Five defenders finished the Euroleague season in “Žalgiris” – the aforementioned K. Evans, Lukas Lekavičius, Tomas Dimša, Dovydas Giedraitis and Edmond Sumneris, who joined in the middle of the season.
Of these basketball players, L. Lekavičius, T. Dimša and D. Giedraitis have contracts for the next season in Kaunas, and the future of the Americans is not yet clear.
However, the impressive statistical averages of K. Evans suggest that this defender will choose a more capable team for the next season, and there have already been several rumors in the media about offers from the EuroLeague powerhouses to this player.
It is the replacement of the American that will be the biggest headache for the Kaunas team, and the news portal tv3.lt talked to basketball expert Tomas Purlius about how the defender line of “Žalgiris” could look like in the next season.
The most difficult task
K. Evans came to “Žalgiris” in 2022. after a not very successful period in Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he collected 8.2 points and 10.2 utility points.
However, the player who came to the Temporary Capital simply shone. Until the Achilles injury that stopped him in 2022-2023. in the season, K. Evans collected 15.9 points and 17.4 utility points, and in the recently passed EuroLeague season, he placed himself on the list of the top scorers with 17.3 points and 18.3 utility points.
Naturally, the option when the player does not reveal himself in a more capable team, but shines in “Žalgiris”, would be the most perfect, and T. Purlys sees one candidate for such a scenario.
“The first thing that comes to mind is Chris Jones. This is the player whom Kazys Maksvytis and Zalgiris management wanted more than Evans two years ago, when Evans was the second choice.
Back then I remember Chris Jones was better looking than Evans, now obviously the situation has changed. But now, what I see is that if “Valencia” is eliminated from the Euroleague, it would be nice to see such a player”, said the specialist.
However, all questions about K. Evans’ shift stop at one aspect – finances. T. Purlys emphasized that it is very important how much “Žalgiris” will be willing to pay for the player and how much that amount will be competitive in the market of free players.
“Zalgiris” is definitely not the team that will be able to buy elite players. It is very difficult to find such players every time, because other, especially mid-level, teams are equally looking to buy such good players as cheaply as possible.
That market is definitely not rubber, there are limited undiscovered gems that could match the price and level of Evans.
The task will certainly not be easy. Of course, it is possible, but as experience has shown, it is very difficult to do it every year”, the interviewer taught.
Mutual need
At the end of March, news about the player’s possible return to Kaunas appeared in the foreign press. “Sportando” journalists wrote that Rokas Jokubaitis, who is spending his second season in “Barcelona”, is the main contender to return to “Žalgiris”.
The 23-year-old offensive player signed a contract with “Žalgiris” back in 2016, but he played with doubles for several years. He later joined the first team in 2019 and spent two seasons there.
T. Purlys, looking at this, said that such a return would definitely be positive news.
“Still, this is a Lithuanian, a player who was just as well in a good team, under good coaches. Now that Ricky Rubio is back, he’s definitely lost minutes and that role. I think he is really not happy with his role. Regaining confidence and that playing rhythm, taste in your own country is definitely easier than being a legionnaire.
Both parties must be interested. I think that both “Žalgiris” needs Roko Jokubaitis and Rok Jokubaitis needs “Žalgiris”, he thought.
The basketball expert also said that R. Jokubaitis could become the main offensive player of “Žalgiris” without any problems, but he should be joined by a more capable player.
“Shala should still have a leader or a scorer who would lead Zalgiris forward.” I really don’t see Rokas Jokubaitis being the point scorer to replace Keenan Evans at this point.
Yes, Rokas can really play offensively, he is also the player who can score points, but he would really need another player if “Žalgiris” wants to competitively fight for a higher place next year”, said T. Purlys.
I don’t know about Lithuanians
Both T. Dimša and L. Lekavičius have signed contracts with “Žalgiris” until 2025. + 1. However, their statistics may raise doubts about their future in the team.
In this EuroLeague season, T. Dimša collected 6.4 points and 4.3 utility points, while L. Lekavičius – 4.9 points and 3.7 utility points.
T. Purlys considered that it is difficult to talk about the role of these players from the side.
“It is very difficult to say, here the coach is important, whether he sees in his schemes or not. We can see that Tomas Dimša’s role has really decreased, Lukas Lekavičius was as good as in the beginning, later Dovydas Giedraitis seemed to outcompete him”, said the interviewer.
However, the expert also noticed that L. Lekavičius showed a better section when T. Dimša and Arnas Butkevičius dropped out due to injuries. Despite this, T. Purlys did not venture to make accurate predictions about his future:
“It’s really hard to say, I think it will depend on the coach how he sees it. We saw that both players can play in the sections.”
There is room for improvement
D. Giedraitis, another Lithuanian defensive player, pleasantly surprised many members of the basketball community this season. Although he cannot really be considered a main player, the 23-year-old Lithuanian took a good step forward.
2022-2023 In the season, Dovis appeared sporadically in the EuroLeague, and his statistics averaged only 2.1 points and 0.8 RRP in 8.5 minutes. This year, the defender spent almost twice as many minutes on the field (16.04), and scored 4.8 points and collected 3.6 efficiency points each.
“We all knew that he is a good defensive player,” T. Purlys emphasized the Lithuanian’s good qualities. – Only sometimes there are not enough players who are good only on one side of the pitch.
There is also an example of Lukas Lekavicius, who is a very fast player and is sometimes difficult to stop if good combinations are prepared for him. He can certainly be very useful, but we know how vulnerable he is defensively.
Dovydas Giedraitis – on the contrary. There were moments in the defense, especially at Trinchieri, where he went to the starting five and slowed down, taking away a lot of balls from the elite defenders of the EuroLeague. We saw that he is a good defender, but in some games, especially at the end of the season, he started to shoot on offense as well.”
It was the gaps in the attack that “Žalgiris” manager emphasized after the match. coach Andrea Trinchieri, and T. Purlys added that another Žalgiris player could also improve in attack:
It would be very important for “Žalgiris” that such players as Arnas Butkevičius, Dovydas Giedraitis, more defensive players, give something in the attack as well.”
An unconvincing newcomer
After the departure of Naz Mitrou-Long to Piraeus Olympiakos, Žalgiris was joined by E. Sumneris, who had not played in the Euroleague before. As could be expected, the defender who spent seven seasons in the NBA “swimmed” for a while in European basketball, and only made better episodes at the end of the season.
“It would be very good to know from the inside how that player is progressing. Maybe that player progresses better in training than in matches and can see the potential for that player, who is used to Euroleague basketball, to give significantly more benefits next year and show a more stable game”, – T. Purlys was not in a hurry to draw conclusions about the American’s undulating game.
However, in his opinion, a few good games did not leave enough of an impression to remain in the rotation next season.
“So far, I have not been convinced that Sumner’s price-quality ratio really matches the possibilities of “Žalgiris”. Definitely not a cheap player, and we saw that after those flashes for a couple of games, there was a regression back to very poor games.
I think that “Žalgiris” should really look for a more stable player in this position, not one who flashes in one match and then disappears again. We saw that there is such a tendency with Sumner, I don’t think it’s getting used to the rules of Euroleague basketball,” explained the expert.
The specialist added that one distinguishing feature of E. Sumner says a lot.
“He’s a very emotional player,” he said. – If he succeeds in the first and second shots, he starts the match with successful sections, then you can expect a really good match from him. If he makes unsuccessful episodes at the beginning, then for a large part of the match he does not refocus and simply disappears.”
A leader will have to be sought
A considerable number of “Žalgiris” players already had contracts for the next season, at the end of the Euroleague season they were extended to Brady Manek and Laurynas Biručius, and the media announced a little earlier that A. Butkevičius had already done so.
When asked if it would be possible to find a leader among the remaining core to replace K. Evans, T. Purlys did not have good information.
“I don’t think so. If you look at the entire composition of “Žalgiris” like this… There was Rolandas Šmitas, who is not sure if he will be there, and there are chances that he will not be in “Žalgiry”. There is no other such leader and player who would take the initiative, especially at the back, which “Žalgiris” lacked and which Evans was,” he said.
“A new player must definitely be bought here. These players can be pressured to be support players, both defenders and high players, but not to be leaders. In individual matches – maybe, but certainly not during the whole season,” concluded the specialist.
Tags: Zalgiris dilemmas defensive line search leader unconvincing newcomer return
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