Kaunas Zalgiris Thread

[Mindozas]

Mindozas

Jankunas is 36.5 old age now he can rest as much as he wants it won't help

Jankunas age is same as Songaila and Javtokas was last year in Zalgiris. I expect him looking similiar to those 2 in last season.

Take it easy Obviously I don't expect him to bring back his 2016-17 shape. Just wrote that I'm curious about it and that's it. But what you are wrong about is that being healthy and rested means A LOT in his case, it was awhile when he had such comfort. otherwise he would already be in Javtokas' office as assistant. Btw, Jankunas played as PF last season mostly and did that really well for what we could expect from him

If you play Rubit at center, what zalgiris gonna do with 4 centers Lauvergne,Geben,Jankunas,Blazevic on the bench?


Obviously plan is to play Rubit at pf.Otherwise frontcourt doesn't make sense.

I agree with Vysniauskas front court looks too big and slow for today's standards atleast on paper.

Nobody wrote that he will play as C only, read carefully Rubit was brought as PF more, but you must be naive to think that in nowadays basketball he won't be used as C and that wasn't in plans too. In small ball, with Hayes at PF, Rubit surely will have his minutes at C. As I wrote, Rubit is used to play in that position and has no problems about it. Blazevic/Geben... c'mon, can you seriously count on them in EL? Blazevic is future project, after Jokubaitis words I'm not even sure if he won't be loaned. Geben is limited guy with limited role, it would be great to see him improved during this break, but he has his ceiling too. I'd lean towards scenario where he will keep his role, some 10mpg guy. Of course that's a guess, cause god knows what Schiller has in plans

[Shawshank]

Im very chill, i dont see where you comming up with diffrent ideas

How many Lithuanian bigs you know that was still moving well in euroleague level after 36? Big Arvydas thats it basically all list .Jankunas now will be just sparing partner,loockeroom leader and will have little flashback once in month with 8pts+4reb and next year going to zalgiris office.


Geben was solid in 10minutes last year in euroleague.Jankunas never played together with Geben.He played most of his limited time together with Leday. Dont know where you are comming with those that he played most of his time as PF.But i have alot memories how Jankunas try to run to 3pointer and never in time to guard shooting men.Those days when he could guard PF is over.

Im saying facts Zalgiris has 4 centers and PF/C Rubit.Hayes is SF-PF player.I dont know what zalgiris office thinks and how they think to rotate bigs,but that Zalgiris have too many old school bigs thats true.

Other concerning thing that Lauvergne and Rubit is shaky shooters,Blazevic,Geben wont shoot at all from distance.Jankunas last year 3/21 from treepointer.No bigs will streach the floor

In todays basketball bigs must be able to switch in defence and shoot atleat open shots.I dont see alot of players with such abilities in Zalgiris.Thats what Vysniauskas meant about old school froncourt.

[Mindozas]

Im very chill, i dont see where you comming up with diffrent ideas

How many Lithuanian bigs you know that was still moving well in euroleague level after 36? Big Arvydas thats it basically all list .Jankunas now will be just sparing partner,loockeroom leader and will have little flashback once in month with 8pts+4reb and next year going to zalgiris office.

That's ok that you're chill, but here comes your eternal problem - you are too lazy to read what was written and you directly jump on conclusions Only thing I've wrote that I'm interested how Jankunas will look like after the break, without any forecasts or smth, bam, here comes Shawshank with Sabonis examples... Are you serious, mate?

Geben was solid in 10minutes last year in euroleague.Jankunas never played together with Geben.He played most of his limited time together with Leday. Dont know where you are comming with those that he played most of his time as PF.But i have alot memories how Jankunas try to run to 3pointer and never in time to guard shooting men.Those days when he could guard PF is over.

But he was defending against them very fine, especially in later stages of the season. As I wrote - I have no idea how he will look like now and it's not the vital thing for Zalgiris what so ever. So take it eazy, nobody is putting Jankunas into starting roles

Im saying facts Zalgiris has 4 centers and PF/C Rubit.Hayes is SF-PF player.I dont know what zalgiris office thinks and how they think to rotate bigs,but that Zalgiris have too many old school bigs thats true.

Other concerning thing that Lauvergne and Rubit is shaky shooters,Blazevic,Geben wont shoot at all from distance.Jankunas last year 3/21 from treepointer.No bigs will streach the floor

In todays basketball bigs must be able to switch in defence and shoot atleat open shots.I dont see alot of players with such abilities in Zalgiris.Thats what Vysniauskas meant about old school froncourt.

Vysniauskas and co talked only about Lauvergne, Geben and Blazevic as C options. That's what was wrong here. Rubit was totally off the screen for them, while he is more than capable to play C and can shoot some. And he will. Behind him at PF there'll be Hayes, who is getting better and better at shooting, just needs more confidence and clean his head. He started to do that lately. In EL C rotation will be: Lauvergne, Rubit, Geben/Blazevic. PF: Rubit, Hayes, Jankunas. That's my guess. With Rubit and Hayes on court I think there won't be much issues with stretching the floor. But talking generally, we have no money to bring versatile and at the same time EL-level frontcourt, so it is what it is. I'm fine with that so far and see no big concerns regarding frontcourt, except for injury issues. Let's wait for first friendlies and see how Schiller is dealing with that

[Straight forward]

Any broadcasting links of today's Zalgiris Vs VEF?

[Mindozas]

Any broadcasting links of today's Zalgiris Vs VEF?

Should be a game behind closed doors. I think the first time we'll see current Zalgiris in EL Preseason Tour

[Straight forward]

Schiller thrown Vasturia into starting line-up, maybe simple experiment, or maybe indication that he likes him (Garino still not suited?). I liked how Hayes dropped 5 threes, Zalgiris needs his offensive aggressiveness. I like how Lauvergne looks, seems tuned physically, really wealthy off-season it seems, and 6 assists look very nice. If he provides that kind of mobility and passing touch in EL, this might be great signing. Walcup looks great physically, his upper body is ripped, obviously poised for strong season. Milaknis is ageing nicely, no signs of decline, just doing his job like a machine. Grigonis will mess around, he wants to be No.1 even in friendlies, leadership swagger is there now sharper than ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxW4FqZf0W4

[Straight forward]

My take on Zalgiris' season day view. Schiller is not that bad as it seemed in preseason (some panicked to hysterical level...like Tiskevicius). Jokubaitis is huge, the swagger is impressive, and he's sneakingly big and athletic PG. Grigonis needs to improve physical condition, he tends to be too passive defensively and lacks stamina. Lauvergne loos pretty nice and I though Rubit was decent. Hayes can't suck like that, should get things together. I'm super tired with Walcup's meaningless kneading of the ball (I realised today) and hesitant decision making. Vasturia can't play. Overall, huge boost for Zalgiris after neurotic preseason

[Svajunas]

My take on Zalgiris' season day view. Schiller is not that bad as it seemed in preseason (some panicked to hysterical level...like Tiskevicius). Jokubaitis is huge, the swagger is impressive, and he's sneakingly big and athletic PG. Grigonis needs to improve physical condition, he tends to be too passive defensively and lacks stamina. Lauvergne loos pretty nice and I though Rubit was decent. Hayes can't suck like that, should get things together. I'm super tired with Walcup's meaningless kneading of the ball (I realised today) and hesitant decision making. Vasturia can't play. Overall, huge boost for Zalgiris after neurotic preseason

I will just say, there are two people that sticks out. Schiller and Vasturia. Both of them are not el level. Schiller showed that in 2nd Q when he had opportunity to stop oly run, but didn't call time out. Vasturia showed that throughout the whole game showing nothing.

19yo kid outplayed him badly.
Hayes has to get his shit together.
Grigonis is not there yet.

[Mindozas]

Don't be so harsh on Schiller, at least not now, it was his first EL game against experienced Bartzokas and his physical, defensive bball, which is not really Schiller's cup of tea. Of course he made mistakes, game was quite chaotic at times, but we stayed in it even after trailing by double digits after 3qtr. That's huge plus that team showed "cojones", after that Oly run in 3rd I was afraid that we will go back to glorious Brazys/Krapikas/Sireika and co days and the game is done. But team found a strength to go back to it, played some decent defense. Jokubaitis deserves all the praise, amazing showing in the end, finally a youngster who can play at EL level, we didn't have such for years, I mean in Zalgiris. Vasturia indeed looks bad, but he plays a bit out of his position, seeing him at SF in EL is quite sad. Hopefully it will not take too long for Garino to comeback. Overall, this game was another proof that we lack creative PG too bad, Walkup at times is pain in the eyes, especially in such halfcourt offense, against rival like Oly, Milaknis is a bit misused too. Good that we won, but still lot of room for improvement

[Dreamcatcher]

Would yiu think that smth is not ok with a coaching stuff if you wouldn't know that there isn't Saras anymore? I personally wouldn't. There were many games like that before: bad quality, loosing, but fighting, defending and staying in the game. I expected worse. Completely new coach without Euro experience, long break, but the team was there.

[Straight forward]

I agree Dreamcatcher, Zalgiris looked more refreshing than I expected.

PS: Off topic, but I was one of those who facepalmed when heard Petrauskas will comment Zalgiris on LRT When I listened him in Kaunas tournament I felt like I'm suddenly driving Moskvich. It's subjective, but to me it was pure pain "Tablo shows"...

[Mindozas]

Yeah, Petrauskas is not in shape, at times his emotions sounds so fake, not in a bad way, but he tries too hard to make it look genuine, of course that fakeness is not on Ceponis level, but still not the Petrauskas we used to hear back in his old days. Maybe with time he'll get used to the mic again. Hope so. Also he and Kazlauskas are so similar, that at times you can barely say who is who. Anyway, it's not that bad like Kunigelis is now in LKL games. FFS, he was my favorite commentator back in the days, but now he is sooo boring and hard to listen to. All that positive, know-it-all guy vibes, he brought it from LT NT games lately, when he had a chance to comment it maybe a year or two ago and being afraid to say smth wrong about it, about players, about federation

[Straight forward]

Indeed, Kunigelis is even worse. And I'm surprised he signed up for this.

To me, not only Petrauskas tries too hard to be cool and emotional, but his terminology and commentating style is way outdated, maybe he can catch up with that (I don't think you can do it fast though, and he was writing history books and plenty other stuff so he wasn't deep into contemporary ball for sure), but the biggest problem that he always has been bad at eye test. Like Geben is obviously late with his screen, Petrauskas watches the replay "and there was no foul, no foul, the ref made a mistake", I just can't tolerate such crap To me Vysniauskas and Ceponis due was spot on. Vysniauskas is objective and possesses all contemporary terminology and insights, while Ceponis brings cringy yet pretty fun jokes (often self irony) and he's much better at eye test and analysis of the game. I also thought Kazlauskas, Vysniauskas due was good enough. I believe current Vysniauskas and Leksas duo would be my favourite game analysis wise, maybe I will have to follow them somehow, because I think those two have the best basketball eye test from all current basketball journalists, commentators, podcasters.

[Straight forward]

Jokubaitis earned Euroleague's websites article with highlights:

https://www.euroleague.net/news/i/awoggceyqdhcddma/teenager-jokubaitis-was-the-decider-in-piraeus

[Shawshank]

Jokubaitis showed something seriuos in this games even not the biggest fans of this kid must admit that.

Only future great ones can win euroleague game at age of 19. It seems hierarchy of PG in NT will make change of guards in right moment once again.

Marciulionis was done by 1996,Jasikevicius started shining in 1999. Jasikevicius around 2009-2010 was already not same and we found other energetic pg in Kalnietis and ride with him entire decade.Mantas is close to be done and other pg started shinning just in time in Jokubaitis .

My guess once again our NT will ride him for a decade.History shows when great pg shows up in ltu basketball it stays around decade timeline.

NT must take him as 3rd pg if we make Olympics (start preparing him for the future) even if coach wont use him alot in 2021 summer.