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Lithuanian NT 2015

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  • #61
    Lithuanians were saying lots of controversial to me when I said this team has nothing special, there is something wrong and your roster doesn't look scaring to me.

    60% maybe more of the NT players are from Zalgiris and this rate is rising by adding Rytas players to 80%. With all the respect for your teams but you always had still has easy path chance with you.
    IF YOU ARE NOT REAL CANARY, THEN FU

    https://twitter.com/INTEGRAL1907

    REPUBLIC of FENERBAHÇE 2017-18

    Sloukas, B Dixon, Colom, R.Neto
    Wanamaker, Guduric, MeMa, Djedovic, Causeur
    Datome, Bertans, Nunnaly, Hanga, Lojeski, Ponitka, Ulanovas
    Melli, Kalinic, Shengelia, Bjelica, Teletovic
    Vesely, A.Düverioğlu, Marjanovic, Dubljevic, J Hamilton, Lauvergne, Jokic, Ante Zizic

    Comment


    • #62
      The only solid indicator of whether Lithuania is in an easy Group will come in the Round of 16.

      Comment


      • #63
        Still the offence of this Team Lietuva just looks stilted. There's a world of difference between the free flowing movement shown by the 2010 team and this one. Maybe it's the coaching change, maybe it's because the 2010 team had Linas Kleiza at his best, I just don't know.

        Comment


        • #64
          Originally posted by Hepcat View Post
          Still the offence of this Team Lietuva just looks stilted. There's a world of difference between the free flowing movement shown by the 2010 team and this one. Maybe it's the coaching change, maybe it's because the 2010 team had Linas Kleiza at his best, I just don't know.

          Yes something about 2010 that was nice flow of basketball. Improvisation from players and no psychological issues,Something that is surprising giving the fact that Eurobasket 2009 was a tragedy in Lithuania's basketball history. Yes 2010 team was better then this years but nobody tough we will get Bronze plus wining the group versus Spain France and Canada. Destroying Argentina and Serbia for Bronze... Its coach doing something wrong but nobody knows.
          Lithuania

          Olympic Games: Bronze 1992-1996-2000.
          FIBA World Championship : Bronze 2010.
          FIBA EuroBasket : Gold 1937-1939-2003. Silver 1995-2013-2015. Bronze 2007.

          Comment


          • #65
            Team Lietuva played a fast paced game in 2010. None of Coach Kazlauskas' current schemes seem to be based on transition basketball. The team just seems to set up for methodical half court basketball.

            Comment


            • #66
              Originally posted by INTEGRAL View Post
              60% maybe more of the NT players are from Zalgiris and this rate is rising by adding Rytas players to 80%.
              That's just not true. Four of the players on Team Lietuva played for Žalgiris Kaunas last year, one played for Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas and seven played elsewhere.

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              • #67
                Originally posted by Hepcat View Post
                That's just not true. Four of the players on Team Lietuva played for Žalgiris Kaunas last year, one played for Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas and seven played elsewhere.
                Kalnietis, Lekavicius, Seibutis, Jankunas, Javtokas + Kavaliauskas, Gailius

                7 of 12 players in Zalgiris and Rytas. And Milaknis played in Zalgiris until 1 month ago.
                IF YOU ARE NOT REAL CANARY, THEN FU

                https://twitter.com/INTEGRAL1907

                REPUBLIC of FENERBAHÇE 2017-18

                Sloukas, B Dixon, Colom, R.Neto
                Wanamaker, Guduric, MeMa, Djedovic, Causeur
                Datome, Bertans, Nunnaly, Hanga, Lojeski, Ponitka, Ulanovas
                Melli, Kalinic, Shengelia, Bjelica, Teletovic
                Vesely, A.Düverioğlu, Marjanovic, Dubljevic, J Hamilton, Lauvergne, Jokic, Ante Zizic

                Comment


                • #68
                  I said last year. Javtokas, Jankūnas, Milaknis, Lekavičius and Kavaliauskas were the only ones on the Žalgiris and Rytas teams last year. We'll see when the 2014-15 season begins whether all the players on your list are still with the two teams.

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Mindaugas Kuzminskas was great against the Czech Republic today and has had a decent tournament so far.

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      Originally posted by Hepcat View Post
                      Mindaugas Kuzminskas was great against the Czech Republic today and has had a decent tournament so far.

                      Kuzminskas having a decent tournament so far ? To nicely said. Against Czechs we saw the real Kuzminskas . Before he was just shit Maybe you didn't see enough of his performance , just asking . But anyways was surprised how Valanciunas just came on the court like ''don't worry I got this '' And destroyed Jan Veselý. Being sick and all, he said he didn't eat for almost two days and was laying in bed resting. Also we all said that Milaknis should get more time to play,and look at him few minutes later Bombarding Czechs with Threes. Although this was again the ending with drama but the game look much smoother and free. I hope we can repeat that with Georgia..Also I like how Kazlauskas was rotating its players today. Sad about Lekavicius thought he will do much better in the tournament but he just cant get buckets. All of his shots are a miss.
                      Lithuania

                      Olympic Games: Bronze 1992-1996-2000.
                      FIBA World Championship : Bronze 2010.
                      FIBA EuroBasket : Gold 1937-1939-2003. Silver 1995-2013-2015. Bronze 2007.

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        There is a very good overview in Lithuania FB about LT NT, anf why we play like we play. I think it is very close to the truth. Will try to translate to english:

                        We all remember when Kazlauskas was assigned as a NT coach. It looked amazing to have a coach of such level in our NT. And today Kazlauskas is the one who gets most of the blame for the NT performance. By the way, same was two years ago, in groups stage as well. Hard to tell - maybe this is his tactics, to reach top form in later stages, sneaky way to pass weak groups in first stage. It does not matter. What matters is actual game style. Everyone who says, how ugly LT NT play, like to say "This is typical Kazlauskas style". But I am thinking that this is typical Kazlauskas style only for last 3 years.

                        In reality Kazlauskas is very flexible coach. Remeber, when he won Euroleague with Zalgiris. Then Eurolague was dominated by defensive style teams and Kazlauskas made a revolution by wining the title with easy running, free, attacking style and improvising team. Many people said that Zalgirs changed the face of Euroleague that season. Yes, it was long time ago, but the coach was the same. Later he was coaching Lietuvos Rytas and style was the same, young hungry players could improvise, game was very atractive to watch.

                        Keeping all this in mind comes only one conclusion - LT NT is playing level like this because of level of our resources/players. You make game plan according the players you have. In LT there are many statements that JV is made the leader by force, artificially. Seriuosly? Who else can be leader in this team? Remember, when team had Kleiza and Kalnietis in his top form, JV was at least 3rd option in offense. Now we do not have such players who could pull the team on their shoulders when needed.

                        Lets analyse NT players.

                        Seibutis is our main guard, even he played in top teams only few years in his career ("Olympiacos") and then he was very young. Of couse, he has many +, he is aggresive, good defence, but will never be the player who can make big impact to the final result. He is very responsible hard working horse and will not become a leader.

                        Leader can be Kalnietis, but we see that he is far from good shape. Personally I am happy that Kalnietis playes pretty wise - good passing, only few crazy decisions.

                        What is next? Maciulis. All last season he was also hard working horse shoting three shots per game in very strong team. Can a player who is a role player all season suddnely become a leader? No. And if he becomes a leader, it means there is something wrong in our NT.

                        Kuzminskas had pretty good season, but you rememeber ending of it? When Plaza gave Mindaugas less and less minutes? There was ever theories that he is doing like this to pull down the price of a player before new contract. Ha ha ha. Simply he is a player who cannot play deciding minutes of a game and super important game at all. I had secret hope that this year Kuzia will overcome Maciulis, but we do not see anything happening like that. Mindaugas is still the same cute pussy cat who cannot scare neither Belgium nor Estonia.

                        Jankunas. All his life he played in Zalgiris, all his life he was average, but not a leader. Same he is in NT. He cannot become a dominanting player, just cant. All top teams in Europe have better PFs than Jankunas. This is a fact. Sabonis will be very nice player in the future, but not today.

                        Who is left? Lekavicius is just giving some time to rest for Kalnietis. He playing neither bad, nor good - simply according his capabilities.

                        If you look purely to the roster/names, we do not even get to top 8. Realise this. Long time ago we had Salenga in LT NT, he collected 13 ppg in Zalgiris, but in NT he was last player on the bench. Now players who have 8 ppg in Zalgitis are leaders of NT and Z is far from top clubs in Euroleague. According the names we are just average NT.

                        Now, having all this in mind, tell me - how should this team play? Dont you think that this team, giving all they have in defence and playing practically only on JV is best possible option? What would free, nice style would change with out medium players? Maybe EST and BEL NTs would hit us with 90 ppg? Yes, game is ugly, we are having tie games with average teams. But we do not have any other options. We have what we have. And only with this style of playing we can achieve something. Open your eyes and look to the list of the clubs our players are playing. Then look to the list of clubs players played in 2003 NT. Remember that then in last position on bench we kept Slanina who had 16 ppg in ACB and K.Lavrinovic who was absolute leader in strong Russian team
                        Last edited by taspac; 09-11-2015, 06:57 AM.

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Originally posted by taspac View Post
                          There is a very good overview in Lithuania FB about LT NT, anf why we play like we play. I think it is very close to the truth. Will try to translate to english:
                          Very average post to be honest. The guy makes very reductive and inaccurate comparisons. So 00's team was packed, who knew? Why even to compare those teams? 2003/2004 NT played like the best NT in Europe, no-one is having such conversations these days (no-one thinks it's a gold medal team). However, why not to remember 2010 WC team when it was Kleiza as 20ppg (rather similar to JV) and the deserts, not even a decent frontline...And that team killed Spain in the group stage, beat some serious teams (way stronger than we faced this season in the group). Everything is a bit more complicated right? There's thousands of details and those make the whole picture. Such reductive comparisons give little help.

                          Now I will make my little review about the NT so far this summer:

                          First of all, I have to say one thing which is nearly a fact in my book. Lithuania without current D-MO is almost the same as an athlete without one hand. His presence bringing most versatile and skilled scoring in the team, all around defence (including the step outs and handling 4/5 positions ability), passing ability, athleticism and intensity would make wonders. People who think that our roster is just too crappy, shouldn't underrate the thing D-MO is not there. He was the best Lithuanian player last year. If Jonas looks dominant (and I doubt this changes much against top opponents when it comes to 1 on 1 situations), you can imagine how big D-Mo could be as he had way bigger and serious role for the better NBA team. Second, despite the fact Milaknis delivered finally (with the first decent chance BTW) and Gailius played well in one game against Latvia, healthy and ready to go Pocius is still more important than any other option after Seibutis at 2. Pocius can stay with athletic guards on his feet, can cut the defences and usually delivers in the knock out stage. Not mentioning washed out Kleiza (with a possibility for some renovation) and still very good, but inevitably ageing Darjus, healthy D-MO and Pocius would radically change the face of the NT. Another key moment which would chance a lot - Kalnietis being 100% in shape and that should come if we will have a NT summer next season. Adding all this - NT took that what It came for in Riga. In the horrific fashion, but shorten bleeding Lithuania made it.

                          Did this NT underperform? Taking the hat off in front of Kazlauskas, I'm forced to say, yes, it slightly did. You could feel the NT was not yet oiled in the last preparation games lacking practices with Jonas and not having Kalnietis playing adequate basketball so the early struggle in the group stage didn't surprised me that much, however Kazlauskas and coaching staff failed to handle the team properly in the clutch time. It's still debatable, but I saw a lot of things which made think coaches lost the control of the situation a little bit. Another thing, Kazlauskas makes very harsh adjustments for every single game. Winners can't be judged, but it killed the identity of the team a little bit and not using broader rotation, refusing to go with proven players like Milaknis (the hell with couple of defensive mistakes, all players except Maciulis did it) who played a huge role in the preparation stage looked too suspicious and the last game showed (no matter the fact Kazlauskas would say it just was a good fit this time) our offence was at different level this way. Kazlauskas underlined the fact we should play faster, sharper, more intense and so on (can't agree more), but it was exactly him who dictated to be over reserved and careful and to stick with very limited and tiny frontline based offence in 3 first games. Some defensive mistakes were made as well (guarding shooting powerforwards forwards). So coaches did make mistakes; NT didn't play as this roster can, IMO.

                          Can this team play better? I think surely yes. For my tastes, Milaknis should get solid playing time anytime he's not guarding Parker or Llull. He's the third best guard we have, we need this sort of rotation badly. Kazlauskas should tolerate his defensive quickness. He's rather slow, but he's not as soft as Gecevičius. He can play and he should. Next - all 5 players should play. Till the game against Czech Respublic, NT relied on Jonas, Kalnietis or Maciulis, but it never played as a unit (and we talked so much about coherence...). So this is huge reserve - improved and oiled effort of all team. Now, speaking about individuals, Seibutis so far is underperforming, Kalnietis can go another step forward in terms of scoring and reducing turnovers, Milaknis and Gailius can bring more of the bench.

                          Now everything in Lithuania's hands.
                          LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:

                          Jokubaitis, Marciulionis, Laurencikas
                          Indrusaitis, Brazdeikis, Rubstavicius
                          Buzelis, Lelevicius
                          Murauskas, Sirvydis
                          Tubelis, Krivas

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            Who is your MVP so far of Lithuanian team . To me its really hard to pick between Maciulis or Valanciunas
                            Lithuania

                            Olympic Games: Bronze 1992-1996-2000.
                            FIBA World Championship : Bronze 2010.
                            FIBA EuroBasket : Gold 1937-1939-2003. Silver 1995-2013-2015. Bronze 2007.

                            Comment


                            • #74
                              Originally posted by Modis View Post
                              Who is your MVP so far of Lithuanian team . To me its really hard to pick between Maciulis or Valanciunas
                              Seibutis
                              Republic of CRVENA ZVEZDA

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                Originally posted by Modis View Post
                                Who is your MVP so far of Lithuanian team . To me its really hard to pick between Maciulis or Valanciunas
                                Not that hard. Maciulis seems like a clear cut MVP guy.

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