VTB League 2010-11

[Billy Bounce]

What a change a coach makes... After the incapable Scariolo who used a very big budget and a ver deep roster to run a one-man show, Kurtinaitis has turned this eternal loser team into a bunch of resilient fighters who have beaten Unics and CSKA back-to-back and will surely have a word or two more to say in the PBL playoffs as opposed to what could be expected a month ago.

Congratulations to Khimki and their new VTB Final Four MVP Vitaly Fridzon!

The incapable Scariolo has an excuse: Langford was healthy back then

All in all kudos to Kurtinatis for not being afraid to bench Monya , when he did all possible to bring CSKA back from the grave.

Shved, Vorontsevich were pretty solid, all the rest -

BTW, interesting that close to the end, when everybody was tired as hell Kurtinatis instructed to give the ball ( and all offense) into Loncar hands and it worked.

Pashutin used the same trick with Lampe in ULEB Cup final . Both guys are a pulsating black hole in defense, but their offensive skills are simply AWESOME. Yep, with capital letters.

[pohani komarac]

The incapable Scariolo has an excuse: Langford was healthy back then

All in all kudos to Kurtinatis for not being afraid to bench Monya , when he did all possible to bring CSKA back from the grave.

Shved, Vorontsevich were pretty solid, all the rest -

BTW, interesting that close to the end, when everybody was tired as hell Kurtinatis instructed to give the ball ( and all offense) into Loncar hands and it worked.

Pashutin used the same trick with Lampe in ULEB Cup final . Both guys are a pulsating black hole in defense, but their offensive skills are simply AWESOME. Yep, with capital letters.

i would also give more credit to papadopulos. he created 3 stright times for loncar.........bur what realy suprised me that planinic didn't screw game

[sagenas]

Kurtinaitis did just a great job. Good luck for Chimki in PBL play-offs.


///

Coming back to Astana topic..they were saying "big names" + NBA lock-out === ? Possible thing for sure.

[auris1]

The incapable Scariolo has an excuse: Langford was healthy back then

funny remark here.
He is not THAT bad,is he?

Kurtis complimented Scariolo saying that the players in the team were well chosen - it just that he never produced results.
It it just damn mentality in there i think that Scariolo could not adapt to - but Kurtis knows a thing or two how to handle a team/how to handle himself in there.His credentials/experience as a player with soviet union (mainly russian) system and ever growing maturity as a coach gave overdue results straight away.

[Mindozas]

Scariolo is (or maybe already "was") hugely overrated IMO. While Kurtinaitis surely surprises me as a coach, didn't expect that. The way he overplayed Kazlauskas in VTB final was impressive and IMO that was a key to victory

[Straight forward]

Scariolo is (or maybe already "was") hugely overrated IMO. While Kurtinaitis surely surprises me as a coach, didn't expect that. The way he overplayed Kazlauskas in VTB final was impressive and IMO that was a key to victory

That's why I'm complaining all season long about Rytas After Kurtinaitis, Anzulovic, Trifunovic and to be honest Maskoliunas (even if he's better than first two) looked miserable. Kurtinaitis is probably one of the best coaches in terms of charisma and ability to motivate players. He improves physically every team that he handles, sets up very intense defence and has some talent to make the best of each player individually (even if offensive sets probably not his strongest spot). IMO, Kurtinaitis can make some noise in Euroleague next season and I think he can go far as a coach generally.

[vaslover]

All is good and wonderful, but only one thing a little bit confusing. Disgusting and annoying behavior vice-premier of Russia Sergey Ivanov a little bit tiring. Really. His constant BELITTLING the PBL and the same time cheap constant PRAISE of VTB league seems quite ridiculously...
I really hope that one day the lithuanians withdrew from VTB league and tournament immediately will cease to exist.

[rikhardur]

All is good and wonderful, but only one thing a little bit confusing. Disgusting and annoying behavior vice-premier of Russia Sergey Ivanov a little bit tiring. Really. His constant BELITTLING the PBL and the same time cheap constant PRAISE of VTB league seems quite ridiculously...

Didn't know about this. I think there's enough "space" for the two competitions, it makes no sense to start a war with PBL. But I guess money talks louder

[vaslover]

Didn't know about this. I think there's enough "space" for the two competitions, it makes no sense to start a war with PBL. But I guess money talks louder

Agree with you. Money talks louder and louder...

[Jazz]

Anyone know why Dynamo, CSKA, UNICS and Khimki weren't in the Russian Cup this year? I know three of those teams were in Euroleague or Eurocup, on top of VTB and PBL commitments, but was there any reason other than busy schedules?

[auris1]

All is good and wonderful, but only one thing a little bit confusing. Disgusting and annoying behavior vice-premier of Russia Sergey Ivanov a little bit tiring. Really. His constant BELITTLING the PBL and the same time cheap constant PRAISE of VTB league seems quite ridiculously...
I really hope that one day the lithuanians withdrew from VTB league and tournament immediately will cease to exist.

What is acronym for pbl?
Is it Russian league?
Or Philippines basketball league?If it is that,so he is right.
otherwise i assume he did not get his "cut" )
VTB ,for me,takes a bit wrong direction in general - instead of having few strong teams and short,cut throat tournament they chooses to expand geography wise disregarding and diminishing overall level.I prefer up to 4 teams from Russia and 2 from Lithuania ,add some Ukrainians and one Latvian,plus Polish champs(or even second one) so it all makes sense.Maybe they can even get more euroleague level teams,who knows,but not this shit from Estonia,Finland or Kazakhstan

[sagenas]

what is acronym for pbl?
is it russian league?
or philippines basketball league?if it is that,so he is right.
Otherwise i assume he did not get his "cut" )
vtb ,for me,takes a bit wrong direction in general - instead of having few strong teams and short,cut throat tournament they chooses to expand geography wise disregarding and diminishing overall level.i prefer up to 4 teams from russia and 2 from lithuania ,add some ukrainians and one latvian,plus polish champs(or even second one) so it all makes sense.maybe they can even get more euroleague level teams,who knows,but not this shit from estonia,finland or kazakhstan

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