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EuroBasket 2015 prep starts with tactical problems for Lithuania

Xinhua, July 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lithuanian national basketball team gathered for its first training camp on Monday to prepare for the upcoming European men basketball championship this fall.

15 candidates to the national basketball team arrived at Lithuanian sea resort Palanga to start the training for the championship.

Jonas Valanciunas, center forward from Toronto Raptors, will join the team in early August. Domantas Sabonis, 19-year-old forward from Gonzaga Bulldogs, NCAA, a son of legendary Arvydas Sabonis, will join the team in coming days.

During the opening conference, Jonas Kazlauskas, head coach of Lithuania and a former head coach of Chinese national team, highlighted the manning issues the national team faces after four experienced players decided to miss the games due to injuries.

According to Kazlauskas, power forward position causes the biggest problems.

"We are at the situation that we don't have a sufficient choice for that position," said Kazlauskas in the press conference.

"We will see how junior Sabonis will adapt to us, but taking into account his age and poor experience, one could hardly expect impressive results," Kazlauskas told media, noting that for Paulius Jankunas, power forward from Kaunas Zalgirs, it will be "very hard to bear all the load everyday".

"Undoubtedly, we will have to find a solution somehow," Kazlauskas added, saying "there are some ideas".

"I thought we would have to play with lower five," the head coach mentioned one of the possible tactical decisions.

In his words, friendly matches during the preparation cycle will reflect a true strength of the team.

Lithuanian team will play 10 matches with Australian, Finnish, Turkish, Croatian and Macedonian teams, before starting EuroBasket competition.

"According to the list, the previous results, our status, we are among leaders," said Kazlauskas.

He named the French and the Spanish teams as the main leaders of the competition.

The 39th edition of EuroBasket will take place from September 5 to 20, in France, Croatia, Germany and Latvia.

Lithuania, a small Baltic state, has won European basketball championship gold medals in 1937, 1939 and 2003. Endi