Mindaugas Kuzminskas

[LithuanianCramWatch]

Mindaugas Kuzminskas is one of my favorite players and I wonder what everyone's opinion is of how much better he can become and how much further he will rise. He is age 25 now so I am interested in what people think his ceiling is - how much more do you think he will develop as a player?

[Joško Poljak Fan]

I think that's for the most part a matter of getting out of Unicaja. I don't think we have seen him within the right system for him yet, when/if that happens he might surprise a lot of people imo.

[Straight forward]

I think that's for the most part a matter of getting out of Unicaja. I don't think we have seen him within the right system for him yet, when/if that happens he might surprise a lot of people imo.

This. He's rotting in Unicaja. I didn't thought it is so bad, but I watched couple of games. He is being used as garbage player, barely getting any decent touches in the right place or anything. Static offence and 16 minutes per game is not what ready to go Kuzminskas needs. Kuzminskas fooling himself if he thinks it's a good place for him.

[auris1]

This. He's rotting in Unicaja. I didn't thought it is so bad, but I watched couple of games. He is being used as garbage player, barely getting any decent touches in the right place or anything. Static offence and 16 minutes per game is not what ready to go Kuzminskas needs. Kuzminskas fooling himself if he thinks it's a good place for him.

I think he put his faith in Plaza ,but Plaza somehow changed his mind about him somewhere down the line ...hence...

[Mindozas]

I didn't watch too much of Unicaja this season, so hard to draw the whole picture, but I thought he is doin' ok, judging by his numbers - 10pts/4rbs/10rkg in both EL and ACB, while playin' 20mins. Really not bad. Of course it dropped a bit after Carlos Suarez cameback, but on other hand we all know that the main troubles is in Kuzminskas head, I guess Plaza still sees that too, so usualy Kuzminskas spends decisive moments on bench, isn't trusted to play more and etc. Plaza surely not the guy who would bench him for no reason. Anyway if Kuzminskas won't manage to break himself psychologically, I'm afraid he can hardly make a step forward, moreover he is not a teen anymore, has enough experience, so it's beyond me why he is so mentally vulnerable. As Kazlauskas once said - with his physical abilities he already should've been in NBA

[Joško Poljak Fan]

I think he put his faith in Plaza ,but Plaza somehow changed his mind about him somewhere down the line ...hence...

I don't think it's Plaza, it is a relatively common situation with a lot of euro players at Unicaja in the past, imo whoever is actualy deciding about the team's composition in the offseason either knows really little about basketball or I just can't understand him 1%. Unicaja is eventualy made up from very good players that can hardly coexist at all in 90% of the seasons, hitting a jackpot now and than every 5-10 seasons or so, which means just that they're not actualy terribly underperforming considering the ammount of money they're investing in their team.

[auris1]

I don't think it's Plaza, it is a relatively common situation with a lot of euro players at Unicaja in the past, imo whoever is actualy deciding about the team's composition in the offseason either knows really little about basketball or I just can't understand him 1%. Unicaja is eventualy made up from very good players that can hardly coexist at all in 90% of the seasons, hitting a jackpot now and than every 5-10 seasons or so, which means just that they're not actualy terribly underperforming considering the ammount of money they're investing in their team.

In my mind , Kuzminskas chose to play under Plaza just because they build a good rapport in Zalgiris .Maybe he thought that Plaza would take him under his wing so to speak, same way it was happening in Zalgiris ,maybe not ,it is hard to tell ...
But one thing is clear to me after watching quite a few Unicaja games this and last season in Euroleague ,that when games move into decisive stages , Kuzminskas gets to sit on the bench, regardless if he was having a good or bad game .
Either way,like 3 years ago he was nobody, now there is that talk regarding NBA ,which seems to me like possibility with at least fifty fifty .
So progress is there, yet compared to his reserves it seems unfulfilled ...
And i do remember quite a few years ago , when he was mentioned as a future and possible candidate with New York Knicks ,and how the fans laughed at hims - i think we had few snippets posted here from their fan forum . I think he would be one of the better players ,if not the best on that team roster now ).
So there is that

[LithuanianCramWatch]

I didn't watch too much of Unicaja this season, so hard to draw the whole picture, but I thought he is doin' ok, judging by his numbers - 10pts/4rbs/10rkg in both EL and ACB, while playin' 20mins. Really not bad. Of course it dropped a bit after Carlos Suarez cameback, but on other hand we all know that the main troubles is in Kuzminskas head, I guess Plaza still sees that too, so usualy Kuzminskas spends decisive moments on bench, isn't trusted to play more and etc. Plaza surely not the guy who would bench him for no reason. Anyway if Kuzminskas won't manage to break himself psychologically, I'm afraid he can hardly make a step forward, moreover he is not a teen anymore, has enough experience, so it's beyond me why he is so mentally vulnerable. As Kazlauskas once said - with his physical abilities he already should've been in NBA

That's an interesting quote from Kazlauskas!

Also, the responses in this thread are educating me about Kuzminskas. I somehow didn't realize that he had this mental weakness that everyone is referencing. I feel like it's hard to be a fan sometimes of Lithuanian and international basketball in the US because even in the internet age it's a little hard to get information and analysis. (It's hard enough to watch the games themselves.) I want to try to learn the Lithuanian language but it's not easy!

[macleopard13]

I still doubt that Kuzminskas would make any meaningful impact in the NBA yet. Right now, he's averaging solid numbers on a Top 16 team, if he were consistently leading Unicaja in most of the games, then I would consider him more NBA-ready. I think it's still too early to predict what his overall value will be next season, but if he went to the NBA right now, I doubt he would be averaging more than 12-15 minutes per game even on weaker teams like Lakers or Knicks. First of all, he doesn't have the mass to compete with 225+ lb small forwards defensively, and second of all, his psychological issues will really hurt his NBA stay - if he doesn't show confidence and assertiveness, the coach will keep him on the bench. He's made progress with both of those things since he left Zalgiris, but I don't think that it's enough.

[auris1]

..I doubt he would be averaging more than 12-15 minutes per game even on weaker teams like Lakers or Knicks.

That is how long for he plays in Unicaja anyways) .
But look , there might be another reason as well .
He only played under only two coaches,as in Kazlauslas and Plaza , in the last 3 seasons .
There might be a good chance that they just do not see Kuzminskas as that player of big importance.
So ,fresh start might be just the thing the "doctor" would order for him.

[LithuanianCramWatch]

That is how long for he plays in Unicaja anyways) .
But look , there might be another reason as well .
He only played under only two coaches,as in Kazlauslas and Plaza , in the last 3 seasons .
There might be a good chance that they just do not see Kuzminskas as that player of big importance.
So ,fresh start might be just the thing the "doctor" would order for him.

What team ideally would you want to see him play for? Is there a team that would be a best fit for him right now?

[Straight forward]

I have to say LOL at Unicaja and the buy-out they are asking for Kumzinskas - it's 750 thousands Euros for NBA clubs and 1 million for European clubs Even Rytas didn't ask such money for Valančiūnas. And yet Unicaja limits his minutes very precisely. Even if he rocks and he does it very often this season he usually gets around 20 minutes...mysterious Unicaja...Obviously Darussafaka from Istanbul wants him.

[macleopard13]

I have to say LOL at Unicaja and the buy-out they are asking for Kumzinskas - it's 750 thousands Euros for NBA clubs and 1 million for European clubs Even Rytas didn't ask such money for Valančiūnas. And yet Unicaja limits his minutes very precisely. Even if he rocks and he does it very often this season he usually gets around 20 minutes...mysterious Unicaja...Obviously Darussafaka from Istanbul wants him.

Signing with Darussafaka would be a step down for Kuzia. I hope he stays in the Euroleague. He obviously belongs there.

[Mindozas]

I have to say LOL at Unicaja and the buy-out they are asking for Kumzinskas - it's 750 thousands Euros for NBA clubs and 1 million for European clubs Even Rytas didn't ask such money for Valančiūnas. And yet Unicaja limits his minutes very precisely. Even if he rocks and he does it very often this season he usually gets around 20 minutes...mysterious Unicaja...Obviously Darussafaka from Istanbul wants him.

Obviously Kuzminskas and his agent Bulotas Jr. agreed with such buy-out when signing a contract too, so I see nothing wrong with it. Actually a very wise move for not that rich club to keep a player, who might draw attention from bigger clubs. Sadly it's quite impossible to do for Lith clubs, cause no talented player will agree on it.
Regarding playin' time, it has nothing to do with contract. Look at Unicaja's roster, it's build with a thought of having no stars, but instead couple of more or less equal players in each position. Kuzia has Carlos Suarez besides him, so there's simply no way Kuzia could get 30+ mins on court. Also Vasileiadis is used as SF too at times. Overall, in Unicaja you could hardly find a player who is playin' close to 30mins on regular basis, Plaza tries to rotate quite a lot and share time between players. Another problem with Kuzia, he is not used too much in decisive moments of the game, we all know why.
Overall, I really wouldn't mind Kuzminskas to stay in Unicaja for another year. Of course we could hardly expect lot of changes in his playin' time as Suarez will stay for sure and Kuzia would have a competition there, but I'm afraid it could be worse in some Turkish club, where usually pressure on foreigners is much higher, expectations from fans/owners too and I'm not sure Kuzia could handle it properly

Signing with Darussafaka would be a step down for Kuzia. I hope he stays in the Euroleague. He obviously belongs there.

Darussafaka has ambitious and rich owners and hopes to qualify to EL next season

[vaslover]

I can,t imagine that one of the best current SF's in EL can play in Darussafaka. Ok, when we can see Seibutis there, he,s almost 57 yo, but Kuzia..... He,s still 25 and i hope that he has ambitions to play in the NBA, like our Alexey Shved. Both of them have GREAT physical abilities, both of them 100% NBA material , but one of them playing in the NBA,thus realizes a dream,while Kuzia most probably will go in Darussafaka..... Amazing happens........