[Eurobasket-2011] Donuts was cut from Lithuanian national team roster

Valanciunas again the best big man of his team against Spain.

He's already indispensable, can't be cut.

 

No matter how many times we explain this here, the kool aid drinkers will not accept it.

Motiejunas was benched in favor of Brian Skinner last year during the Italian playoffs, because his coach could not stand his incredibly soft play anymore.

The NBA fans should know who Brian Skinner was. But they will come up with delusional nonsense to explain this away like, "in Europe young players never play in place of veterans".

Even though in Europe the exact opposite is true and USUALLY teams play very young players even if they are YEARS away from being ready - because that is standard philosophy there.

Motiejunas is very talented and he is also super soft. Way softer than David Andersen (who is hated in these forums by these same fans that are hyping Motiejunas).

Motiejunas has a lot of talent, but he is extremely soft and no team with any objective or goals (like Lithuania's national team) would use him as he currently plays.

It is just that simple and a lot of people here are just making up total BS excuses for the guy. Unless he starts to give at least a very minimal effort to post defense and rebounding, he will not make it in the NBA and he will not make it with any Euroleague club either.

 

Jonas is going to be a really good player once he gets some more experience under his belt. He didn’t look very impressive against the more experienced Gasols, but did great against Ibaka at the end.

I was also surprised by Rubio looking really good in his limited play time. I don’t watch much international basketball, but I always get the impression he sucks big time from what I’ve read on this board. I know this is just a friendly game, though, so I’m curious as to how he does in the actual tournament and in the NBA.

 

Hey! That is more experience that you!

 

DoMo

Even "10 times NBA First Team" Bob Cousy (born 1928) was cut from his high school basketball team both his Freshman and Sophomore years.

He stands as a benchmark to show what dedication, tenacity, and hard work will do.

I marveled at his passing and teamwork when watching my first NBA game on TV during my 8th grade year.

 

Last year he's been horrible. Does not mean he is horrible.

I don't know what will happen with Motiejunas but at the 23 he is a GREAT pick, be sure about that. My only doubt is if Mirotic wouldn't have been an even better option. But to take Motiejunas potential with a 23 -more in this draft- is a very very good business.

 

People keep on tossing the word "soft"

Here's my take:

When you first come into the league, as a 18~20 young-in playing
against professional men who are bigger and stronger than you,
OFCOURSE most of them would be "soft"

I would give these players usually 3 or 4 seasons to prove that label wrong
before I brand them to be soft.

Yao and Dirk were both considered to be charmin soft when they first came into the league. No rational person would question their toughness today.

However that is not the natural course for all players.
Some players just don't have the capacity to ever get over that mental hump.

The jury is still out with DMo. He is not soft, yet. He is just young.
DMo is a very confident person so we will see whether he will get intimidated by other players and shrink in the moment like Yi/Kwame.

 

I didn’t watch D-Mo play in Italy, but his rebounding numbers seem to attest to the “soft” label, especially for a 7-footer. Jonas, for instance, is younger than D-Mo right now but already a great rebounder and shot blocker. D-Mo simply might not have very good rebounding instincts, but hopefully good coaching and continuing to get stronger will help.

Regarding his defense, this was a pretty interesting take on it from both watching him play and Synergy stats.

http://thepaintedarea.blogspot.com/2011/06/donatas-motiejunas-2011-international.html

Not as bad as all the Debbie Downers are making it seem. I personally loved the pick when it was made and still do. The offensive talent is definitely there; he just needs to work hard to maximize those gifts and neutralize his weaknesses.

 

Cant wait for Donuts to become a really good player and this thread to pop back up. Not saying that there is no chance he fails, i'll leave the fortune telling to all the know it all idiots. Wonder what these guys would of said about Dirk when he was drafted. But hey they know the future so we should listen to them. Morons!!!!

 

Look, he has the physical ability to rebound. like it was previously noted, scouts have seen good footwork from him, and his defense really isnt as bad as you might think. However the big issue issue is him getting his butt under the basket to get rebounds.

On draft night one of the NBA analysts, i think Fran F. said that he is a consious objector to rebounding. He's physically capable of playing defense and rebounding he just isnt there yet. That little bit of attitude and personal confusion about who you are as a position player is the reason why he fell to 20 in the draft and the Rockets were able to get him there.

Basically he thinks he's a 2 guard. The coach wants him to bang in the post. Simple. Even if he never changes that attitude and style of play, he could still be a solid stretch 4, but everyone here wants him to play center in order to fill the biggest need on the team quick.

 

I have mixed feelings about his rebounding. On the one hand, I've always thought that a good rebounder simply has the instincts to be a good rebounder. The NBA has a long history of young players coming into the league that might struggle with other aspects of their game, but could rebound like mad, right off the bat. The Rockets have had good luck in that regard, Moses, Sampson, and Olajuwon just jump out at you. World class rebounders when they stepped on the court for the first time in a Rockets uniform. Then you hear that Euro rebounding numbers understate what they are capable of doing the The League. Scola is one example. Some here criticised Luis when we got him for his "weak" rebounding in Euroleague play, some others said the line about those numbers not translating well to what he could do here, and they were right. I'm hoping that Donatas will take after the player he looks up to the most, Luis.

Time answers all the questons, or the world ends. Something like that. Where's my coffee??

 

Stat geeks have said for a long time that rebounding translates into the NBA the best by far. So yes, there's an innate "rebounding skill" that players either have or don't have. And that if you look at per-minute type numbers, players typically maintain roughly the same rebounding rate throughout their careers.

That said, it's not impossible to improve. Dirk is a prime example of someone who came into the NBA at 20 has since improved his rebounding quite a bit. I think for Monte, if he fills out his body nicely should be a decent rebounder simply by being a seven footer. This IMO depends quite a bit on coaching. Perhaps McHale can be a crucial factor here.

 

If we can mold him, he's rebounding and D might improve. I'd love to keep his shooting though, so as to create mismatches.

 

But the point here is that its not that he cant rebound or doesnt have the instincts to do so, its just that he doesnt want to. It seems like he wants to play out on the perimeter like a SG or SF, not a big. Dirk was the exact same way when he first came in the league.

However, comparing Monte to best player in the game right now isnt a fair comparison. I think a more accurate comparison now would be a young Andrea Bargnani. Getting an Andrea Bargnani with the 20th pick in a week draft is a pretty damn good day. Hell, getting David Andersen with the 20th pick in a week draft is a good day.

The dude can score there is no doubting that. His last game with Lithuania he scored like 11 points in 7 minutes or something like that. Lets just see if McHale and co. can teach some sense into the kid and remind him that he is 7ft tall and if he wants to get playing time and make a hell of alot of money in the NBA, he needs to be an affective rebounder and help defender.

 

As I have pointed out numerous times in this forum, and explained over and over in all the draft threads.........Valanciunas is a really horrible defensive player. Yes, Motiejunas is a better defender than him.

That does not mean that Motiejunas is a good defender, just that he is better than Valanciunas. That statement they made does even mean anything. As I said over and over here, Valanciunas literally cannot guard a single center in Euroleague.

He literally cannot guard a center he played against in Euroleague. Motiejunas is better than him on defense, but that still does not mean that he is not bad on defense himself.

 

He’s not only comparing Motiejunas to Jonas. He’s saying Motiejunas is overall not as bad on defense as it’s been perceived and even has stats to back it up. He thinks he has the ability to be at least be a neutral NBA defender. Of course, both Jonas and Motiejunas should have relatively easy transitions to the NBA since NBA bigs are even worse competition, right? http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6259209&postcount=23

Seriously, nobody here, or on the gazillion other boards you troll takes you seriously, so I thought offering a non-troll’s opinion on the matter might be appreciated.

 

Are you actually saying that NBA centers are as good as Euroleague centers?

 

Were you actually saying that Pau and Marc Gasol would be weaker matchups than the competition Jonas has been facing in Euroleague?

 

He's not saying anything worth listening to. As usual.

 

Pau Gasol is a power forward. Marc Gasol is one center in the NBA.

The Euroleague on average has much better centers than the NBA does. It's not even close to be honest about it.