Ąžuolas Tubelis thread

[Toruko]

Finally Mike Schmitz heard you

Its very uncommon and surprising after this season. He should be loaned at least one year but as I said before he is offensively very talented and off course scouts are seeing it.

[Straight forward]

Damn, Arizona is building strong Baltic legion in the roster and other internationals. Tubelis and Kriisa should mess around a lot next season.

https://twitter.com/JustinESports/status/1527716781221040128

[Straight forward]

Tubelis skips U20 EC. Chronic hand issues, may need surgery.

[Straight forward]

Tubelis had some minor injury to deal with this summer arguing his decision to skip U20. But he started to work with Wildcats really early. Now I hear in the podcast that another reason was his wish to concentrate on individual workouts and to chase that NBA drafts 2023 chance. He needs a special year and to show that he can shoot if he wants to do it.

https://twitter.com/THutch1995/status/1547339926328397825

[Straight forward]

Tubelis will work with Damian Lillard as he's selected to Formula Zero. He will compete with other selected NCAA players in the camp as I understood. One of the key off seasons for Tubelis.

“Formula Zero is a community of elite basketball players led by Damian Lillard and Phil Beckner. This community is not for everyone. It exists only for those that have an obsessive and relentless passion to do things differently. This Formula is not fake or superficial. It impacts real change and has molded one of the best players on the planet. We care about you and want to tell you the truths that will help you succeed. If you are fortunate enough to be invited just know; we want nothing from you, but everything for you.”

https://zonazealots.com/2022/07/28/azuolas-tubelis-teams-damian-lillard-formula-zero/

[Straight forward]

https://twitter.com/azuolaz10/status/1557149426518437888

[Straight forward]

Some action from Tubelis. Won Arisona's team dunk contest with a nice dunk. Kinda strange to see 2 white folks from Baltic countries being main protagonists here https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/sta...53415951552513

And usual stuff in Red and Blue game. That transition basketball. I really want to see easy points in transition with Sabonis and Tubelis in the line-up. https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/sta...53415951552513

My biggest expectation (hope) to improve our second line-up for 2023 NT is to add D. Giedraitis and A. Tubelis. That improves defense, meaning more stops. With more stops we can have more fast brakes and easy points. In 2022 we lacked a bit of quality in the second line-up, specially defensively. D. Giedraitis and A. Tubelis likely can fix our lack of defensive guard and defensive big to some extent. Also Sedekerskis progression should be tracked closely too, but I'm not holding my breath.

We don't have defensive 1 as of yet (that's why I'm eager for the day when Marciulionis will be ready), but we could field defensively quite nice line-up with for some stretch with these players:

Jokubaitis, D. Giedraitis, Butkevicius, Tubelis, Sabonis

or

D. Giedraitis, M. Grigonis, Butkevicius, Ulanovas, Tubelis

[Straight forward]

This is what LTU BB community is about to finally figure it out soon:

https://twitter.com/idprospects/status/1353694862214909954

[Straight forward]

Tubelis could be in the NT camp last summer if I understood this correctly.

Azuolas Tubelis had two choices heading into the summer: Train with the Lithuanian national team and compete in the U20 European Championships, or stay in Tucson to rehabilitate a wrist injury and prepare for his third season with the Arizona Wildcats.

Azuolas Tubelis has extended his shooting range with hopes of becoming the kind of power forward scattered throughout the NBA ? lengthy shooters who can also rebound and defend multiple positions.

https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/basketball/stronger-tougher-azuolas-tubelis-hopes-to-put-ncaa-tournament-struggles-behind-him/article_7f730efa-565f-11ed-b024-af26d147ccc3.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_TucsonStar

[Straight forward]

Tubelis does what he does in the exhibition game vs Western Oregon. Drops huge hammer. Steals the ball in open court for a windmill dunk. Drops 19pts. Looks dynamic:

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1587628837025636354

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1587639607801233409

[Straight forward]

LOL, Tubelis too aggressive trying to steal the ball. He'll learn. He had 3 steals and 2 blocks in 23 minutes tough. I hope Tommy will unleash him for at least 28 minutes this season:

https://twitter.com/TheWildcaster/status/1587676151320756225

[Straight forward]

Tubelis with huge opening! 23pts, 7rbs, 6as, 2bl. 10 shots made from 12. Very efficient. Poised to dominate.

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1589820148768071680

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1589812966945304576

[Straight forward]

OK, I have new thesis. Tubelis might be the best thing that happened to Lithuania at 4 position.

Arguments. He may be the most complete defender at 4 all time. J. Maciulis, which I would treat as the best all time option at 4, was undersized and mainly played at 3. M. Zukauskas wasn't physical and couldn't deal with big PFs down low. T. Masiulis I think is the second best all time defensive 4 after Maciulis, but he was a bit thin down low and his latteral quickness is worse. Jankunas had that physicality that T. Masiulis a little but lacked, but Jankunas lacked latter quickness. Tubelis has it both - good lateral quickness and size/toughness to bang inside.

Knowing current BB trends I'm happy that don't even need to come back to Kleiza's comparison. In other words, I'm happy Tubelis is not Kleiza. Kleiza couldn't guard and he was all about offense. Today we badly need defensive players and Tubelis can provide both at 4 and 5. His offensive profile is lesser than Kleiza's, but today we need defensive bigs more than anything else. I watched today Spain- Lithuania EB game and Willy scored first 6 points on JV/Domas with ease. We really have a problem with the defense when it comes to bigs. We can't win things in today's bb without solid defensive bigs generally.

I foresee that Tubelis might be the most complete 4 ever, first 2 ways PF/modern 5. I really like his ability to change directions defensively, I really like the combination of quickness and toughness, I can see that he reads the defenses well, provides good timing on help defense, can cover much ground and defend multiple positions. Good rebounder and solid chase down blocker.

Here's a good piece of offensive and defensive possessions highlights of Arizona and you can see plenty of possessions with Zu at both ends. The sooner this guy will be ready for the NT, the sooner we will be able to play some serious defense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXlOg0p5jAQ&ab_channel=MatthewLovesBall

[Straight forward]

That's about right as No.1 spot goes

https://twitter.com/Eurohopes/status/1591832245362659330

[Straight forward]

Who said Zu can't shoot? 2/2 from three this season And look at this - https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/statu...19720077606913

So far so good, 20ppg, many dimes, rebounds. Kriisa and and Tubelis connection is pretty fun. Already want to see Jokubaitis messing with Zu in the fast brakes:

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1593434320990965761