3X3 in Lithuania

[Mindozas]

Hmmmmm. I see that Darius Tarvydas was actually part of the Utena team with Gintautas Matulis, Ignas Vaitkus and Vytautas Šulskis that took the Silver at the Hoptrans 3x3 Tournament last August in Debrecen, Hungary.

He was, cause he played in Lithuanian Hooptrans with Utena also, being a former LKL Juventus player. Skucas was still injured for Hungarian tournament IIRC

[Hepcat]

Argument (that of Jonas Lekšas from Basketnews.lt) that Maciulis maybe will play for ltu in 3 vs 3 tournament thats why he is not make the team one of funniest arguments in long time i read

Does anyone else believe that the Lithuanian 3x3 team would be better with Jonas Mačiulis? I'm skeptical at best.

[Mindozas]

Does anyone else believe that the Lithuanian 3x3 team would be better with Jonas Mačiulis? I'm skeptical at best.

The same Novickas said that if Maciulis would dedicate himself to 3x3 game he would be a monster there, with practicing, some experience maybe even better than Serbian legend Dusan Bulut, who is also 1985 born btw. Maciulis body/style suits perfectly to such game

[Hepcat]

My underlying concern is that the Anykščiai training camp was envisaged as a team building exercise by the coaches and the LKF and just giving Mačiulis a free pass onto the team would upset the carefully built chemistry.

[Hepcat]

In some footage, while coaches are talking about it all, you can spot the teams, main one I guess is: Vaitkus, Skucas, Pukelis, Tarvydas. Pretty much a team I would expect to go to qualifiers too.

So I see that fully nine of the players at the Anykščiai training camp - Marijus Užupis, Aurelijus Pukelis, Šarūnas Vingelis, Paulius Beliavičius, Darius Tarvydas, Gintautas Matulis, Ignas Vaitkus, Vytautas Šulskis and Žygimantas Skučas - have since last summer played on one or the other of the two best 3x3 teams in Lithuania. Throwing Edvinas Šeškus into the mix, it's going to be very difficult for the coaches to narrow the team down to four even with Užupis not fully recovered from injury. Skučas may be the only player from the above list whose absence from the final four I'd find surprising.

I'm guessing that the coaches would probably like to get two more players to agree to be part of their unofficial teams and come to the Qualifying Tournament in Graz as well as the Olympics to enable full-fledged 3x3 scrimmages in practice. So six players in all might be selected with four being anointed as official team members for the Qualifying Tournament.

[Mindozas]

My underlying concern is that the Anykščiai training camp was envisaged as a team building exercise by the coaches and the LKF and just giving Mačiulis a free pass onto the team would upset the carefully built chemistry.

LKF won't decide anything on roster. They can arrange a camp and offer the best conditions, that's it Regarding Maciulis, it was all in theoretical level, I thought your question too. Maciulis doesn't have plans for this 3x3 qualifying tournament. He has pro contract in Greece and is thinking about OQT in 5x5, at first camp of course. I don't know, maybe, only maybe, if 5x5 team will fail and 3x3 will succeed, maybe then Maciulis could have a chance to make it Olympic team in 3x3, but I doubt anyone would change the team which would win Olympic ticket. It'd mean that it already is really good to fight for medals. Maciulis could turn himself into 3x3 for next cycle if will want to, he won't be even 40yo for 2024, that's not problem for 3x3 if you're that physically gifted player like Maciulis

So I see that fully nine of the players at the Anykščiai training camp - Marijus Užupis, Aurelijus Pukelis, Šarūnas Vingelis, Paulius Beliavičius, Darius Tarvydas, Gintautas Matulis, Ignas Vaitkus, Vytautas Šulskis and Žygimantas Skučas - have played on either the Šakių Gulbelė or Utena teams that have been the two best in Lithuania over the past year or so. Throwing Edvinas Šeškus into the mix, it's going to be very difficult for the coaches to narrow the team down to four even with Užupis not fully recovered from injury. Skučas may be the only player from the above list whose absence from the final four I'd find surprising.

I'm guessing that the coaches would probably like to get two more players to agree to be part of their unofficial teams and come to the Qualifying Tournament in Graz as well as the Olympics to enable full-fledged 3x3 scrimmages in practice. So six players in all might be selected with four being anointed as official team members for the Qualifying Tournament.

I'd find surprising absence of Vaitkus, healthy Uzupis. Skucas is good, but if coach will decide to play with a bit lighter 4, let's say former two + Tarvydas or some Urbonas, Vingelis. Then Pukelis and Skucas might have direct competition and I sincerely don't know who will win the spot between the two. In 2nd day Skucas played in that theoretically weaker quartet, IIRC Vaitkus, Pukelis, Urbonas and Vingelis was the best on paper. Skucas was with Sulskis, Matulis, his Utena teammates and probably Beliavicius from Sakiai if I'm not wrong. A plan is to leave 8 players for final camps. No doubt that Utena and Sakiai will have majority

[Hepcat]

I'd find surprising absence of Vaitkus, healthy Uzupis.

It's a pity that Marijus Užupis is hurt. I've been watching some videos of Lithuanian 3x3 teams and he's got real game:

[Hepcat]

From the 2019 3x3 Europe Cup:

[Hepcat]

Užupis was a one man wrecking crew in the 2019 Europe Cup Bronze Medal game:

[Hepcat]

The New York Harlem team may well be the one representing the United States in the pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament in May. Here's the game between Harlem and Utena played in Jeddah in December 2020:

[Mindozas]

The New York Harlem team may well be the one representing the United States in the pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament in May. Here's the game between Harlem and Utena played in Jeddah in December 2020

USA should be represented by the team which won 2019 3x3 World Cup. At least they were announced as the ones going to qualies last year. This team looked much better than Harlem's one. It also consist of 5x5 pro Robbie Hummel who played in Europe, even Euroleague, he made major difference and was World Cup MVP

[Hepcat]

Hmmmmm. Interesting the question about the United States team. The team that won the 2019 3x3 World Cup for the U.S. was the Princeton team. Right now Harlem is ranked #4 in the world while Princeton is #5:

3x3 Team Rankings

Here's the latest commentary from FIBA on the rankings:

Analysis of Changes in Preliminary Rankings

It's difficult to say whether Harlem or Princeton is better right now because Princeton didn't compete in either of the Hoptrans tournaments in Debrecen, Hungary in August and September or the one in Jeddah in December.

Utena was second in Debrecen in August and third in Jeddah in December while Šakiai Gulbelė was second in Debrecen in September. Utena though doesn't show up in the rankings probably because the team has only competed in three (I think) Hoptrans tournaments including the one in Palanga last July which was limited to just Lithuanian teams. Suffice it to say that Lithuania's chances at the pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament from May 26-30 in Graz, Austria look pretty good.

[Hepcat]

Here's a mix tape on Ignas Vaitkus compiled by FIBA:

[Mindozas]

Hmmmmm. Interesting the question about the United States team. The team that won the 2019 3x3 World Cup for the U.S. was the Princeton team. Right now Harlem is ranked #4 in the world while Princeton is #5:

3x3 Team Rankings

Here's the latest commentary from FIBA on the rankings:

Analysis of Changes in Preliminary Rankings

It's difficult to say whether Harlem or Princeton is better right now because Princeton didn't compete in either of the Hoptrans tournaments in Debrecen, Hungary in August and September or the one in Jeddah in December.

Utena was second in Debrecen in August and third in Jeddah in December while Šakiai Gulbelė was second in Debrecen in September. Utena though doesn't show up in the rankings probably because the team has only competed in three (I think) Hoptrans tournaments including the one in Palanga last July which was limited to just Lithuanian teams. Suffice it to say that Lithuania's chances at the pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament from May 26-30 in Graz, Austria look pretty good.

These rankings is tricky thing. Looking at these 3x3 tours, Princeton played only once in 2020 and did that without MVP Hummel, Harlem played in all the tours I saw, that probably helped them to climb up. In 2019 Princeton with Hummel won 2nd place in World Tour final, losing only against Serbia with Bulut and beating easily Harlem in 1/4. While Harlem finished 8th. Anyway, as much as I saw all of them playing, Hummel team is simply better. And I guess USA basketball decided to sent them to qualifiers cause they won that right during World Cup.
Regarding ranking, similar thing with our teams, when at best Utena has the edge over Sakiai, but they are not even in rankings yet and didn't get invitation to upcoming world tour event, Sakiai did as they are 9th IIRC

[Hepcat]

Yes. That's the way it looks.

I see that Princeton, New York Harlem and Šakių Gulbelė will all be competing in the Doha, Qatar Masters on March 26-27:

Doha Masters 2021

Barring injuries, Šakių Gulbelė will consist of Aurelijus Pukelis, Šarūnas Vingelis, Paulius Beliavičius and Darius Tarvydas. Should be interesting!