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Jan 20, 2011, 3:21 pm
There are many things that can be discussed related to Zalgiris but one thing is so absurd that I can't leave it unnoticed. As you may have read in the latest Romanov's interview, he wants all of the players to be used during the game. That's means that every single player must play some minutes no matter what. It doesn't matter how he plays on a particular night or what is the situation on the court.
The above requirement sounds already close to absurd if not absurd. Especially from the coach's point of view. But it seems that it's not that simple as asking the coach to use all players in every game. What actually happens is that the coach is told how many minutes each player must play and when the changes must be made. What we see is ice hockey-type player changes. In other words 3-4 players are changed at random moments during the game.
Recently the post by some person surfaced in Lithuania who posted supposedly how the orders given to the coach look like. It might have been a hoax based on how it was done but it pretty close to what happens in reality. Until some unusual things happened during yesterday's game against Valencia.
Elias Zouros was constantly putting his hand in his jacket. I was curious because that's not what you see during the games usually. That was his first game as a head coach of Zalgiris and you could think that he had some notes about the team. Although that sounds hard to believe since I saw many last-minute coach changes but never such thing happened as coach looking at some paper sheet constantly. Coaches are professionals (well, Zalgiris's coaches usually aren't) and they prepare for the games in advance and they also learn about their own players. So to me the idea that Zouros had some notes made by himself or by someone else about the team just as an information source seems highly doubtful.
But if you look at this case in the context of all the rumours about Romanov's interruption in the coach's work it starts to make sense. I don't think I have to talk (unless someone asks) about Romanov's way of running football teams before buying Zalgiris.
Now some screenshots from the game.
Zouros takes the papersheet out of his jacket and walks to Kostic (assistant coach who works with the club since the start of the season) and says something. Probably asking for an explanation or some advice.
![[Image: scriptw.jpg]](http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/163/scriptw.jpg)
Kostic says something to Zouros and then he puts the papersheet back in his jacket and walks to the secretariat probably asking for a substitution.
![[Image: script4.jpg]](http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/1019/script4.jpg)
A closer look at what Zouros has in his hands.
![[Image: script5.jpg]](http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/6817/script5.jpg)
He puts the papersheet in his jacket and gives a "wtf is this nonsense?" look.
![[Image: script6.jpg]](http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/3690/script6.jpg)
Of course there might be another explanation but having in mind all the facts it seems very likely that he was given orders just as other coaches. Needless to say that such orders is an insult to the coach's dignity. Not only that it ties coach's hands as he is unable to do react on his own during the game but those are orders coming from a man who learned the rules of basketball a couple of years ago.
The above requirement sounds already close to absurd if not absurd. Especially from the coach's point of view. But it seems that it's not that simple as asking the coach to use all players in every game. What actually happens is that the coach is told how many minutes each player must play and when the changes must be made. What we see is ice hockey-type player changes. In other words 3-4 players are changed at random moments during the game.
Recently the post by some person surfaced in Lithuania who posted supposedly how the orders given to the coach look like. It might have been a hoax based on how it was done but it pretty close to what happens in reality. Until some unusual things happened during yesterday's game against Valencia.
Elias Zouros was constantly putting his hand in his jacket. I was curious because that's not what you see during the games usually. That was his first game as a head coach of Zalgiris and you could think that he had some notes about the team. Although that sounds hard to believe since I saw many last-minute coach changes but never such thing happened as coach looking at some paper sheet constantly. Coaches are professionals (well, Zalgiris's coaches usually aren't) and they prepare for the games in advance and they also learn about their own players. So to me the idea that Zouros had some notes made by himself or by someone else about the team just as an information source seems highly doubtful.
But if you look at this case in the context of all the rumours about Romanov's interruption in the coach's work it starts to make sense. I don't think I have to talk (unless someone asks) about Romanov's way of running football teams before buying Zalgiris.
Now some screenshots from the game.
Zouros takes the papersheet out of his jacket and walks to Kostic (assistant coach who works with the club since the start of the season) and says something. Probably asking for an explanation or some advice.
Kostic says something to Zouros and then he puts the papersheet back in his jacket and walks to the secretariat probably asking for a substitution.
A closer look at what Zouros has in his hands.
He puts the papersheet in his jacket and gives a "wtf is this nonsense?" look.
Of course there might be another explanation but having in mind all the facts it seems very likely that he was given orders just as other coaches. Needless to say that such orders is an insult to the coach's dignity. Not only that it ties coach's hands as he is unable to do react on his own during the game but those are orders coming from a man who learned the rules of basketball a couple of years ago.