Lithuanians in NBA

[madmax]

Dude, your efforts is pathetic. You come here and say basketball is a primitive game That's how low you can get trying to cover JV. No disrespect, you're the biggest homer I remember in these forums since VS666. Rockets is horrific defensive team and none is taking them as serious contenders, none. Harden can score, Westbrick is most overrated star in the league. They suck at D badly and they will get smashed in PO. The only years they provided in PO, when they had good defensive players as Arisa and such. With Harden and Westbrick in the backourt they are regular season fillers, they will go down in PO as always. And Clippers are obvious top contender, because they have scary D team and they provide when PO will come.

and this is how we know that you're the biggest troll on this forum - instead of discussing anything I said, you proceed with personal attacks and more agenda driven nonsense lmao. How come you never mention that your beloved Sabonis is actually a horrible defender too? Is it because it doesn't fit your narrative here and shitting on Jonas makes Sabonis Jr somehow a better player? Get a grip mate - basketball is not that serious and there's no need to get defensive just because somebody has a different opinion than yours

[LuDux]

Sabonis is actually a horrible defender

Statistically he's pretty good, 11th in DWS and 21st in DBPM

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2020_advanced.html

[Straight forward]

and this is how we know that you're the biggest troll on this forum - instead of discussing anything I said, you proceed with personal attacks and more agenda driven nonsense lmao. How come you never mention that your beloved Sabonis is actually a horrible defender too?

It's not personal attacks, I have nothing against you as a person, I would even somehow feel you may be rather good person, you're just not very good BB poster and very stubborn fan who can't deal with some facts.

As for Sabonis, he's not a great defender, but he improved in that category rather nicely in last 2 seasons, thus Ludux numbers appear. The key is that Sabonis has very decent positioning and can move his legs, can step out (guarding p'n'r), even can be pretty decent at switching everything. Now, he's a solid defender for NBA, and very decent for FIBA.

[madmax]

Statistically he's pretty good, 11th in DWS and 21st in DBPM
https://www.basketball-reference.com..._advanced.html

I'm not entirely sure how much faith you can put into these stats, since JV has a pretty decent DWS as well...Obviously, defensive impact depends a lot on your teammates and playing alongside Myles Turner helps even more than usual (as opposed to JJJ, who is very raw and commits the most fouls in the entire NBA)

[Shawshank]

Both our boys made huge double double last night

JV 26+17 Domas 26+10+9

I click on highlights and literally Jonas and Domantas having dunk and layups party and nobody even try to make a faul to stop that.This NBA small era getting funny Nobody cares about inside defence those wings just let you easily score inside and try to run to shoot treepointer on other side

In fiba nobody will let you shoot layups all game like that.You will get double teams,hard fauls and etc.

NBA had never had such weak inside defence never.Its a joke compared to 90s inside defences where you got hit inside constantly.

Dantoni and Rockets is going even further last 3 games played with 1m90-1m99 height players entire game and won all 3 games.Its not hard to guess how they playing inside anti defence with Harden and Tucker in big men's role and now they trying to trade the only big they use Capela this is comedy


NBA regular is unwatchable only playoffs when they begin to play defence and seriuos basketball.

[Straight forward]

There's some good points, but you exaggerated a little bit. There is D, not as tiny and tough as in EL, but there's D. And both of them nailed some serious shots. The key is match-ups. Sabonis would bully Porzingis inside any given day, like he stands no chance. Softy unicorn can't bring real toughness as of yet. Sabonis just killed him inside. JV got a beefy and pretty good ISO defender in Drummond, but dominated him hitting some really good shots, but also Drummond is nearly as crappy p'n'r defender as JV himself, and Memphis utilized that also.

NBA is as soft as ever, true. But you also always have to consider timing, is it a back to back game, road game and all that stuff. If in EL pretty much every game is the battle between 2 fresh and 100% prepared teams, in NBA is a mess and up and down roller coaster. In some games some players literally walking gassed. But that's how stars and non-stars separates. Sabonis shows an amazing motor and extremely equal and consistent effort and toughness every game. He works like robot every game and thus far showed amazing durability also. Really hope he won't go down with an injury at some point of the season. 34.5min per game is serious. He's basically among top 20 most played players in the league.

[madmax]

it's really hilarious how old school centers are supposed to be relicts in today's small ball era of NBA, yet they are simply unstoppable in the paint and nobody pretty much can even contain them because of soft defensive rules... At least in FIBA they can rely on smaller courts and no 3 sec defensive rule to slow these giants down, NBA on the other hand is completely powerless to stop them if they get the right mismatches and enough passes lol

[Straight forward]

Well, after almost 20 games, Brazdeikis now shooting really solid 49%/35,6% in the G league. That's good numbers for a guy who shoots of the dribble and plays with the ball in his hands. Lately really scoring a bunch and stands as 5th best scorer in the G league. So offensively he dominates, and may be on his way be the best scorer in entire league. That's pretty impressive, after all there's 288 players in the league, some of them will make career in NBA, and a bunch of them in Europe. Offensively he's improving. If he would manage to improve his really really shaky and sometimes horrible D, he would have a legitimate chance to crack NT.


Specially now, when you see Maskoliunas is up to some really mediocre players. Again, I can't deal with the fact 90-95kg Bendzius will be filling position 4, while a wing (SG/SF) Brazdeikis stands at 100kg. Seriously, dude, I don't remember such travesty in NT ever. Even our smaller, stretch 4 in the past were way bigger, like M. Zukauskas (100kg), Kleiza (106kg), J. Maciulis (105kg), even Kuzminskas who is too soft for 4 is 101kg. Now we gonna combat Olympics with softies who plays no D. We're getting more and more serious with each new coach since Kazlauskas.

[Mindozas]

Well, after almost 20 games, Brazdeikis now shooting really solid 49%/35,6% in the G league. That's good numbers for a guy who shoots of the dribble and plays with the ball in his hands. Lately really scoring a bunch and stands as 5th best scorer in the G league. So offensively he dominates, and may be on his way be the best scorer in entire league. That's pretty impressive, after all there's 288 players in the league, some of them will make career in NBA, and a bunch of them in Europe. Offensively he's improving. If he would manage to improve his really really shaky and sometimes horrible D, he would have a legitimate chance to crack NT.


Specially now, when you see Maskoliunas is up to some really mediocre players. Again, I can't deal with the fact 90-95kg Bendzius will be filling position 4, while a wing (SG/SF) Brazdeikis stands at 100kg. Seriously, dude, I don't remember such travesty in NT ever. Even our smaller, stretch 4 in the past were way bigger, like M. Zukauskas (100kg), Kleiza (106kg), J. Maciulis (105kg), even Kuzminskas who is too soft for 4 is 101kg. Now we gonna combat Olympics with softies who plays no D. We're getting more and more serious with each new coach since Kazlauskas.

Stop ruining every thread with your Kulboka obsession and Bendzius hate. I'm trying to ignore it, but it comes from everywhere now

[Straight forward]

Word in Brazdeikis. His scoring rates in G league equals previous NBA studs marks. Brazdeikis is interesting package, have huge upside offensively, yet we openly discuss whenever he'll ever become a true role NBA player:


Speaking of the G League, it's time for the Knicks to call up their 2019 second-round selection, Ignas Brazdeikis.

The Knicks were surprised Iggy dropped to 47th overall last June, and traded up to grab him. As a freshman at Michigan, not only did Brazdeikis average 14.8 points and 5.4 rebounds, he also posted impressive advanced statistics. Per Synergy data, Brazdeikis scored 1.19 points per Spot Up possession, which placed him in the 92nd percentile of all NCAA players. According to Basketball-Reference, he was the first freshman in Big Ten history to score more than 500 points, grab more than 200 rebounds and knock down more than 50 made 3-pointers. Only five other freshmen in NCAA Division 1 history tallied at least 500 points, 200 boards and 50 treys, while also shooting above 39% from downtown. Those other four frosh are Kevin Durant, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Lauri Markkanen.

Brazdeikis also opened some eyes with his impressive play at the Las Vegas Summer League back in July. Over New York's final four games in Vegas, he averaged 18.0 points (on 55% shooting), 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 dimes and 2.8 made 3-pointers, while shooting a scorching 57.9% from downtown. He then carried that strong play into G League competition this season. On the year, he is averaging a team-high 21.5 points to go along with 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 dimes and 1.8 trifectas. He's currently the only player in the G League averaging more than 21 points, seven boards and 1.5 triples.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/02/22/its-time-for-the-knicks-to-call-up-ignas-brazdeikis/#609d83db77fa

[Straight forward]

Super fun article on Brazdeikis. Brazdeikis' issue is D in the first place and one quote struck me really

“He’s Lithuanian where everything is slanted to offense and then Team ‘D’,” one European scout said.

And that' basically true, specially for 00's We rarely have super ISO defenders, but team D is always solid.

Here's scout's Joe Raso take on Brazdeikis:

“Many see him as an NBA role player at best. But I believe he has tools to become a major offensive contributor. His job now is to convince his NBA bosses. He’s a multifaceted, physical scorer with size. His IQ makes him a candidate as a player you can play through an offense. He now needs to prove he can defend a few positions. He loves the game. I hope the Knicks stick with him.”

https://nypost.com/2020/03/23/ignas-brazdeikis-knicks-stock-suddenly-rising-major-offensive-threat/

[Straight forward]

So let's take a look at 2020 drafts from Liths perspective. Obviously Sedekerskis and Masiulis are auto-eligible, but I hardly see any of them be drafted. Sedekerskis i more athletic and talented, IMO, but lacking expressed scoring profile and leader's mentality. Also I wouldn't be surprised A. Velicka would get a moment of consideration by some teams of some very late second round. Athletic profile is here, some talent is here, maybe some teams would want to take him with low risk, high award pick. But if there's some true candidate in 2020 Drafts, that's got to be Jokubaitis. IMO, he's last month was really promising and some scouts may look at him more closely after his NT campaign, LKL dominant games and few solid games in EL. Went through a media and Eurohoops.net is probably a little bit too generous putting him at 6th spot best Euro prospects for 2020 drafts. The Stepien has Jokubaitis as solid second rounder and 15th best international. Thebirwrites.com has him as 29th pick. Fansided.com judged him by U19 performance and suggests to consider him as first rounder. Hoopsprospects.com has him at 88th best player available. Not much of noise in American media and that's understandable, but generally I wouldn't be surprised if Jokubaitis would be drafted some-where late in second round:


The Lithuanian guard was probably the most impressive international player present, and definitely looked the part of at least a future elite Euroleague-level guard. Cunningham was the most impressive passer, but Jokubaitis had the most positive impact as a passer for his team’s offense, using elite vision and showing the ability to shield the ball with his body to create passing angles that most players can’t.

He also shot 40 percent from 3 and was able to finish well off the dribble, even against elite length, as half his games came against the US or Senegal. He’s not a special athlete but seems to have all of the craft and skill needed to succeed as a point guard if you aren’t lightning quick. He should be considered a first-round prospect next year and used an opportunity to not have the shadow of Killian Hayes, Theo Maledon, and Deni Avdija to make a strong name for himself.

https://fansided.com/2019/07/08/nba-draft-prospects-fiba-u19-world-championships/

Jokubaitis happens to be coached at such a young age by one of the best point guards in EuroLeague history, Sarunas Jasikevicius. This, on its own, is a pretty big deal.

This season he has yet to score in EuroLeague, though he has his time to grow in the Lithuanian League. He averages 7.2 points in 15 minutes on the court. The athleticism is right there, all he needs is time to evolve.

He became a star of the U16 Zalgiris squad, setting up high expectations for his course. At the same time, it’s wise to cut him some slack in regards to that. Zalgiris is on to a 4-12 record, at the bottom of the EuroLeague standings along with Zenit. So, Jasikevicius counts more on Thomas Walkup and Arturas Milaknis.

https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/994454/the-progress-card-of-10-european-nba-draft-prospects/6/

[Toruko]

I really dont want to take your hopes away but nobody of this mentioned names are realistic draftees. A 6.1. point guard with average speed, bad perimeter defense and worse shooting mechanics has practically no chance. If any then last second round and thats because he is young but most unlikely. It would be bad for him to got to the nba. You need a certain specialty in order to get a role in an nba team. This kid has nothing right now what could be interesting for a nba franchise. He can be a solid Euroleague player though.

The only guys who are gonna be drafted are: Hayes, Maledon, Avdija, Mannion and Yurtseven.

The possible guys with serious question marks are: Kalaitzakis, Muhaymin Mustafa (both because of their body measurement) not because they showed anything.

[Straight forward]

I really dont want to take your hopes away but nobody of this mentioned names are realistic draftees. A 6.1. point guard with average speed, bad perimeter defense and worse shooting mechanics has practically no chance. If any then last second round and thats because he is young but most unlikely. It would be bad for him to got to the nba. You need a certain specialty in order to get a role in an nba team. This kid has nothing right now what could be interesting for a nba franchise. He can be a solid Euroleague player though.

The only guys who are gonna be drafted are: Hayes, Maledon, Avdija, Mannion and Yurtseven.

The possible guys with serious question marks are: Kalaitzakis, Muhaymin Mustafa (both because of their body measurement) not because they showed anything.

Jokubaitis is 6.4. His size is elite for PG. But I agree that he's not particularly a good fit for NBA. His main weakness for NBA is not enough of lateral quickness and average ISO D. But he has elite IQ, feel for the game and great mentality. His shooting has been good this season, actually elite in LKL. I treat NBA drafts as the sign of potential. I doubt Jokubaitis will be drafted, but because of his size, IQ and cheekiness he should be on radar. IMO, his upside is from solid to elite EL PG.

[Toruko]

I just forgot Alex Pokusevski. The guy is a freak of nature and is the prime candidate for draft and stash.