Mar 16, 2010, 1:05 pm
(This post was last modified: Mar 16, 2010, 1:09 pm by straight forward.)
Quote:Recently there are much talks about Tadas Klimavičius. Many people, including Rimas Kurtinaitis, think that he should be called up for the national team. If not the final squad then at least to the training camp. Do you think he has reached the level needed to play for NT already? Or does his game only shows that the front line of Žalgiris is rather weak?
Personally I think that Klimavičius has improved his game a lot during the last two years but I think he is NT material or that he will ever be. If Kemzūra is smart and will use Kleiza as PF primarily then I can't see how Klimavičius could make the final squad. However, if one our PF's is injured Klimavičius should be the first-choice back up.
Klimavičius is a hardworker and he really improved lately. On other hand, he didn't do anything special. For example Jankūnas was having a double digits every time he's on the court for Žalgiris (in important games) three years on a row and it's not like he had any worth mentioning role in Lithuanian NT yet. Now, Klimavičius had some really impressive period for Žalgiris (and solid season overall) and fans get too exited (not without a help of Kurtinaitis surely ). But the fact is that Klimavičius is PF and there we have red hod Kleiza (I'm totally agree with you, Kleiza should be messing around at the PF position in NT as well), constant all- Euroleague member K. Lavrinovič, D. Lavrinovič, Jankūnas who despite his slowdown in Khimki is a starter of better team and even everyday progressing D. Motiejūnas might be around and step in with some surprises.
On other hand, K. Lavrinovič has some problems with injuries this season, M. Petravičius might skip the tournament for the same reason as well. So you never now. Personally, I'm looking forward to see how D. Motiejūnas looks at the NT camp and not Klimavičius. I have a feeling that Jankūnas will fight for the last spot exactly with Donatas. We'll see.