with their genes to an entire ethnic or national group, like Russians, aligns with key aspects of nazi ideology and is a form of ethnic essentialism and biological determinism. These ideas are not exclusively tied to physical acts of violence but are part of the belief system that underpinned nazi racial ideology. Wanting Russians to stay the in their country is one thing (not related to nazism), but what you wrote before is very close to nazi ideology.

Civil war in Ukraine started in 2014 on April. Since February 2022 it's the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Nazism is not only about racial purity, but also about territorial expansion, power and militarism. I'm not claiming that Lithuanians have racial purity, let alone other things. So by no means I'm nazi. I'm against Russians cause most of them want expansion, want blood, want militarism. You lie to yourself and me if you deny that most, at very least many, Russians do have a big sentiment towards imperialistic vision. I even lived with some Russian once, and he was pretty good guy, but once he would bet angry - "we will sweep this fucking Europe apart", lol...

[Straight forward]

***coach neutralised Jokubaitis and Sirvydis*** ... haha only blind biased homer with zero objectivity can talk such nonsenses

Did NT coach neutralised Jokubaitis in Barcelona too for 3 years or dude simply was partying too much and lost competion to other euroleague guards?


Sirvydis missed every single long shot 0 from 11 and was total disaster in defence total

Im sorry if player missing every open 3pointer it means player didnt handled the pressure .Coaching staff created open looks for him.


Im almost sure that from 4 players who did drinking and younger player who broke the tv in that room activities included Sirvydis and Jokubaitis. Those 2 were seen in Palanga night club one day before training camp.

No suprise they both underperformed in 2024 summer after doing such activities at nights.


Dinosour expert litttle brain cant get how Grigonis was by far best player in 2024 and how Sirvydis could suck for 2 summers even more than R.Giedraitis did in previuos summers

Redneck, yes, Sirvydis screwed. But why not to give him a minute at least in the final when all players sucked (except Jokubaitis)?

But Maksvytis plan to put Grigonis at the middle with the ball was mistake. Big mistake. I knew we are done when I saw it. That's how Jokubaitis not even showed what he showed in 2023, let alone improvement. He wasn't in his best shape, so I understand Maksvytis partially, but still he overdid putting the whole game on Grigonis. Terrible times when such players are LTU BB leaders...

Grigonis is 6pts, 6eff in knock out stage whole his career in the NT...Enough said.

[Shawshank]

Dinoosur expert

Because Sirvydis was unplayable in first 3 games.He couldnt guard way slower opponents guards in first 3 games, how the hell he would guard super fast puerturico guards?

SIrvydis was worst our player in 2024 and usually worst 2-3 players isnt playing in elimination games. Tottaly normal desicion that what most coaches does.

Jokubaitis 2024 summer was by far worst. He played way better in 2022 and 2023

Sirvydis and Jokubaitis should stop partying in NT time would be a good start .


I dont care how young they are when they need to do athletic world class things body will let you know about night activities and we saw results of that biggest NT fiasco since 2011.

Not just because they sucked but with hiding and drinking in hotel room behind other player backs split NT players and there was no T-E-A-M in 2024 NT just random parts playing. We saw how other pissed NT player made sure media would get info about their night adventures.


Even Balciunas in recent interview asked why he hired Kurtinaitis. And he just smilled and said you understand well why...to question that Kazlauskas was very strict not a players coach and maybe that what NT need?

Balciunas knows all info after what happend in puerturico .... ltu spoiled players need a dictator that would use ussr type training on them and no more drinking on hotel room will happen.


After seeing that interview i finally found one real plus of Kurtinaitis as NT coach

[Straight forward]

Yeah, that's an argument, but Maksvytis couldn't lose anything and in one game Sirvydis was pretty effective with his cuts and shit even missing shots. He could try him for a minute or two and see if he's hot. We couldn't score a shit.

All this discipline thing is overrated. Maybe it will help, maybe not. It's about the talent more to me. If you won't have elite perimeter players, you won't win.

Jokubaitis was the best player in the key game though. That's important.

[Shawshank]

Yeah, that's an argument, but Maksvytis couldn't lose anything and in one game Sirvydis was pretty effective with his cuts and shit even missing shots. He could try him for a minute or two and see if he's hot. We couldn't score a shit.

All this discipline thing is overrated. Maybe it will help, maybe not. It's about the talent more to me. If you won't have elite perimeter players, you won't win.

Jokubaitis was the best player in the key game though. That's important.

Coaches wont risk in elimination game maybe finally Sirvydis is in playing shape or still feeling effect of night activities. He had 3 game to show,he sucked in all 3 games.Normal coach desicion went with players who was in better playing shape.

If players will drink in hotel room team can lose to Poland even having Doncic and Dragic on team

If drinking is happening in tournament no tallent will help you


After what happen in Puerturico and clearly more younger players will come in 2025 NT need more demanding coach and people to control those students age players. NT had like 8 assist coaches they surely could help in keeping discipline.

Those young player without wifes and families still can do student like stupidities and somebody have to watch them.

Hopefully this lesson was learned in 2024.

[Shawshank]

After seeing what player Pao signed i thought Grigonis can become like Brazdeikis 5min player in Olympiakos

But at start of the season suprising he is not just playing but is one the better players in loaded Pao roster

19pts in game where like 10 europe all stars played in greek derby final


Still the best lithuanian guard.

It will suck for NT loosing best perimeter player prematurely at 30 age but he is clearly sending such signs since 2023.

[Straight forward]

Not when EL season starts. He can be very valuable 15mpg role player for champs team, but not more. In playoffs he played only 13mpg and in his last 3 games only around 10mpg.

NT on the other hand, never got anything big from him, aside the group stages. And our goal is to win big games, not group games. The sooner Grigonis will be not even close to be the best guard, the closer we will be to win something. That's the only path. With Grigonis 2016-2024 we didn't stand a chance in the big boys games. And that's not his fault. It's just sad that we became so weak that we push average EL players to be NT leaders.

It's really sad when we discuss Grigonis when it comes to our serious NT business.

[Dreamcatcher]

If Grigonis ends in NT it's smth similar to Siskauskas except that Ramunas was much better player of course (but he also was bad at the lost playoff game). On the other hand: both EL champs, the best Lith player in EL (there was Saras of course, but Siska had a huge season in CSKA averaging 14 pts - the best player in the best team), almost the same age (Siska was 1 month to his 30). But the most interesting similarity is a disappointing NT performance. At that time 4th place in Olympics was disappointing. Compare it with what is now.

[Shawshank]

Yes its sad thats very average perimeter will become even weaker in 2025


Its sad not because of Grigonis of this entire generation of players . All of them failed to win anything with NT. Atleast Grigonis was one brighter ltu star that didnt lose himself swimming in bigger euroleague waters.

Brazdeikis or Jokubaitis tried in big clubs and lost competion and went to weaker level euroleague teams.

Grigonis atleast manages to be somewhere in middle in elite levels.


Bnews ranked 30 best euroleague players. You know how manny lithuanians are in that list? 0...

Not just elite opponnets brings 5-6 nba players they also have better euroleague players.


That all we need to know why NT loosing again and again and will lose again in 2025

[Straight forward]

If Grigonis ends in NT it's smth similar to Siskauskas except that Ramunas was much better player of course (but he also was bad at the lost playoff game). On the other hand: both EL champs, the best Lith player in EL (there was Saras of course, but Siska had a huge season in CSKA averaging 14 pts - the best player in the best team), almost the same age (Siska was 1 month to his 30). But the most interesting similarity is a disappointing NT performance. At that time 4th place in Olympics was disappointing. Compare it with what is now.

Please, let's not compare Grigonis with Siskauskas I won't even start here...

SS, you maybe will miss Grigonis 8pts vs Spain 2022 and 7pts vs Puerto Rico. I won't. It's literally impossible to have worse backcourt than a backcourt where Grigonis is a star Even if Jokubaitis, Buzelis, Sirvydis, Brazdeikis development this summer will be mild, we still will have more competitive guys for a knock out stage than Grigonis. Keep ignoring the fact that he choked in all 6 tournaments (knock out stage) that he played with the NT.

The only way for the NT to move forward is to strictly make Grigonis who he is - role player.

Jokubaitis, Sedekerskis, Brazdeikis and maybe even Sirvydis will have strong EL seasons. Buzelis will have a solid NBA debut season, IMO. There's literally no chance that we would look so crappy as we looked in 2024 against Puerto Rico. Zero change, IMO.