Lithuanian League (LKL) 2011/2012

[auris1]

2011-2012

[auris1]

The latest update regarding the LKL -after federation meeting it was decided that the number of the teams for the next season will be 12,so the appeal by Alytus team to prolong the stay in LKL was dismissed by the virtue of them coming last in regular season.But...if Naglys team will not find suitable solution for the home court games,Alytus will displace them in LKL.

My personal view is that Naglis should wait and see if can they built arena that meets requirements,and only then be reactivated in LKL. Unfortunately for them it means them needing to win NKL again and winning the play-off with last LKL team.For me ,i do not see for the team without home support being successfully or worthy LKL status.

The biggest news( and saddest) although should be dismantlement of Perlas team and them selling the license to Pasvalys. Perlas had good thing going on,much more exciting and useful for Lithuanian basketball than Kaunas/Atletas/Skaisciai whatever they were called put all together.
Which brings me nicely to the finish - Kaunas has been bought by Romanov from Barstys(i am not sure if it is official yet or it ever will be),which perhaps would make them officially Zalgiris's farm club
So no more free rides for Rudupys or siauliai i guess.
That would make them very strong contenders for bronze medals straight away,no less.

[auris1]

Another interesting development with Sakalai -
there was some commotion and power struggle between shareholders/part owners of the club,which resulted departure of one mr Guoga,our saviour for NT in the world 2010 championships(he was the one who paid "blood" money).
So Mr Guoga left the club with immediate effect,followed by the comments of his nemesis and survival - mr Kiausas -
who said that Guoga did not pay all the monies he promised (only 350000 litas out of 500000 promised),which is not bad in any case,and that he was not aware of guogas' plans for Sakalai to play for free in lrytas arena in the next season and get most of the Perlas players.
What mr Kiausas has to offer is some mysterious 2 backers who would invest more money in the club than Guoga would and some not very convincing arguments that Sakalai would prosper at some point(i assume just survive) in the next season.
Now,the most interesting part is where he says that there are only 2 people in lith basketball fedaration (or LKL) who can speak their mind freely - him and Romanov,which probably put all the dots on i.
Now,i am big fan of romanov supporting ZAlgiris,and no more less about him having second team with Kaunas.
But this goes a bit too far for my liking.

now here is my personal opinion -
Regarding Guoga - he is very good poker player,and as well as owner of the betting company,which very well concludes to the fact that he gambled with money by paying entry fee for NT team and got so much more than his initial investment by becoming household name etc.
Regarding romanov - he should stop there and now .
Two teams are enough.

[dxjayrock2008]

Siauliai land Cam Long - Jul 16, 2011 (by Eurobasket News)

Siauliai brought in another rookie player. They agreed on terms of contract with Cam Long (193-G-88). The 22-year-old guard has just graduated from George Mason University. Cam Long tallied 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game in his senior season. Cam Long made it into All-CAA 1st Team. The guard was also named into NABC Division I All-District 10 1st Team for the second season in a row. The guard participated at Pre-NBA Draft Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Cam Long posted 12.5 points, 4.5 boards, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assist per game there.

[sagenas]

It was clear some days ago about that. I don't know, people says he was close to be drafted, may be he will be another star here like Low was some time before. And right now in PG-SG positions Šiauliai has Broadus, Long and Gvezdauskas...looks sick trio. Also it would be cool if Šiauliai could get one more SF (they want Kuzminskas or Bendžius..but I think Rytas could loan Šikšnius with possibility to play in VTB or Kulvietis..nevertheless, at least one of them will be loaned to Rūdupis to play in EuroCup). If Šiauliai can qualify for VTB, then it would be big step for the team.

[auris1]

So it is official -
Alytus is out,and Naglis remains in LKL due to finding suitable arena in Klaipeda(not the big one).
And Neptunas is nowhere near coming into agreement of playing in the new arena too due to the high cost.
So basically we will have two +5000 arenas with no basketball at all.
I wonder for how long Smokie
http://www.smokie.co.uk/Dates.asp
can keep alive them both.I guess,not for long.(just one date)
So,in the end,
Living next door to big arena
Who the fuck plays in big arena ?
Alice?
Lets hope it will not last for another 24 years

[Afraid]

Could anyone tell what's the full rooster of Siauliai right now, at least who has contracts from last year. For me their new signings looks really not bad. If those like sarakauskas and zukauskas stays, it would be quite attractive team to watch if Rudupis and Juventus can stay on the same level this year, and Neptunas gets a little stronger, it seems like quite interesting season awaits

[Mindozas]

Could anyone tell what's the full rooster of Siauliai right now, at least who has contracts from last year. For me their new signings looks really not bad. If those like sarakauskas and zukauskas stays, it would be quite attractive team to watch if Rudupis and Juventus can stay on the same level this year, and Neptunas gets a little stronger, it seems like quite interesting season awaits

If I'm not wrong:

PG: Broadus, Prekevicius
SG: Long, Gvezdauskas, Stanionis
SF: Zukauskas, Ruzgas
PF: Sarakauskas, Vasylius
C: Bowles, Gumenyuk

Don't know if Zukauskas and Liutych are stayin', heard the latter might join Minsk-2006
Edit: so we could add Zukauskas to the list then.

[LuDux]

If I'm not wrong:

PG: Broadus, Prekevicius
SG: Long, Gvezdauskas, Stanionis
SF: Ruzgas
PF: Sarakauskas, Vasylius
C: Bowles, Gumenyuk

Don't know if Zukauskas and Liutych are stayed, heard the latter might join Minsk-2006

Zukauskas stays

Interestingly they have only 1 real PG and 2-3 combo guards

[Afraid]

If I'm not wrong:

PG: Broadus, Prekevicius
SG: Long, Gvezdauskas, Stanionis
SF: Zukauskas, Ruzgas
PF: Sarakauskas, Vasylius
C: Bowles, Gumenyuk

Don't know if Zukauskas and Liutych are stayin', heard the latter might join Minsk-2006
Edit: so we could add Zukauskas to the list then.

As I remember, Klimavicius, or Sireika said, that Long is going to play as PG in the team, but sure that having these 3 guards someone will take a SG spot at times, maybe all of them. Also i believe that Sarakauskas should be better in PF spot, even though he played C last year. To sum up everything, squad looks really nice, and balanced, looking forward to VTB qualification games

[Mindozas]

As I remember, Klimavicius, or Sireika said, that Long is going to play as PG in the team, but sure that having these 3 guards someone will take a SG spot at times, maybe all of them. Also i believe that Sarakauskas should be better in PF spot, even though he played C last year. To sum up everything, squad looks really nice, and balanced, looking forward to VTB qualification games

If my memory ain't letting me down, Sarakauskas played as PF with Weaver on the court, who played as a C Now instead of Weaver, Siauliai will have Bowles.
Overall, I agree with you, nice squad, but I kinda doubt it'll be enough to qualify to regular VTB season. "Krasnye Krylya" building strong squad, probably is a lock for one of the remaining 2 places, while Dnipro, Anwil will be the teams to beat. So far Enisey wasn't too active in market, so no idea what kind of team they'll bring, but Russians are Russians...

[sagenas]

Other VTB qualification teams are really beatable. Apart strong foreigners those teams have no good local players while home court advantage may help Šiauliai, too. As it's easily seen, Šiauliai has many 3-point shooters: Ruzgas, Gvezdauskas, Prekevičius, Long, Žukauskas is good at it, too...Šarakauskas and Vasylius can make a 3-pointers. Should be offensive minded team as usual.

Right now Šiauliai has contracts with these players but some of them will be loaned:

C: Bowles, Gumenyuk, Ramašauskas
PF: Šarakauskas, Vasylius, Jucikas
SF: Ruzgas, Žukauskas, Liutych
SG: Long, Gvezdauskas, Stanionis(?)
PG: Broadus, Prekevičius, Artamonov

Still questionable thing with Stanionis...in some reports it wasn't said he will stay in the team but he had contract...not clear about this.

Žukauskas may have some minutes as PF, Artamonov and Ramašauskas should be loaned for sure.

Jucikas showed really good results in NKL last season and 4 front-line players aren't enough so he may be taken but I'm not sure about this, no official information about this yet.

While Liutych showed he can play in LKL already and my conclusion is he could be 5th foreigner because latest two signings are Lithuanians so then no problem with foreigner limit.

[auris1]

I do not know about VTB,but Siauliai are nicely set for LKL,that's for sure, not so much by improving the team,but by keeping the core of the squad and replacing other players with similar value ones (more or less).
Pity though that the other teams(apart from Zalgiris and lrytas) who were on the par with them last season will have to start all over again (maybe apart from utena) by waiting untill last moment to arrange (and pray ) for charity loans and wait untill last minute in player's market till they sign ,someone desperate, cheaply.That is very unfortunate reality

[sagenas]

I do not know about VTB,but Siauliai are nicely set for LKL,that's for sure, not so much by improving the team,but by keeping the core of the squad and replacing other players with similar value ones (more or less).
Pity though that the other teams(apart from Zalgiris and lrytas) who were on the par with them last season will have to start all over again (maybe apart from utena) by waiting untill last moment to arrange (and pray ) for charity loans and wait untill last minute in player's market till they sign ,someone desperate, cheaply.That is very unfortunate reality

Juventus has only few players...I would say Neptūnas - they have core of the team already.

[LuDux]

Juventus has only few players...I would say Neptūnas - they have core of the team already.

Neptūnas is 3 forwards away from functional roster
Bonner, Galdikas
?, Brunins
?, ?
Mazeika, Runkauskas
Dainys, Stasys

I don't think Kaunas has problems with the lack of players

[Afraid]

And maybe any of you knows what Pasvalys is building? I read owner's interview somewhere that they are planing not only to pick a squad that can go to playoffs, but also be high enough not to meet Rytas or Zalgiris. But somehow i missed all their moves in market.

Also, what's happening with techasas, maybe anyone from Panevezys knows something more than Krepsinis.net? I feel pity for such a team, they looked good last season, also people came back to arena, and they were successfully selling season tickets, how comes this team is so consistent at being inconsistent..

[auris1]

Also, what's happening with techasas, maybe anyone from Panevezys knows something more than Krepsinis.net?

What else do you need to know?
If anything,this was the best article explaining current situation in to the Lithuanian club basketball for ages.After the very decent season the team is totally in ruins again,with no sponsors or any players to sign in sight.
Selling few hundred season tickets 100 litas a piece can hardly make any difference.

[Afraid]

What else do you need to know?
If anything,this was the best article explaining current situation in to the Lithuanian club basketball for ages.After the very decent season the team is totally in ruins again,with no sponsors or any players to sign in sight.
Selling few hundred season tickets 100 litas a piece can hardly make any difference.

My thought was that maybe anyone knows something about whether someone is ready to lend a hand for the club.
Well, if they will manage to survive, i hope that this at least strengthens their growing fan base, for what is the most serious reason to survive

[LuDux]

KK Rudupis (Prienai) signed SG Gintaras Kadziulis, PG Aidas Viskontas, are negotiating with PG Andrius Mazutis and will loan PF Povilas Butkevicius from Zalgiris for 2nd season

[auris1]

KK Rudupis (Prienai) signed SG Gintaras Kadziulis, PG Aidas Viskontas, are negotiating with PG Andrius Mazutis and will loan PF Povilas Butkevicius from Zalgiris for 23nd season

what?
Maybe you meant that Rudupys will get to loan Butkevicius from Zalgiris for the second season in the row?