Jul 7, 2010, 9:06 pm
Well, I wouldn't be that pessimistic. Even last year we could do better thing, but Butautas an Co. completely destroyed the team.
Now we'll have GeceviÄius who proved he can play very well at Euroleague level. If he'll be able to produce something like that in NT, we already in way better position because there was no single guard who could make things in 2009 team. More over, Kalnietis should be able to produce some normal BB at least at some length. Than we could expect either Pocius or Seibutis to be integrated, the latter one even has decent ball handling skills and good at crossovers - that is very important because we need energy going from our backourt (we were literally impotent by this mean in Poland). If we'll get some guards making the game, we will expect way better things from Kleiza and other big guys. The bad thing is that our fontcourt won't be so good while we won't have PetraviÄius and there's still a question about both LavrinoviÄ.
Now the bad thing IMO would be if KemzÅ«ra would decide to integrate Lukauskis and say Delininkaitis/EitutaviÄius. We really have enough young players with bigger potential - Kalnietis, GeceviÄius, Pocius, Seibutis, JuÅ¡keviÄius. Now second game of NT is over - Lithuania: England 92:78. It's only a second game, but KemzÅ«ra's discovery EitutaviÄius is not producing anything worth mentioning in both games. Today he had 2 points, 6 TO and 3 assists in 12 minutes while youngster JuÅ¡keviÄius with 11 points. Let's not make conclusion already, but I really think KemzÅ«ra made a mistake by not including Kelys and JanaviÄius. What we can see from those two games so far, this team is playing without point guard...
So, all in all, what I expect is a good effort and if they will show some normal BB it will be a good step forward. No-one expects too much from this team, so they might feel pretty comfortable with that. As for the goals, I have to make a particular quote of Garastas "The aim is top8, but top4 would be a great joy", well that's pretty reasonable.
Speaking about 2011 it's obvious we won't be at the peak. But than again, Å aras is still a top class clutch player, GeceviÄius will be even better at that time, I think KaukÄnas is not washed out yet. We'll bring our best frontcourt players back most likely (maybe even Songaila who still not a black hole, at defensive end specially). With this scenario we would be competitive and with homecourt advantage we might even think about semis.
Now we'll have GeceviÄius who proved he can play very well at Euroleague level. If he'll be able to produce something like that in NT, we already in way better position because there was no single guard who could make things in 2009 team. More over, Kalnietis should be able to produce some normal BB at least at some length. Than we could expect either Pocius or Seibutis to be integrated, the latter one even has decent ball handling skills and good at crossovers - that is very important because we need energy going from our backourt (we were literally impotent by this mean in Poland). If we'll get some guards making the game, we will expect way better things from Kleiza and other big guys. The bad thing is that our fontcourt won't be so good while we won't have PetraviÄius and there's still a question about both LavrinoviÄ.
Now the bad thing IMO would be if KemzÅ«ra would decide to integrate Lukauskis and say Delininkaitis/EitutaviÄius. We really have enough young players with bigger potential - Kalnietis, GeceviÄius, Pocius, Seibutis, JuÅ¡keviÄius. Now second game of NT is over - Lithuania: England 92:78. It's only a second game, but KemzÅ«ra's discovery EitutaviÄius is not producing anything worth mentioning in both games. Today he had 2 points, 6 TO and 3 assists in 12 minutes while youngster JuÅ¡keviÄius with 11 points. Let's not make conclusion already, but I really think KemzÅ«ra made a mistake by not including Kelys and JanaviÄius. What we can see from those two games so far, this team is playing without point guard...
So, all in all, what I expect is a good effort and if they will show some normal BB it will be a good step forward. No-one expects too much from this team, so they might feel pretty comfortable with that. As for the goals, I have to make a particular quote of Garastas "The aim is top8, but top4 would be a great joy", well that's pretty reasonable.
Speaking about 2011 it's obvious we won't be at the peak. But than again, Å aras is still a top class clutch player, GeceviÄius will be even better at that time, I think KaukÄnas is not washed out yet. We'll bring our best frontcourt players back most likely (maybe even Songaila who still not a black hole, at defensive end specially). With this scenario we would be competitive and with homecourt advantage we might even think about semis.