Lithuanian talents.

[zalias]

i dont belive in velicka anymore, he's just so inefficient and i dont think it will ever get better

[Straight forward]

i dont belive in velicka anymore, he's just so inefficient and i dont think it will ever get better

Still only 23yo. If this would be the start of 10's, some 2012, we would be happy to have such 23yo PG as Velicka. Cause at that time it was clear we are butt naked other than Kalnietis. In my opinion, Velicka has everything to develop himself into better player at 1 than Vasiliauskas, Kariniauskas, Juskevicius and whatever else random attempts to fill spot 1 in 10's. He still has like 2-3 years to establish himself as strong player. Nearly leading Bundes Liga in assists. He needs to mature in terms of his decision making. There's no doubt he'll make certain progress and will be pretty nice.

With that said, knowing how deep is our position will be in upcoming 10 years, there's a good chance we'll never see Velicka in NT.

[Straight forward]

Zalgiris 2 wins second division So they could move to LKL if they wanted to Hell of the season, it's rarity that youngsters win it all, that happened 14 or 16 years ago previously.

Lelevicius named best young player and most improved player. He has to be one of the most underrated European prospect. Partially because he's a late bloomer in terms of physicality, didn't shine among U16 guys and skipped some FIBA tournaments. In my opinion his upside is not far away from say Rubstavicius and Rubstavicius is being treated as NBA prospect, or at least "draftable" player. You won't Lelevicius name sticking out anywhere basically. Overlooked talent if you ask me. His upside is somewhere from solid EL player (Ulanovas f.e) to being elite EL player (Siskauskas probably the best comparison).

Krivas named as the best defensive player.

[LuDux]

^ Rules prohibit farm teams playing in LKL

Krivas trying to back down Jomantas often looked like fly trying to breach glass

[Straight forward]

And Jasaitis still balling in NKL. A bit awkward. Dude played in elite Maccabi.

[zalias]

krivas looked like birutis trying to play in the post against jomantas

[Straight forward]

Indrusaitis cooking. You can see that he added muscles, looks much better prepared physically. It's already scary to think about how good 2006 U18 team will look in 2024 summer. Jakucionis also made a huge strides forward compared to the summer. In U16 EB he played not being 100% ready.

https://twitter.com/MeanstreetsEYB/status/1651009527607590915

I think both Jakucionis and and Indrusaitis should be in U18 team this summer being 1 year younger. And I hope to see what with Laurencikas in ANGT final 4, as Zalgiris received wild card. Not sure if he's healthy already though.

PS: How about potential backcourt of U18 team this summer?

PG: Stuknys, Jakucionis, Laurencikas (Kepežinskas)
SG: Žygas, Stonkus, Indusaitis

[Straight forward]

Couple of stand-outs in Champions League youth tournament. Watched Nojus Kulesa highlighs, only a good shooter so far.

https://eurospects.com/recap-youth-basketball-champions-league/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Now2FpI-oo&ab_channel=KS1-BASKETBALL

[Straight forward]

No Zalgiris in final 4, but big ANGT tournaments for Lithuanians. FOA, there will be Zalgiris U18 team and I hope to see Laurencikas if he's finally healthy, but Zygas, Stonkus also somewhat interesting guys. We'll get to see MVP Jakucionis again playing for Baca. We'll see Stuknys playing for selected Next Generation Team. Wanna make better impression on him.

Eight teams will take part in the ANGT Finals, with four sides having booked their place in the tournament by winning one of the four qualifying events: Real Madrid (ANGT Munich), Joventut Badalona (ANGT Patras), FC Barcelona (ANGT Zadar) and Mega MIS Belgrade (ANGT Belgrade). Three of the remaining spots have gone to teams that received a wild card – Zalgiris Kaunas, Panathinaikos Athens and Crvena Zvezda Belgrade – and the last place has gone to the Next Generation Select Team, which features players from specially selected Next Generation teams at the four qualifying events.

https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/ngt/news/lineup-for-2022-23-angt-finals-confirmed/

[Straight forward]

Lelevicius' season highlights. Couple of huge dunks, one big hammer. Athleticism is there. He's agile and pretty explosive for 201cm. Seems like more dominant going to the left, but has nice spin move. Finishes with left off hand some. Very important that he improved threes, that's the key for SG or wing. We have been missing shooters and seems that Lelevicius and Rubstavicius will be one of the guys who will be fixing this. He shot 37,8% in the season which is solid, specially that he was taking 4,8 threes every game. Good FTs shooter, solid facilitator. Ball handling is solid as for Lithuanian. Our basketball school is known for bad handles to be honest, but this generation is different, we'll have a lot of perimeter players with good handles. When he will play at 2 he will have advantage sometimes, so he needs to polish his post game.

Looking forward to see how Lelevicius, Rubstavicius, Indrusaitis pan out. More or less I see them all in very familiar, almost similar tier as their upside goes. They have some differences, but generally have a lot in common. I would probably claim that Lelevicius might be the best defender from three, but others 2 have solid defensive upside too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdKmL_ubYNc&ab_channel=EASTPLAYERSWORLD

[Straight forward]

Krivas officially goes to Arizona Wildcats:

https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1658484398503915520

[Straight forward]

No Zalgiris in final 4, but big ANGT tournaments for Lithuanians. FOA, there will be Zalgiris U18 team and I hope to see Laurencikas if he's finally healthy, but Zygas, Stonkus also somewhat interesting guys.

I see Laurencikas among those who preparing. Now definitely worth to take an on one of the top PG prospects in the country.

https://www.basketnews.lt/srautas/175249-jaunieji-zalgirieciai-ruosiasi-eurolygos-jaunimo-turnyro-kovoms.html

[Straight forward]

Krivas officially goes to Arizona Wildcats:

https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/sta...84398503915520

As expected, Murauskas also moves to Wildcats. Not official yet, but Eurohoops already alerts and previously LTU BB community already de facto knew the decision.

It will be interesting how this duet perform. I'm more concerned about Murauskas, but it will be huge force in NCAA, IMO. Murauskas better hope that Tubelis wouldn't change his mind, even though he will play at 3 a lot I guess since Wilcats has Nehri Veesaar.

IMO, America will be surprised how much ready these guys are. Specially Murauskas who went through Eurocup already and spent 2 seasons in LKL. Canak kept him under short leash, but if Murauskas will have a stage to go ISO, look out. He will be cooking.

Next season likely the biggest Lithuanian talent pool in NCAA ever - Murauskas, Krivas, Lukosius, Marciulionis

[Straight forward]

Too bad I can't see the game, but Jakucionis cooking. 12pts in 13 minutes. Perfect from the field 5/5. We have an extreme combo guard it seems. Finally some-one with nearly perfect jimmy. Gonna be big player most likely:

https://twitter.com/skweektv/status/1659085847717638144

[Straight forward]

Zalgiris 2 left ambivalent impression. Strong start, but later huge collapse. Couldn't deal with physical defense. Laurencikas (2006) coming from injury, even announcer talked about, and he had no legs, 7 turnovers. Despite that I complete satisfied what I've seen, he'll be terrific, terrific guard. My only concerned that he's only 189cm, but nevertheless he's a good defender.

2005 generation best players in Stonkus and Zygas choked in this game. Both lacks a degree to be treated as elite prospects, but i like Zygas more, he's a very solid defender, more athletic.

From 2006 Nedas Raupelis looked nicely. I the future might be nice rim runner. Athletic 205cm center, with long wigspan.

2007 Buika was pretty nice. I think Laurencikas and Buika have highest upsides on this team.