Motiejūnas: Lithuania's next big thing

[rikhardur]

Donatas Motiejūnas, 18 years old, 2.13m, F/C

He already is a big thing actually
One of the leaders of the Lithuanian league - stats.

Draft Watch: Who's hot, who's not?

Who's Hot

[...]

Donatas Motiejunas, F, Lithuania
Every year NBA GMs fly around the world looking for the next Dirk Nowitzki. There have been lots of pretenders -- from Nikoloz Tskitishvilli to Vladimir Radmanovic to Andrea Bargnani (who actually looks pretty good this season) to Danilo Gallinari -- but the next Nowitzki has proven to be pretty elusive. This year's Dirk wannabe is Motiejunas -- a 7-foot, 215-pound forward who, you guessed it, runs the floor, has a pretty jumper and can play multiple positions.

Motiejunas has many of the same red flags as those other guys. Scouts say he is soft, needs to add a lot of strength and is playing against watered down competition in Lithuania. However, he's averaging more than 20 points and shooting around 50 percent from 3-point territory -- that's not bad for an 18-year-old in any league in Europe. While it's highly likely he stays in Europe for another season, a couple of international scouts are telling me there are rumblings he might leave.

Said one NBA executive who watched Motiejunas this year: "He's the closest kid I've seen to Dirk coming out of Europe. Honestly. I know what you're thinking. But this kid could be really good."

Somewhere, Bill Simmons is licking his chops for the third round of our annual draft debate.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2...ftWatch-090227

[Straight forward]

Too much propaganda for this player. That might effect a young player too much. He has to be patient and to play in Lithuania at least 2 years more.

[rikhardur]

Too much propaganda for this player. That might effect a young player too much. He has to be patient and to play in Lithuania at least 2 years more.

I do agree with that, if he actually wants to play in the NBA someday, he needs to stay here at least 2 more years as you say. The ideal would be more imo.
But why do you say too much propaganda? I know he can turn out to be just another Andriuškevičius, Šilinskis and etc., but were those that good at that age? I mean, Donatas is one of the best players in LKL right now and one of the best at his age in the international scene. Rubio, for instance, has had much more propaganda than him and it all started when he was 15/16.

[stuart]

Wooo... I know it takes a while for players to grow into their bodies, but 7-0 and 215lbs? Wow, that's skinny.

Stuart

[Sss]

I do agree with that, if he actually wants to play in the NBA someday, he needs to stay here at least 2 more years as you say. The ideal would be more imo.
But why do you say too much propaganda? I know he can turn out to be just another Andriuškevičius, Šilinskis and etc., but were those that good at that age? I mean, Donatas is one of the best players in LKL right now and one of the best at his age in the international scene. Rubio, for instance, has had much more propaganda than him and it all started when he was 15/16.

Actually, when Rubio was 13 the Spanish basketball federation president called him a next Drazen Petrovic.

For some the hype helps, for some not. Mostly don't think that it has the big influence. It just mostly the hype thrown at some players by fans doesn't correspond to the reality and real potential of a player.

[Mindozas]

But why do you say too much propaganda? I know he can turn out to be just another Andriuškevičius, Šilinskis and etc., but were those that good at that age?

Silinskis was never good Actualy I don't remember any hype over him ever. Before Motiejunas there was Andriuskevicius, who was so called "next Sabas" and earlier was Rinkevicius, who never played for Zalgiris first team and left directly to US after finishing Sabonis bball school, then dissapeared at all and came back to LT a year or so ago and now is too poor even for LKL worst teams. While Andriuskevicius was really good at similar age, atleast in youth competitions he was one of the best players in Europe and was among leaders almost in most stats' categories. He didn't has chance to play in LKL in some weaker team, only in Zalgiris, but there were games when he played good and I even remember when he played really great in EL's one of decisive games' OT for Zalgiris against Scavolini, when scored triple, made dunk and Zalgiris won. As I already said in some other thread, his mistake was moving to NBA too early, cause he felt like a star already and wanted everything instantly (money, cars and etc.) what real stars has. Even Sabas talked personaly with him and tried to convince him not to go there, but he didn't listen. He paid badly for that.

Motiejunas is not planning about NBA and said couple of times that he understands that it's too early for him to go there. He definitely needs more weight, more practise, cause in games against Zalgiris or Rytas he was nothing this season. Or f.e. in U-20 final last summer against Serbia and Macvan, he looked like a boy against a grown man and couldn't do anything in defense. I hope he'll make a wise moves in his career.

[Straight forward]

I don't believe that the players are not reading the comments about them, not to mention articles like rikhardur posted. Media can form the mentality and it does. I think I would be a different person next day if I would read that I have the potential of Dirk These things can't not to influence mentality. Actually, there was already some messages about strange behaviour of Donatas. The coach of Aisciai was mentioning that there are problems inside the team and that Donatas is really "interesting personality" I have to say that the kids at his age can make a lot of strange things and when you are suddenly enclosed by media, fans- It could be difficult to cope with these things and to take a right decisions. Andriuskevicius is a good example. But to be honest it would be amistake to say that Adriuskevicius ever had the same potential as Motiejunas has. He never was so sharp leader in international erea and didn't had such skils as Motiejunas has. That what makes me optimistic about Motiejunas it's the talent which I saw in him. I never saw something like that in Adriuskevicius. He has material (big body), but the talent is in Motiejunas side.

[LuDux]

Highlights
Rinkevicius: ~5pt for U16NT (didn't qualify for final stage)
Andriuskevicius: 16,9pt, 13,4rb(best in EC) for U18NT (9th place)
Silinskis: 12,9pt, 8,5rb, both team highs for U18NT (4th place)
Motiejunas: 18,2pt 10,2rb for U18NT (2nd place)

[auris1]

I am always wary when parents manage their kids (that’s the case with Motiejunas ) but even more so about amateur suggestions of what people should do with their lives. And this constant association with other players just makes me laugh. Andriuskevicius – how can you call him a failure? Dakota (USA-D-League),Bulls (USA-NBA),Arkansas RR (USA-D-League),Cavaliers (USA-NBA),Zalgiris (Lithuania) – that’s the teams he played for ,and he is only 23 .I bet none of you can get out of sofa without getting puffed out but yet you feel strangely confident giving comparisons you have no clue about .Leave him alone – he will do very nicely without your advice, thank you very much

[elaj]

Benetton Treviso signed Donatas Motiejunas. source: Interperformances

[elaj]

I'm shocked how idiotic Motiejunas can be. Why the fuck didn't he sign in Žalgiris? He would get the chance to play, home environment, home fans, Euroleague... no, idiot goes to Benetton. Should be interesting to see what this will do to his career. In my opinion he made a big mistake. Benetton is one big mess atm, well, became one big mess as soon as Gherardini went to Toronto.

[yessuz]

Well, his performance was more than poor during eurochamps (Uxx).
During the interview, he draw his attitude:

"With Serbia I made just two points and didn't revenge to Croatia. It made me nervous, because I didn't knew how to play, when I didn't receive the ball. When you get a ball, you can shoot or pass, you have more opportunities. And when you don't, you became nervous, do not defence and do nothing."

That's brief translation. Also, there are rumors, that Motiejunas' conditions (request) to Zalgiris were more than ridiculous (let's imagine something like this: 1+1, 1 million/year without buyout ammount, 25-30 minutes per game, dedicated trainer...)

Despite his talent, I hope he will not finish like Martynas Andriuskevicius...

[rikhardur]

Despite his talent, I hope he will not finish like Martynas Andriuskevicius...

I've seen that scenario farther. Bad move to sign for Benetton Treviso, he should have stayed in Lithuania.

[yessuz]

I've seen that scenario farther. Bad move to sign for Benetton Treviso, he should have stayed in Lithuania.

IMHO the biggest problem was his father who demanded many play minutes for his son.
It's stupid and unrealistic.

[hot_sauce23]

I hope that Motiejunas will be another lithuanian superstar Andriuskevicius's team friend in the next few year. Fuck this young ballhog

[LuDux]

Evil father demanding minutes!

[Panco]

I'm shocked how idiotic Motiejunas can be. Why the fuck didn't he sign in Žalgiris? He would get the chance to play, home environment, home fans... no, idiot goes to Benetton. Should be interesting to see what this will do to his career. In my opinion he made a big mistake.

Obviously Benetton promised him a solid playing time, while in Kaunas he would be forced to share time with Watson, Klimavicius, Jankunas (possibly) and some new center. He also had some specific and "interesting" demands and so on..
Furthermore, he has never showed huge love for Zalgiris anyway.

I'm sure that it's not a long-term deal, since he keeps talking about NBA and Top European Clubs.

All in all, Benetton made a, let's say, brave decision. Motiejunas will need proper playing time, he will ask for the ball all the time and he's pretty selfish and cocky. Let's see, whether this deal pays off for both sides.

[Toxicity]

Obviously Benetton promised him a solid playing time,

I highly doubt... first of all Motiejunas is not ready at all and we all saw that in the U20 Eurobasket... then Benetton has already a young big, who has better experience in the italian league and is italian too... Renzi obviously... i would be shocked if the lithuanian manage to play more than 5-10 mpg...

[wardjdim]

The Greek site Basketblog.gr let us know that Motiejunas is a SF/PF

[Dreamcatcher]

I highly doubt... first of all Motiejunas is not ready at all and we all saw that in the U20 Eurobasket... then Benetton has already a young big, who has better experience in the italian league and is italian too... Renzi obviously... i would be shocked if the lithuanian manage to play more than 5-10 mpg...

So, how is your shock?