# Lithuanian lads take off for Sweden



## Zalgirinis (Feb 18, 2003)

Just 10 minutes before leaving to Sweden I want to paste some great post from other forum writen by Marius, long-standing fan of Lithuanian team and Zalgiris Kaunas. Here it is, and good luck everyone...

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Hi every one.

It's getting so exciting here, I just don't know how to wait these
final two days before the European basketball championship starts!

Yesterday, we gave a farewell party to our National Team in Klaipeda --
now the lads will take the ferry and cross the Baltic Sea to Sweden.

So here they are. I give a short name (or a nickname) for all the
players -- they seem so much familiar to us in such a manner:

4
Giedrius GUSTAS. Born 1980, 190 cm tall.
No real nickname, could be "Gustukas", but it's not stuck really.
PG
Young PG of Zalgiris Kaunas. Never was sure of his place in the NT
until the very last moment.
Our first PG, real star of Europe is Sarunas Jasikevicius now.
Sharp and quick, good shooter. For long years, an eternal member of
our NT used to be another PG Darius Maskoliunas (veteran, born
1971) -- much slower, never very daring, always making the play
so much quieter. It seemed he always had an assured place in the
team in all those years. But now the new coach Antanas Sireika
decided to give a try for Gustas -- which is really risky indeed.
The guy could not even make a decent number of minutes in Zalgiris
team -- but let's see, what he can manage in Lithuanian NT. He will
be subbing for Jasikevicius, of course, but for how many minutes?
Here's Giedrius:
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=9

5
Mindaugas ZUKAUSKAS
"Minde"
1975, 202 cm
SF
Plays in Montepaschi Siena (Italy). Utility player, never very
noticeable, but so useful!
Coaches like to throw him on some scoring leader of opponents, and
he can stifle them with his defence. One of our best defenders.
Let's see if Sireika decides to use him as the first barrier
against Nowitzky.
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=232

6
Saulius STOMBERGAS
"Stombe", "Stomba"
SF/SG
1973, 204 cm
As Darius Maskoliunas has left the NT, Stombergas is the new
captain. Rightly so -- a veteran, he used to play together with
Marciulionis, Sabonis, Chomicius, Karnisovas.
Was really a phenomenal player in 1998-99, when Zalgiris became the
best team in Europe. A sharp shooter, he also could penetrate like
hell and do those nice lay-ups -- seemed like nobody could defend
against him. After leaving Zalgiris, his career was not as
spectacular (in TAU Ceramica Vitoria, then Kinder Bologna, then
Efes Pilsen Istanbul). Previous season, Saulius came back to
Zalgiris -- but during the whole season, was not really good. (He
also had serious back problems.) At the end of the season, he looks
like his good old self.
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=164

7
Arvydas MACIJAUSKAS
"Macas", "Macola"
SG
1980, 192 cm.
I don't even have to tell a lot about this guy, because everyone
will notice him in Eurobasket! I'm pretty sure of that.
He is our another Kurtinaitis -- the best shooter we've had for a
long long time. The guy used to be a bit soft before -- only
shooting, not really going for penetration. But last season, he
improved very much in these field and became more physical.
If I'd have to pick the player to watch from our NT -- I'd say
watch Macas. He'll be our star, you'll see!
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=21

8
Ramunas SISKAUSKAS
"Siska"
SF/SG
1978, 198 cm.
He was my favourite Lithuanian player some 3 or 4 years ago. Called
"Baltic Pippen" by some, very versatile player -- shooting from the
3-point arc, with very good physical properties, good for
penetration, he was very exciting to watch.
If he hits the right form, he's very difficult to contain. The
problem has been that this "right form" is evading him for long
periods of the season.
He'll be competing with Saulius Stombergas for a place in the
starting five.
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=24

9
Darius SONGAILA
Simply -- "Darius"
PF
204 cm, born 1978.
We've got a duo of power-forwards: it's Darius Songaila and
Virginijus Praskevicius. Boyth used to play for super Euroleague
teams the last season, and we're expecting so much from them!
He was relatively unknown in Lithuania, when he popped up in Sydney
Olympics from Wake Forest in 2000, and caused a real sensation
there! Darius became a hero in our country overniht. Then he signed
a contract with the mighty CSKA Moscow, and was one of their main
players the last season.
He seemed to be quite good for the Moscow club. On the other hand,
Darius didn't impress us when playing for the NT -- including the
Eurobasket-2001 in Turkey, as well the recent friendly games
against Australia, Spain, Italy, etc. I still hope he'll be one of
our main stalwarts in the tournarment.
Darius is really powerful and versatile -- but when it comes to
defence, there are problems. He collects those five fouls all too
easily. Clean defence is a problem ...
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=161

10
Donatas SLANINA
"Donce", "Slonas"
SG
191 cm, born 1977.
Together with Macas, they form our tandem of sharp shooters.
I like Donce very much, he's one of my favourite players in the
team. I don't even know exactly why -- you just come up to like
some players for no particular reason.
Donatas came from a minor Lithuanian club "Siauliai" (coached by
Antanas Sireika, the present head coah of our NT). He was bought by
Zalgiris Kaunas, but never shone there. A good player, but never a
superstar. Then he was sold to Caja San Fernando from Sevilla --
where he really showed himself. He was one of the best shooters in
the Spanish league, a real sniper.
I remember watching Donce in our qualification matches -- this was
against Bulgaria, Holland and other weak teams. Of course, it
wasn't a real test, but anyway ... What I really liked, was how
Slanina played. A very clean play, I'd say. He'd collect the ball,
assess the situation ... If it's good -- he'd shoot. If not -- he'd
pass the ball to another player. All the shots would be 100%. If
needed -- he'd penetrate, he can do that. Somehow, he reminded of
Ray Allen playing -- quite discreet, very effective, never showing
off. Sharp sharp shooter. Macijauskas is going to steal the
highlights, but never underestimate Slanina.
He had a hernia operation a month ago, and we were all afraid if he
will come back. Luckily, Donatas is playing for us again with no
problem.
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=18

11
Eurelijus ZUKAUSKAS
"Stepas", "Eurelka", "Zukis", or simply -- "Eurelijus"
216 cm, born in 1973.
(BTW, he's no connection to Mindaugas Zukauskas, who is also in our
team. The family name ZUKAUSKAS is really widespread in Lithuania
-- it could be compared to Smith or Adams in English language.)
He used to be our substitute center for a very long time. This
year, it seemed, a similar fate could have awaited him. But our two
NBA towers -- Ilgauskas and Sabonis -- chose not to take part in
the European Championship, and Eurelijus became probably the most
important player in our squad.
Eurelijus came to basketball relatively late -- he was noticed by
coaches mainly because of his big size. In his first years, he
received a lot of criticism because of his clumsiness, which quite
understandable. At the same time, Zukis was renowned as the "king
of the block-shots" -- because he's got such long limbs and a very
high jump!
We all used to consider him as a more physical player. But during
the last year or so, I was quite surprised to see Eurelijus evolve
into a really versatile center forward with a lot of capabilities.
He still isn't so good at shooting from afar, but under the basket,
he's really good in defence and attack.
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=233

12
Ksystofas LAVRINOVICIUS
209 cm, born in 1979.
Lithuania potentially has the best centres in Europe, no doubt
about it. Sabonis and Ilgauskas would be everyone's envy. Then
there is Eurelijus Zukauskas, a really good player in the Russian
league. After them, we would consider Robertas Javtokas, a forward
with phenomenal physical abilities, who could dunk into the basket
hung at 3.6 meters or so. Very unfortunately, the young guy was too
much hooked on motor-bykes, he got into a serious crash more than a
year ago, and is only trying to make his come-back the next season.
So we have to rely on our second- or third-best.
And this means twin brothers Lavrinovicius, both the same size,
both very versatile tall players.
Actually, the brothers are of Polish origin, representing the
Polish-speaking area of Lithuania in the South-East.
The other brother - Dariusas Lavrinovicius - was infured during the
training camp of the NT, and he won't be able to play for half a
year.
What about Ksystofas? Well, he plays for the second Russian team
(Ural Great), and is a very versatile player -- having a very good
shot from outside, also being rather fast and mobile, as well as
powerful in the paint. Of course, the experience is still lacking.
Let's see how he can do at a high level.
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=47


13
Sarunas JASIKEVICIUS
"Saras", "Jaske", "Jaska"
PG
192 cm, born in 1976.
Oh, this is probably our main star of the tournament!
The main PG of the team, he used to play for Barcelona during the
previous season. Now signed for Maccabi Tel Aviv for the next
season -- he'll be harrassing Zalgiris defence once again.
Saras is by far our best point guard, and he'll have a lion's share
of the minutes on the pitch. He's really an agressive PG -- always
coming with sharp passes, always can shoot and penetrate. This is sometimes a problem, when we need to slow the game down -- Saras simply is too hot for that. Before, we used to have Maskoliunas for the brake role, but now, I don't know ... Maybe Gustas? Also, Slanina can play as PG, he used to do this at his home team in Siauliai.
Anyway, I don't have doubts concerning Jasikevicius. His
replacement, however, will be a problem.
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=170

14
Dainius SALENGA
"Dzukas" (it comes from a region of Lithuania, where Dainius
originates from).
197 cm, born in 1977.
SF/SG
I like the guy, really. I could even say -- he's my favourite
player on our NT roster.
But to be fair -- he's one of those, who were never sure of their
place in the team. Dainius just got the ticket to Sweden in the
very last days of the NT training camp. In most probability, he'll
be a good steady reserve for Stombergas and Siskauskas.
Dainius is relatively new to basketball -- some years ago, he used
to play handball, and was outstanding there due to his physical
abilities. Then he became a basketball player (as it's so often in
Lithuania), progressed really well, and was called up to Zalgiris
Kaunas.
What he has, is tremendous physical abilities. A year ago, he won
the slam-dunk competition of LKL, by jumping from the free-throw
line and making the dunk! He can also shoot from three -- it's not
really sniper shots, but I especially like his shots from afar when
closely guarded by an opponent -- Dainius just jumps so high up and
away from his adversary, it's very exciting to see. On his day, he
can beat almost anyone. The problem is, he's not so often "on his
day" ...
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=7


15
Virginijus PRASKEVICIUS
"Praske"
206 cm, born in 1974.
PF
They are our duo of PFs with Darius Songaila. I don't really know
who is better.
On paper, the lads are simply awesome. During the friendly games
with the NT, both were not very good. A random game by either
Songaila or Praskevicius, where they'd shine -- but they were
really poor, on the whole. Let's see how they can manage. The
blokes joined our NT much later than the rest of the team, and they
were behind in the cycle of physical preparation -- let's hope they
catch up.
Virginijus ir more versatile, than Darius. He's not a sharp shooter
from distance, but anyway better than Songaila. Hitting threes is
not a real novelty for him.
But I wouldn't dare to say, which one is better. Very very equal
choices. If they live up to their potential, Lithuania will have a
very strong PF position. If they play, like previously in
friendlies -- we're in for a trouble ...
http://www.eurobasket.lt/player.php?id=211

All the best,
Marius


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## starvydas (Jul 16, 2002)

Nice post Zalgirinis. I hope Macijauskas will bust out in the European Championship, he's really talented. I like the Kurtinaitis comparison, he's a deadly though quiet shooter (scored 34 against France against the likes of Abdul Wahad and Dioumassi who are good defenders).
My favourite Lithuanian player has to be Siskauskas he's really entertaining and exciting to watch.


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