Originally posted by Straight forward
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Lithuania to bounce back?
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Lithuania
Olympic Games: Bronze 1992-1996-2000.
FIBA World Championship : Bronze 2010.
FIBA EuroBasket : Gold 1937-1939-2003. Silver 1995-2013-2015. Bronze 2007.
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Lithuanian national team results 2010-2015 was really good,we do not need to bounce nowhere.We need to be able to hold our positions .
Of all those youngs prospect that STF written (not including national team players valanciunas,motiejunas,kuzminskas) is long way to go and will make our national team level max 3-4 of them,other wont make it im sure.How good 1992 generation looked and where they are now ? its impossible to predict such things.
I like what Kurtinaitis said,its better to have fighters,than lazy talents around you.Tallent doesnt mean your team will achieve better results,players have to have characters,THIS IS SOMETIMES EVEN MORE IMPORTANT.Our team 2015 shown that.Basically all that 1985 generation players that is carying our national team since 2009 have balls.I mean all of them starting from maciulis,jankunas,kleiza and even finishing with players who havent even made national team like Babrauskas or ALijevas.They never were most tallented group in their european generation,but they always had balls and was outplaying those more tallented teams.... they never was giving up and showing character,that we could easily see in this eurobasket.
I want to see more players with characters,than just poor tallent.So this talks about what will happen in 6-10 years period its impossible to predict.Yeah now its clear team will be leaded by big mens and our backourt most likely will be even weaker than it is now.Those lekavicius,Varnas,Grigonis is very looong way to go even to kalnietis,seibutis level... i dont even mentione best european guards.
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Originally posted by Shawshank View PostLithuanian national team results 2010-2015 was really good,we do not need to bounce nowhere.We need to be able to hold our positions .LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
Jokubaitis, Marciulionis, Laurencikas
Indrusaitis, Brazdeikis, Rubstavicius
Buzelis, Lelevicius
Murauskas, Sirvydis
Tubelis, Krivas
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Originally posted by Straight forward View Post2012 Olympics proved Lithuania is not where it used to be. Next year will determine where Lithuania is. Don't get me wrong, all those good tournaments are huge win, but the biggest stage is Olympics.
Do you see us making semifinal in Olympics 2016? I see that USA,SPAIN is clearly better than we are.France too is clearly better,but they still have to qualife.And they were be teams like host brasil with their nba players and always dangerous team argentina with all of those veterans last dance in Olympics. Also France/Serbia/Greece/Italy/Canada 3teams from them will qualife and they will not have worse rosters than ours.I dont see 2012 Olympic that it was a failure,its was reality and we still fought hard in 1/4 game ,but lost to better team thats all. And yes in group USA,FRANCE had better teams too we lost to them too.
Tallent wise we do not have top4 world team since 2008.But we are top8 team tallent wise and in good tournament ,we can make top 4.We werent favorites making top4 neither in 2012,neither we gonna be in 2016.We gonna be somewhere 4-7 by level,in good day we can make semifinal,in normal average day we gonna be in 5-8 places.
Stop fooling yourself,if you think that our small country gonna be able hold their positions top4 in the world in every tournament for 100 years.When big dogs are putting way bigger money on this sport than they used too 15 years ago and even cheating with one really good foreigner on their team.
It 2010-2015 years what Lithuania could achieve more was in 2011,we should have won that 1/4 game.All other playoofs games Lithuania could and should have won in 2010-2015,Lithuania won.
FOR ME FAILURE WOULD BE NOT MAKING OLYMPIC GAMES,not loosing close 1/4 game in Olympics.Im living in reality not dream world of 1992 or 1996.There will be very good teams,that will not able to make olympics.
If you believe that those youngsters you written,that have not even played in euroleague will put us again in top4 in world tallent wise,you are fooling yourself or you are nostradamusLast edited by Shawshank; 09-27-2015, 07:57 AM.
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Originally posted by Shawshank View PostWe made Olympics the hard way from qualification in 2012,we made olympics playoofs and in the 4 querter of 1/4 we were only -1 against bronze winner .So that 4querter goes other way and suddenly we are in same position? I dont buy that.Its sport,you cant win all close 1/4 games.
Do you see us making semifinal in Olympics 2016? I see that USA,SPAIN is clearly better than we are.France too is clearly better,but they still have to qualife.And they were be teams like host brasil with their nba players and always dangerous team argentina with all of those veterans last dance in Olympics. Also France/Serbia/Greece/Italy/Canada 3teams from them will qualife and they will not have worse rosters than ours.I dont see 2012 Olympic that it was a failure,its was reality and we still fought hard in 1/4 game ,but lost to better team thats all. And yes in group USA,FRANCE had better teams too we lost to them too.
I wouldn't call the tournament a failure if NT loses a close knock-out game where luck and details prevail, but Lithuania just didn't play top notch basketball that summer. We struggled against such opponents as Tunisia, Nigeria. Argentina swept us and we didn't have a single chance, we lost to France and the only really solid game we had in that tournament was against USA (still a s loss). Overall the basketball was crappy (won't go for details why) and 8th place, the worst record ever. In 2004 Lithuania garbed 4th place, nothing to be super happy about, but most fans think Lithuania played probably the best basketball ever. 2012 was a failure, we played mediocre and Russia nailed Lithuania rather easily, +9 victory and Russia didn't even play their best that game.
As for 2016 it depends on Lithuania's roster. With full, healthy roster I can see Lithuania making semis. With fool roster Lithuania can compete with anyone except USA (though some of USA press speculate that even for USA it would be a challenge to handle JV's and D-Mo's frontline). We already have advantage against France, Greece, Serbia or any other top European teams (outside Spain) who will make it in the qualification. Those won't have as much freshness and willigness at the end of Olympic tournament. It's very hard to be 100% ready for 2 major tournaments in very short time and Lithuania experienced this in 2012. To compete and win against Spain and France would be very difficult, but with full roster it's possible, besides we can make semis not even facing USA, SPAIN and FRANCE who I think will be top contenders.LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
Jokubaitis, Marciulionis, Laurencikas
Indrusaitis, Brazdeikis, Rubstavicius
Buzelis, Lelevicius
Murauskas, Sirvydis
Tubelis, Krivas
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In 2012 we have got what we deserved (in 2011 basically it was the same, we should've beat Macedonia, but we had close to none chances against Spain in semis and Russia was just better too, so 4th or 5th it didn't matter much at the end). Olympics itself was great achievement for that team. This time it's pretty much the same. This team is not top4 material on paper, but if we'll have favourable draw, suitable rival in 1/4, we can make semis. Afterall, draw means quite a lot in just 12 teams tournament, f.e. to get Brazil or Venezuela should be big difference, to get 1 or 2 teams from qualifiers too
Originally posted by Dreamcatcher View PostOlympics - is only one tournament si it that can't show where Lithuania is.
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Originally posted by Mindozas View PostOlympics itself was great achievement for that team. This time it's pretty much the same.LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
Jokubaitis, Marciulionis, Laurencikas
Indrusaitis, Brazdeikis, Rubstavicius
Buzelis, Lelevicius
Murauskas, Sirvydis
Tubelis, Krivas
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Originally posted by Mindozas View PostNot the same? Not the great achievement? Or we are suddenly top4 material?
Btw, if not those washed-up veterans, half-injured Kleiza we wouldn't play in 2012 Olympics at allLTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
Jokubaitis, Marciulionis, Laurencikas
Indrusaitis, Brazdeikis, Rubstavicius
Buzelis, Lelevicius
Murauskas, Sirvydis
Tubelis, Krivas
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Originally posted by Straight forward View PostReaching final and getting direct spot to Olympics is a great achievement. 2011 EB team couldn't do that. Let's no underrate what Lithuania did this summer
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Fair enough, I agree with what you're saying, but I also have an impression you can't decide by your self completely if you are satisfied with NT making Olympics (not trying to take away this as an achievement, I'm not) or you actually think this team should make noise in Olympics next year. I'm leaning towards the latter if we'll have all the team.
Anyway, some American reporters don't shy away giving some hype to Lithuania. Here's the quote:
"This past year has been one of extreme highs and lows for Houston Rockets big man Donatas Motiejunas. Sunday he celebrated his 25th birthday and enters the beginning of what should be the prime of his career.
It’s not unusual for big men to develop at a slower pace compared to their back court counterparts. Players like Motiejunas who have demonstrated the ability to play either power forward or center are rare. It’s also unusual to find a big who is equally adept at working in the paint or can spread the court.
Young big men tend to become specialists in either one area of the court or the other and even fewer are a legitimate 7 feet tall. Examining the current top NBA bigs only DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis have demonstrated the ability to dominate both inside and outside the paint and also be capable of playing either front court position.
To that end, there is a player who shares many commonalities with DeMo: Jonas Valanciunas is another 7′ Lithuanian who also just finished his third season and plays the center position. Perhaps this comparison best demonstrates how versatile Motiejunas is.
J.V. may have the edge in rebounding, but he can’t spread the floor, isn’t as fast as Motiejunas and is more of a inside paint specialist. While Valanciunas is a great free throw shooter for a big he isn’t comfortable letting the ball fly from outside 10 feet and definitely has a ways to go to catch up to DeMo’s ball handling skills.
Still, J.V. has been dominate in EuroBasket 2015 leading his team to the finals (where they lost to Spain) and securing an Olympic berth along the way. With a healthy Motiejunas who will no doubt play power forward beside Valanciunas in Rio it makes Lithuania a definite medal possibility."
LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
Jokubaitis, Marciulionis, Laurencikas
Indrusaitis, Brazdeikis, Rubstavicius
Buzelis, Lelevicius
Murauskas, Sirvydis
Tubelis, Krivas
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Originally posted by Straight forward View PostFair enough, I agree with what you're saying, but I also have an impression you can't decide by your self completely if you are satisfied with NT making Olympics (not trying to take away this as an achievement, I'm not) or you actually think this team should make noise in Olympics next year. I'm leaning towards the latter if we'll have all the team.
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These 3 big players will be the most important . Valanciunas is improving year by year and its a fact. I am predicting PPG 14 to 15 this Regular Season for Toronto. If only he could shoot from further that would be a huge plus for us.
If Motiejunas can play like last season I see him dominating in the Olympics. All these Post Moves will be tough for defenders.
Maciulis right now is on a big wave ! If he doesn't lose that rhythm until Olympics again he will destroy anyone in his path.
Other players like Seibutis Pocius and Kalnietis . I just hope we can find for Kalnietis this time a better back up player. Somebody more experienced. For god sakes this is the Olympics no matter how talented Lekavicius is he wont be able to handle the pressure.. Judging him from the interviews he is a quiet fella and I would say shy to. Not good especially if you are a Point Guard.. Starting to lose hope on Kleiza. He might recover but will he be ready for the Olympics. I see us as medal contenders but only if we can avoid Spain or France until the Semis.Lithuania
Olympic Games: Bronze 1992-1996-2000.
FIBA World Championship : Bronze 2010.
FIBA EuroBasket : Gold 1937-1939-2003. Silver 1995-2013-2015. Bronze 2007.
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