2025 Lithuanian NT

[Straight forward]

I dont think Pacesas is hired just to check if everybody in beds before 23:00 or wake up them like in army at 6:00

That's the only thing he does well. He also may walk around with alcotester as he did in Rytas too...

[Shawshank]

Tomas Pacesas jr. can become real candidate for window games according to fans commentaries

[Straight forward]

I'm still shocked that freakin' thug Pacesas will be discussing with Kurtinaitis about NT roster of window...Holly cow. You know it says a lot about Kurtinaitis in the first place that he made this move. He always was a nut case if you ask me. Never completely reliable person. I'm deeply sad and mad how NT was made into a slut in recent years...Complete mess. Balciunas has to go. Enough is enough. I had some credit for him, but now it's completely run over.

[Straight forward]

So Kleiza takes the job and I generally treat this positively, there's no other way around. He's the only really good thing in current NT staff, let's say. He's true winner, he's respected, he preaches the right thing, he won't afraid to say his opinion to Kurtinaitis I believe. Yet I didn't particularly liked press conf. I though he had to be more open, more empowering and inspiring. Instead he tried to be politically correct and so on. I missed more expressed vision on NT, he didn't really expressed his vision. He said that NT will be younger to certain extent, but no so much, and also he kinda asked what established or vet players will bring this time and according to him it's about their attitude (which I think is complete bullshit, they simply are that level players and they can't give more, just live with that) and I kinda sensed Pacesas' attitude on this one. OK, I understand, he doesn't want to cut all ties with established older players and so on, there should be certain balance, but it's contradiction - we don't win for 10 years, but we still asking the same losers to win LOL, just realize they can't do it. Who from current guys (+26yo) can lead Lithuania? No-one, we seen that plenty of times, in several various tournament and that's not gonna change. This is it. Suddenly Grigonis and Ulanovas will turn into some kind of stars, true carriers? No, it's not gonna happen Move on. So I was surprised how Kleiza was preaching nonsense with serious face and talked very reservedly about making NT younger. It tells me a lot how Kleiza adjusted to Kurtinaitis and Pacesas attitude instantly and that's sad. I'm not against taking the best, but this process should be very strict. When Pacesas is taking about Paliukenas and Beliauskas, it's not funny. I expected Kleiza to be the djude who wouild come and say to Kurtinaitis openly "what the hell are you doing? Are you nuts?" To be some kind medium between head coach and players. That he would guarantee certain balance and PRO attitude which our coaches lack so much, but it doesn't seem Kleiza can do that much. Time will tell how things will develop, but my intuition says this coaching staff will screw things for us a lot. With Kleiza coming I'm a bit more optimistic, I think he wouldn't support complete madness I would expect, but still how Kleiza presented himself was disappointing.

[Shawshank]

Dinosour expert so what you want from Kleiza ?

I agree with Kleiza yes new blood after olympic must be brought,but not by force naturally it should happen. Like Sirvydis or D.Giedraitis by their play on high quality euroleague will get those places and minutes naturally. Like Sedekerskis got too few summers ago by his play in euroleague.


Just retire by force all 7 veteran players still who plays on highest quality in 2024/2025 ale Grigonis,Valanciunas,Ulanovas,Butkevicius,Lekavici us,Dmo,R.Giedraitis and change them with players from clearly lower levels ? like uleb,ncaa,lkl? thats your plan?


Jokubaitis,Sedekerskis,Sabonis,Sirvydis,Brazdeikis they also lost multiple times already in fiba.So they are also loosers? so lets replace them too?


I see only 2 Buzelis nba and D.Giedraitis from euroleague that wasnt already tested in 2023-2024.All other our todays euroleague and nba players already played in fiba and results was the same.



More less i agree with Kleiza NT is not club were federation can release 70% of roster and bring other 70% players from same highest levels in one summer.

From those 7 veterans i named i have no problem 3-4 will retire after 2024 ,but still NT will need 3-4 veterans to comeback for 2025.Because we dont have so manny players from euroleague/nba to replace them already in 2025.

by 2027 it will happen naturally and my guess only one Valanciunas still will be around NT in 2027-2028 from 1992-1994 born players like Kuzminskas was only one from 1980s born players last olympic cycle.


Dont see logic cutting 70% of roster in 2025 when 2026 will be free summer and younger players will have 2 full years to become euroleague/nba calibre players and naturally take their places in 2027.

[Shawshank]

My projected roster for 2025


Jokubaitis,D.Giedraitis

Grigonis,Sirvydis,Normantas

Brazdeikis,Radzevicius

Sedekerskis,Buzelis

Sabonis,Valanciunas,Tubelis



Good mix of youth and experience

I can see around 9 players who could play in 2028 olympic summer from this roster

[Straight forward]

Dinosour expert so what you want from Kleiza ?

I agree with Kleiza yes new blood after olympic must be brought,but not by force naturally it should happen. Like Sirvydis or D.Giedraitis by their play on high quality euroleague will get those places and minutes naturally. Like Sedekerskis got too few summers ago by his play in euroleague.


Just retire by force all 7 veteran players still who plays on highest quality in 2024/2025 ale Grigonis,Valanciunas,Ulanovas,Butkevicius,Lekavici us,Dmo,R.Giedraitis and change them with players from clearly lower levels ? like uleb,ncaa,lkl? thats your plan?


Jokubaitis,Sedekerskis,Sabonis,Sirvydis,Brazdeikis they also lost multiple times already in fiba.So they are also loosers? so lets replace them too?


I see only 2 Buzelis nba and D.Giedraitis from euroleague that wasnt already tested in 2023-2024.All other our todays euroleague and nba players already played in fiba and results was the same.



More less i agree with Kleiza NT is not club were federation can release 70% of roster and bring other 70% players from same highest levels in one summer.

From those 7 veterans i named i have no problem 3-4 will retire after 2024 ,but still NT will need 3-4 veterans to comeback for 2025.Because we dont have so manny players from euroleague/nba to replace them already in 2025.

by 2027 it will happen naturally and my guess only one Valanciunas still will be around NT in 2027-2028 from 1992-1994 born players like Kuzminskas was only one from 1980s born players last olympic cycle.


Dont see logic cutting 70% of roster in 2025 when 2026 will be free summer and younger players will have 2 full years to become euroleague/nba calibre players and naturally take their places in 2027.

Kleiza could say more openly - we need FUCKING CHANGES. Instead he just talk some kind of meh average political correct bullshit as any softy in this situation would do. Expected more guts.

Sirvydis and Dovis are not young players Dudes will be 25yo this summer.

I'm all fine with letting go Grigonis. Why should I bother to much about the guy who chokes 8 times in a row in the knock out stage? Whenever he's in or out, I'm indifferent.

Sabonis to me is not very much vet. By age and how much he played previously he obviously is, but to me he is still searching for his identity in the NT and didn't play a single good tournament, and I think with his fitness he will be high level player till 35. Not like JV who started decline with 32 or so years. So guys that you mention didn't screw much. You miss the point that Jokubaitis and Iggy have been playing well in the knock out stage. Sedekerskis was meh this summer, but he was the best player of LTU against USA and Serbia in WC 2023, strongest teams we faced. Sirvuha so far screwed, but it's OK to struggle at first. If he will choke in 2025 it will be a tendency already though. So, no these guys are not losers except maybe Sabonis, but it's not like we can cut Sabonis right? That would be insanity.

JV is even now looks much rose defensively than he looked 2 years ago. I believe he might be unplayable in 2027. It will be hard to have him, specially when we have such prospects as Krivas. But we'll see.

Your roster is OK, but Marciulinis is a must. People don't get it that Marciulionis is 6-7 times better point guard than Giedraitis. I mean it's not even comparible. Dovis is great, but he ain't Marciulionis. He can pass the shit of you and truly run the team. So it's funny to me how people push Giedraitis like he can run the team O love him, but it's not his job. He can't do it. Dovis is 2, maybe he can play 1 some 5 minutes, but that's it. Marciuluonis is a must and crazy thing is KJ already might be better. I follow Illini films (watched one today) and all what I can find on net and Jakucionis' passing is super effortless and flawless. Really dominant. I believe he will be the best ball mover of all time. Better than Rooney, Jasikevicius. With all seriousness, he will be more dominant facilitator that Jasikevicius. I expect Jakucionis to be big stud right from the start in NCAA and leaving after one year for NBA flat out. He looks exactly like this piece now.

And Normantas...I have very mixed feelings about. Not that I hate him, but to me it's feels like wasted spot.

[Toruko]

My projected roster for 2025


Jokubaitis,D.Giedraitis

Grigonis,Sirvydis,Normantas

Brazdeikis,Radzevicius

Sedekerskis,Buzelis

Sabonis,Valanciunas,Tubelis



Good mix of youth and experience

I can see around 9 players who could play in 2028 olympic summer from this roster

Looks like a pretty weak roster. This would be the weakest roster of a LTU NT that I can remember of.

[Straight forward]

Looks like a pretty weak roster. This would be the weakest roster of a LTU NT that I can remember of.

LOL, no. Why?

[Toruko]

LOL, no. Why?

I really dont know where to start tbh. JV looks like a prestage of Boban Marjanovic. He cant move a bit. Sabonis is also "not a great defender" and when I look at the potential back court with Jokubaitis and Grigonis I dont really see how LTU could defend even mid level teams. Scoring wise your best option would be Grigonis or Brazdeikis. Brazdeikis failed in Greece and Grigonis is the third option in Athens.

I would say you need an upgrade of quality especially for your back court.

[Straight forward]

I really dont know where to start tbh. JV looks like a prestage of Boban Marjanovic. He cant move a bit. Sabonis is also "not a great defender" and when I look at the potential back court with Jokubaitis and Grigonis I dont really see how LTU could defend even mid level teams. Scoring wise your best option would be Grigonis or Brazdeikis. Brazdeikis failed in Greece and Grigonis is the third option in Athens.

I would say you need an upgrade of quality especially for your back court.

That's super artificial take. But it's OK for Turkish, the outside observer.

JV declined, but Sabas has a chance to shine. Will he, it's another question. Bet I don't see much decline at C when Domas reached ALL NBA level, while previously was just ALL STAR.

Jokubaitis will be much better than 2022, at least he already was in 2023. Grigonis whateever...he was irrelevant in all knock out stage games so far, so basically not impactful player at all. If he will struggle it will be status quo. But you overlook that Sirvydis and D.Giedraitis are already better players than Brazdeikis, or at least not worse (cause Iggy will look better in second phase of season than he looks now). You also overlook that some 2022 EB team didn't have such athletic tough forward as Sedekerskis who is efficiency freak and if Buzelis comes (seems so) we will have athletic edge that we didn't have for a long years. Matas won't be big factor yet, but still nice piece for rotation.

Marciulionius not mentioned here, but if he added instead of Lekavicius, he is upgrade. He's tough, athletic for Euro standards and can knife the air with his passes and he can get to the basket for buckets. Knowing his size and defensive presence, surely improvement compared to Lekavicius. Speaking about slight improvements, Radzevicius can score buckets compared to Butkevicius.

Maybe one could miss Kuzminksas scoring tough maybe, but that should come from guys as Sirvydis, Buzelis and even Sedekerskis, Radzevicius.

So I don't see any declines. Actually if some Jokubaitis wakes up, it's can be RADICALLY stronger team. Not radically in terms of becoming A tier team internationally (not yet, it should happen when such pieces as KJ, Indrusaitis, Buzelis, Murauskas will be READY), but there's no doubt the team on strong growing path.

[Toruko]

V declined, but Sabas has a chance to shine. Will he, it's another question. Bet I don't see much decline at C when Domas reached ALL NBA level, while previously was just ALL STAR.

I have watched Sabonis enough and he couldnt deliver in any of those tournaments. Either he does not work or his father forces him to come and play. So I dont see Sabonis to be a force in FIBA competitions.

Jokubaitis will be much better than 2022, at least he already was in 2023. Grigonis whateever...he was irrelevant in all knock out stage games so far, so basically not impactful player at all.

"much better" is definitely an exaggeration. He is a 10-15 minutes player in a borderline playoff EL team. After Saben Lee even this is questionable. I might be an outsider and you guys know surely more than me but I wont praise anything before I see definite improvements.

But you overlook that Sirvydis and D.Giedraitis are already better players than Brazdeikis, or at least not worse (cause Iggy will look better in second phase of season than he looks now).

Giedraitis is surely a good defender but doesnt offer much more so it is a trade-off again.

You also overlook that some 2022 EB team didn't have such athletic tough forward as Sedekerskis who is efficiency freak and if Buzelis comes (seems so) we will have athletic edge that we didn't have for a long years. Matas won't be big factor yet, but still nice piece for rotation.

Your main force was all the time JV and I expect him to be in decline and he weights more than anything else or anyone else you mentioned above.

[Straight forward]

2025 will have the same problem as ever since 2017. We will be lacking true leader, true go to guy, true lead figure. In 2015 and 2016 it was still prime Kalnietis. After this all collapsed. JV as a center can't be true leader unless it's some kind of Pau, but he never was even close. So can't Sabonis, I agree, but he can still have some very impactful (yet not leader's) performances. Grigonis tried and always faild. So we don't have leaders and it seems that this will only be solved with KJ and Buzelis. BTW I trust KJ much more. I believe he will be huge and his path to becoming great will be much smoother and quicker than Buzelis, IMO.

In 2025 I hope more confident and better shaped Jokubaitis to lead the team, but unfortunately he hasn't been developing so amazingly after first Barca's season. So, no, we won't have true answers for leader's positions and that remains main problem of our NT. Buzelis will still be too raw for it. KJ most likely will spend his summer in Summer League and wouldn't yet be that good to lead anyway. When Siska and Jasikevicius stepped down as lead players of NT in 2008, after 2 years we had leading piece Kleiza in 2010. After 2016 this continuity stopped and we never found the leading pieces. It seems that we will be looking for this exactly one decade. I expect both Buzelis and KJ to be at another level compared to others in 2027 already. Even if KJ will be only 21yo. I think he will be already a baller at that time. He's that good.

[Shawshank]

It not given Lithuania NT will have a world class leader not just for 2025 even for entire cycle 2025-2028

I dont see who will be euroleague star in his peak years in next few years from lithuanians is way more chances neither will be

Lithuania dont have euroleague star since 2012...its already 12 years..Its not given at all that suddenly ltu will have in next 2 years...


Buzelis and Jakucionis will be clearly too young in 2025-2028 to be leaders its simply not their winning cycle looking at their age

Their real mature players years will start only from 2029 if they will become great players and even thats with big IF...



Not suprising that for foreigner like Toruko LTU NT rosters looks very meh compared what elite NT rosters have in 2020s fiba ... and thats without knowing our new army type coaching staff

[Straight forward]

The timing is off course not very handy, in the perfect world we would love KJ and Buzelis being at least +24yo in 2027-2028 stretch as WC and OG will be culmination of whole Olympic cycle. But Buzelis will be 24yo in Olympics and that's old enough if you're really good. Again, if both will be legitimate NBA players, we can look at some examples like Schroder who was 21ppg and efficient one (18,6eff) as 22yo. Teodosic as 22yo in EB with 14.1ppg and 15.9eff. And well we shouldn't look too far as Franz Wagner was putting 16,8ppg as 22yo. There's even more examples when future FIBA stars at this age are still not there as Parker, Dragic, Mills and so on. But we can remember our Macijauskas, as 23yo he was the best scorer in super stacked and talented Lithuania. I bet he could be among the leaders as 22yo also. Yeah, it's tricky, but at least we will have true talents, those dudes who can be leaders and have that level of talent, and we won't try to squeeze the shit of mediocre players as we recently been doing.

Another moment, NT will have such players as Jokubaitis, Sirvydis in their prime. Super impressive roster, cause not only Buzelis will be 24yo in Olympics, but also Murauskas, one of the most versatile and ISO gifted forwards we witnessed in long years. So you have prime Jokubaitis, Sirvydis (and some others like D. Giedraitis), you have 24yo studs Buzelis, Murauskas, upcoming and already good prodigy guard Jakucionis, great bigs as Sabonis, Krivas, Tubelis...That might be good enough to compete with the best. Off course, It also may be still an issue of super dominant leader, true world class material, but if Buzelis won't be panning out at that time, he probably never will. I agree that we can't ask miracles from 21-22yo KJ, even though I expect him to be the best guard of ours by that time nevertheless, but 24yo Buzelis should be legit and ready to go if he's good.

The timing is tricky, but there definitely will be huge growth of the NT and at least that should be satisfactory. That LTU may need super big things from both KJ and Buzelis (and that's coming only when both will be +24 mos likely) to realistically fight for medals with big teams is another topic. At least 2027 and 2028 should be fun to watch and witness how NT is becoming stronger and stronger cause 2024 was one big joke, my god...we never been more pathetic. Average EL dude chucking and being our leader :I We will never be in such situation ever again and I'm 100% sure about it. Maksvytis Olympic team was old time most pathetic, he also handled it in most horrific way possible, saw it right from first exhibition games. To certain extent even Maskoliunas 2021 NT was way more competitive. We were attacking elite Slovenia with force and even had an edge in the first half. Later Slovenia prevailed, but it felt like we are worth something. Slovenia was legitimate top 4 team in the world that season. Now we just were pathetic really...