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As I expected, bleak roster selection led to bleak performance. Even if that first windows game and the anxiousness played a role here, but you can clearly see some of figures are simply mediocre, bleak and not worth the stage. There had to be Velicka. He has been running Cbet much more steadily and consistently all season long and Janavicius looks horribly. Kalnietis looks as washed out as ever and nearly horrific at D, but he played tons of minutes in Russia so in summer with fresher legs he'll still be fine, as he was in 2019. But I assume Jokubaitis may be looking as the best PG in these windows at this point of the season, wouldn't be a surprise. Dimsa looks decently at D, but indecisive and too passive at NT level, maybe needs more time to adjust. Valinskas is soft as tissue, it's not even close, shouldn't be there (both Sirvydis, D.Giedraitis had to be in). Kuz is passive and still somewhat shaky mentally at NT, he'll be OK with time though, IMO. Maciulis defensively still OK, but generally a bleak figure at this point of career, basically his presence in OQT is nearly irrelevant. Bendzius as I said can't guard no-body and it will get much worse against stronger competition. Masiulis perimeter D looked really shaky, for a modern 4 he must improve at this point. I'm even more convinced best option at 4 in Kulboka has been left aside. D-Mo generally looks too clumsy for my tastes, IMO, he would struggle against elite opponents, but was OK.
Basically from this roster I see Kalnietis and Kuz as locks and Dimsa, Maciulis, D-Mo, Bendzius, Butkevicius as possible options for OQT, IMO.
Hard to say something about Maskoliunas other than that team was unprepared mentally and he overused Bendzius way too much. Reality chuck and rough debut.
To sum up, we fielded bleak, unathletic, untalented and mediocre roster. Missed opportunity to incorporate young talent and start preparing re-build which we badly need.
LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
It's not tragedy. It's consequence. It's consequence of poor scouting, coaching and handling (federation) NT overall. When in 2017 Adomaitis was hired, you knew that it's not NT calibre coach. We failed in 2017 and 2019 with some sharp and noticeable mistakes by the head coach. Now occupied head coach without experience is hired and the assist who is also occupied and both treating NT as a half time job. That's how federation constructed their B plan after Adomaitis retired. The scouting was horrific for these windows. If we had Velicka, D. Giedraitis, Sirvydis, Kulboka and even Sedekerskis, this roster would be so much more vital, athletic, sharper, aggressive and so much better at D end. The loss is ugly, but I'm not concerned about that, I'm concerned about the signs that we are becoming a BB province in terms of how we handle NT. There's enough of talent ripping, but I can see there's no personalities who can handle all this. And we keep rolling with mediocre options. Maskoliunas start is highly disappointing in terms how he constructed the roster and how he handled first game. I don't care about the loss much.
LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
what the hell was this? 3 querters team was scared and lost for some unknown reasons.
Dmo looked like Valanciunas in pikenroll defence slow as elephant.Those talks that he today can still play PF is ridiculous .
Put baseline to baseline run Valanciunas,Dmo and Jankunas who finish first? Jonas would be my favourite to win atleast he is trying to run all season with Morant from those 3.
Bendzius damm...the best part about him in this game was when Belgium fans was shouting ale Ben---dzius Ben --dzius everytime
Those 2 belgium small streetballers was making fun of all our guards. Our guards looked like veterans 45+ old guarding 25 old pros. Humiliating them 1 vs 1 so easily every time.The only Butkevicius looked like mobile athlete that can run with them.
We gonna beat by 20 Czech because players will be pissed after this pathetic performance.
Im not liking Maskoliunas plan trying to put difficult zalgiris system in such short of time,sometimes when no time to prep let the players play ! It was obviuos our players was overthinking for 3 querters because got too manny new info in couple days.
Im not liking Maskoliunas plan trying to put difficult zalgiris system in such short of time,sometimes when no time to prep let the players play ! It was obviuos our players was overthinking for 3 querters because got too manny new info in couple days.
Dude, watch your mouth, alright! There's some saint things here after all. Watch precisely what you're saying regarding Zalgiris, you may end up being a liar, a liar. There's a thin line when you comment Zalgiris here, and since NT head coach is Zalgiris' coach, you gotta keep things straight and firm, watch your back. There's some guys who know all Zalgiris fans here and even people who work in Zalgiris...
LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
We gonna beat by 20 Czech because players will be pissed after this pathetic performance.
.
To be honest, it can go wither way. I don't see who can lead this team, other than some Kuz if he gets rolling. At 5 there's clumsy D-Mo, at 4 Bendzius, at SF Kuz, at 2 Dimsa (that's good), and at 1 Kalnietis. So only Dimsa seems solid at D from starting line-up. Very vulnerable team defensively and off course Butkevicius will play so much more, Maciulis will move to 4 I guess. If Chezch Rep will come prepared and have some sharp shooting, it may be another bleak performance. Jokubaitis hopefully will bring some offensive flow. And If Kalnietis won't be running the show, it may be another very bleak performance. This team without Grigonis and Lekavicius looks extremely toothless.
LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
Dude, watch your mouth, alright! There's some saint things here after all. Watch precisely what you're saying regarding Zalgiris, you may end up being a liar, a liar. There's a thin line when you comment Zalgiris here, and since NT head coach is Zalgiris' coach, you gotta keep things straight and firm, watch your back. There's some guys who know all Zalgiris fans here and even people who work in Zalgiris...
Dont worry I can take care of myself
Zalgiris system is very good for average tallent team it is proven already,but problem our Nt will not have 3-4 months 20+ played games until players begin to understand and react to system rules fast enough.Im have my doubts about zalgiris playing system and only 1 months Nt prep.
This lose means nothing dont need overreact,but still its was shamefull performance how we lost.When you let streetballers feel it it really hard to stop them.Alot of upsets today Lithuania,Latvia,Slovenia,France,Turkey lost against weaker teams.
Lets take this game as some kind sacrifice maskoliunas made for those 6-7 players that will be in camp when June comes to introduce them zalgiris system rules before main camp starts.I see no logic putting young players today that wont even be in camp after 4 months.Main goal now is June camp and starting to prepare for that in this 2 games.
Lets take this game as some kind sacrifice maskoliunas made for those 6-7 players that will be in camp when June comes to introduce them zalgiris system rules before main camp starts.I see no logic putting young players today that wont even be in camp after 4 months.Main goal now is June camp and starting to prepare for that in this 2 games.
Let's be fair. Maskoliunas deserves some teasing after such start and specially when he acted so cool before the game. But I don't give a damn about the loss really. I take another one if I'll see any meaning in that, like preparing for OQT and stuff. Maybe, but there won't be Valinskas, Janavicius either...and probably Bendzius as well...fact. Kulboka had to be in because he's legitimate PF candidate already. He may even be the second best option after Sabonis at 4. Because other guys in competiton are softy Bendzius, undersized and declined Maciulis and declined Jankunas (even if looks better recently). That makes Kulboka absolutely legitimate candidate if not the best after Domas. Again, Valinskas is completely unplayable at such level, waaaayyyy too soft, way. Sirvydis with his size, toughness and IQ is any day already more serious player, and so is other youngsters, IMO. Let's stop the nonsense like Janavicius and Valinskas have any chances to make OQT and that they are any better than our most brightest youngsters.
LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
On the other hand, Adomaitis probably would get literally killed after such game... -37 against Belgium at some point..without EL players.
Adomaitis's team was an extremely solid having in mind the roster and comparing with today's performance. No way it would be a loss to Belgium, at least not so awful for sure, there was a win against Chroatian NT with Bogdanovic and Saric. Guess who was a top scorer on Lith side that day And that day was the only one i remember when Adomaitis got deserved credits. But he deserved much more for a quality and every damn time fighting team, not like this one. You wrote about antagonism towards Kulboka but the real one was in Adomaitis's case. I think he can be the best Lith coach if it's about a mediocre roster, well, leaving Saras on the side.
Adomaitis's team was an extremely solid having in mind the roster and comparing with today's performance. No way it would be a loss to Belgium, at least not so awful for sure, there was a win against Chroatian NT with Bogdanovic and Saric. Guess who was a top scorer on Lith side that day And that day was the only one i remember when Adomaitis got deserved credits. But he deserved much more for a quality and every damn time fighting team, not like this one. You wrote about antagonism towards Kulboka but the real one was in Adomaitis's case. I think he can be the best Lith coach if it's about a mediocre roster.
In a good day Bendzius can shoot the lights out. But he's going roller coaster even in LKL. Watch his games stats sheet. With his offensive talent he could be at least 15ppg player, but he's so damn inconsistent. And the problem is that in real deal FIBA tournaments there's even more toughness and opponents are much more talented than in quallies. I still do not exclude Bendzius for 100%, I'm the advocate of adding shooting, but why to risk with non-defensive Bendzius, if you get basically the same and even more universal offensive package in Kulboka with way, and I mean it, better D. Adomaitis handled the quallies well. I think Maskoliunas was too laid back in terms of preparing the team emotionally. But Adomaitis couldn't handle real tournaments. Obvious mistakes preparing D against p'n'r, both against Greeks in 2017 and France, Australia in 2019.
LTU NT will snatch Eurobasket 2029 title with this roster:
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