2020 Lithuanian NT: in a chase of Olympic dream

[Straight forward]

What are you even talking about? What 16 games, what doesn't count? What Saras doesn't understand, what JV has to do with it, what's happening? LOL...

Seriously, Shaw, sometimes your posts are such a mess

[madmax]

What are you even talking about? What 16 games, what doesn't count? What Saras doesn't understand, what JV has to do with it, what's happening? LOL...

Seriously, Shaw, sometimes your posts are such a mess

I believe he's trying to take a sarcastic jab at you and your posts here mate regarding the "contemporary basketball" you are constantly raving about...just failing to express it in a coherent manner lol

[Straight forward]

I believe he's trying to take a sarcastic jab at you and your posts here mate regarding the "contemporary basketball" you are constantly raving about...just failing to express it in a coherent manner lol

No shit!

PS: You're amazing and obviously have zeeerooo clue about it.

[Shawshank]

Stf you don't understand irony at all, no fun with you

[Straight forward]

Stf you don't understand irony at all, no fun with you

No, it's not the case. I've got your intentions, but it just were too loose and you mis-interpreted some of my words. Also, I didn't have time to replay back than.

In euroleague it was 19 games played...16 games doesn't count only last 3 games counts ok

Every game counts. Lekavicius had some good, some bad games, obviously struggling to shoot threes in those 16 games, but other than that was more or less spot on with 7-8pts average.

Nice hangover half of euroleague season.Lukas have no problems in defence, he don't need no help from teammates i don't understand why he plays only 19 min.He can score, who cares about playmaking and defence.

The D is an issue, but not as huge. He will never play more than 25 minutes, so if it's not bonus time, he can simply commit a foul to avoid obvious miss-match. Some help is needed, but he's a good face to face defender, and hustles as nuts. As for playmaking, we all know how much you can get from him, he'll never be the best facilitator around.

Sharas don't understand that basketball is changing?!

Playing biggest minutes by players that's actually can defend everything ,but very limited offensively in Walkup,Ulanovas, Hayes.

Didn't get this one. What Saras exactly doesn't understand, and how could I imply the idea that he doesn't? By saying that current Lekavicius should mess around offensively even more? Sure, I hold on this. That doesn't mean he should play more than 25 minutes. Just happy that Zalgiris playing a bit faster lately and both Lekavicius and Walcup have freedom to mess around a little bit more in transition.

Playing guys who can defend multiple positions is exactly contemporary basketball. Why you even mention Wallcup (best shooter of Zalgiris this season), Hayes, Ulanovas? The latter 2 should should better, but that's all, they are all defensive players. Contemporary basketball is about all around skills and flexible D, not shooting alone.

[madmax]

No shit!

PS: You're amazing and obviously have zeeerooo clue about it.

yup, I've got zero clue about the game which I've played and watched for 30 years now...nice to know that only SF has a slightest clue about basketball in Lithuania
Can we call you the biggest unrealized basketball expert on the planet already?

[Straight forward]

yup, I've got zero clue about the game which I've played and watched for 30 years now...nice to know that only SF has a slightest clue about basketball in Lithuania
Can we call you the biggest unrealized basketball expert on the planet already?

No Shit - "Used to express contemptuous acknowledgment of the obvious."

[madmax]

No Shit - "Used to express contemptuous acknowledgment of the obvious."

and my reply was to the second part of your post where you once again tried to patronize me or anybody else for that matter who disagrees with your basketball views...good day to you anyway sir, hopefully one day one of your favorite "young guns" will actually produce on court and lead our NT to medals again

[Straight forward]

and my reply was to the second part of your post where you once again tried to patronize me or anybody else for that matter who disagrees with your basketball views...good day to you anyway sir, hopefully one day one of your favorite "young guns" will actually produce on court and lead our NT to medals again

There's no favourites. Just good and bad. At least in the first place.

[ZaliaBalta]

Seibutis is going to have a back surgery. Sounds like the end of his career, or maybe one or two seasons at some mid level LKL team after the rehabilitation..

[Straight forward]

Short reflections of recent:

- Amazing to see Domas becoming an ALL STAR. It's super hard to reach that. He's among absolute elite this season. Way to go.
- Nice to see Lekavicius providing. He exceeding my expectations.
- Nice to see Jokubaitis warming his feet in EL and even having a heck of a game against ALBA. Also Sirvydis lately provides in second phase of Eurocup.
- Eager to hear how A.Marciulionis will do in prestigious BWB camp. Surprised they leaved Tubelis aside. Maybe they becoming even more selective.
- And last, but not the least, somehow Kobe's death touched me, even if I never was a huge fan of him.

[Straight forward]

What's your take on Brazdeikis? Would you invite him to the NT camp in Kaunas?

My take, he's ain't ready at all. Sure, he can score when he's a focal point in a wild environment as G league, sure he has a bright future as a scorer at PROs, but at the moment he simply isn't even close to NT level. Some of our 19yo as Jokubaitis, Sirvydis, or the same D.Giedraitis are much more familiar with real PRO BB and much more ready for NT than Brazdeikis. But...I still think we should invite him to the camp. It would get awkward if we give him citizenship, but would leave him aside. I would be liberal enough to invite him and looking to secure his spot at 12th position if possible. That would be an investment. But people as Rutenis Paulauskas should quit their joking saying Brazdeikis is better than Butkevicius. Butkevicius is a real established PRO, he would bring what he brought in 2019. It's not much, but it's real and reliable. Iggy would be lost as chicket in most cases, specially at D end, and even at O where he goes ISO and doesn't really know yet other ways of contribution.

Let's face it, if today we would have to bet who would be the most gifted pure scorer in the 20's, I would bet Brazdeikis. Also he likely to fill that need of players who can put the ball on the floor and to score. So I would be willing to at least have him in the camp, like teaching him and taking him to quallies and Olympics at the best case scenario. If Maskoliunas would call him and say "we're high on you, but just wait one season" I'm also fine with that. Generally speaking, I really don't think there will be the big difference after these 4 at the backourt players in Lukas, Mantas, Marius, Milas (to me Giedraitis is SF and has nothing to do at 2). Iggy could grab that formal 5th guard spot and would face some limited playing time here and there.

But seriously...Paulauskas has no idea what he's taking about, and I bet he didn't see a single game of Iggy, but he's first to speculate

[Shawshank]

He would be one of few 2-3 youngster i would invite in this year camp if president will give him citizenship.Unless he can play shooting guard,he has no chance making our strongest sf lineup in years.

Prep will be very short this summer and no time for experiments.Main players have to play from the start and built the team chemistry as fast as possible.

I wouldnt mind if Nauseda would give Brazdeikis passport after olympics,because it obviuos he will need time to adapt to european basketball and its unrelistic to do that in one month .So in order not to get some bad feelings it could be even better if Ignas gets citizenship after Olympics.

After 2020 Olympics 2-3 players will retire from nt and places will open for Brazdeikis,Masiulis,Jokubaitis type younsgters starting from new olympic circle in 2021.

Hopefully his mindset is not like 95% of american players there is Olympic games and thats it in international basketball.

[Mindozas]

So you keep listening to these amateurish podcasts and keep being pissed about it? Why, what for? It looks like some BDSM stuff, man

I didn't see a single Brazdeikis game in that G-League wilderness too, but I wouldn't judge even if I would have seen anything. There were various cases when some G-League guy made good or bad in EL, Eurocup and etc. Some with better stats failed, some with worse delivered. Brazdeikis is exactly a case which you must test to know his real capabilities in Euro, international bball, cause his playing for Canada youth team was a bit too long ago, but, well, he did really good there, so he is not complete newbie. Brazdeikis can prove his readiness only by being here. Who knows, maybe he will surprise us like some Songaila once. Maybe will need time to adjust. I surely wouldn't bet now who is more ready for NT - Lith youngsters or Brazdeikis. Butkevicius has only one obvious advantage - experience in Euro bball. So it's a bit like a coin toss, too little facts, too many question-marks. But if any young guy needs to be tested this summer - it's Brazdeikis. Not cause it'd be awkward not to, but cause in this case we really need to know what he can bring on the table, with the rest we know it all more or less. Still, I'm not sure what coaches will think about it, Matkevicius, who's opinion is valuable here, unlike some Rutenis, was talking today about NT a bit, so I udnerstood that Brazdeikis is not among sure options as of yet. Not for OQT. Btw, it seems Jankunas can be an option, it probably will cause a heart-attack for some here

[Straight forward]

Agreed with both of you. You made interesting point, Mindozas. Ignas really played in Youth FIBA level and at least offensively did it well. Those tournaments are really intense physically wise. However, Butkevicius has more than experience as advantage. He's nearly elite defender while Ignas really struggles defensively, like really I think he'll always remain rather poor defender, but at the moment there's open holes literally. Hopefully he'll fix some of that with time.

Another thought. How he would deal with Lithuanian NT culture? I mean, he's pure Lithuanian by blood, but pure American by culture. How he would handle Maciulis screaming? It's very unfamiliar in USA. Coaches rarely screams at players, let alone teammates. But I guess he has to go through sh...if he's serious about playing for the Lith NT. One day Jasikevicius will be NT coach, IMO Not to mention how Girgonis was abusing Kuzminskas for his defensive mistakes in exhibition game against Russia this summer. There's a reasons why Lithuanians are called sharp-toothed, we're surely rougher than Americans.