REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Expectations are always high in Lithuania when it comes to basketball. If you look at the preliminary roster for EuroBasket 2015 though, it looks like Lietuva fans may be in for a major overhaul of the team in the very near future. But considering the success that those young players have had, Lithuania faithful might not need to worry about lowering those expectations.

Going over Jonas Kazlauskas's roster at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, it's clear that Lithuania slowly but surely will need to infuse more youngsters. Six players on the team which reached the Semi-Finals were 29 years or older, half of those 32 or older. And only Jonas Valanciunas was under 24 years old. 

Coach Kazlauskas reacted to that and has selected seven players 23 years or younger in his 25-man preliminary roster for EuroBasket 2015, where Lithuania will take on Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, hosts Latvia and Ukraine in Group D in Riga.

"This list is extended and it includes players who have not explicitly said what their plans for the summer are," Kazlauskas said, referring to some of his veteran players and past leaders with injury concerns.

"The club season is not over yet, anything can happen, so we do not want to rush the players. In short, this list names the players whom us as coaches are interested in, that we see as potential members of the team."

Depending on what happens with Kazlauskas's slowly ageing players, the coach may start to incorporate more young talent into the squad this summer. This may not be a bad thing.

Valanciunas is of course already a proven commodity at 23 years old. But Kazlauskas has named two of the big center’s teammates from the successful youth days. 

Fellow 1992-born Rokas Giedraitis teamed with Valanciunas to win the title at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship and also won the title at the 2012 U20 European Championship - without Valanciunas, who played at the 2012 London Olympics. 

The small forward Giedraitis has made a name for himself in Lithuania at the club level as well, leading the LKL league in scoring with Siauliai. 

Edgaras Ulanovas meanwhile was with Valanciunas on the 2008 U16 European Championship winning team and also captured the crown at the 2010 U18 European Championship before Giedraitis joined forces with the team. 

Besides Valanciunas's 1992-born generation connection, Ulanovas represents another clear message from Kazlauskas - things are working quite well at Zalgiris Kaunas. 

Ulanovas is among four Zalgiris players 23 and under called into Lithuania's preliminary squad along with the trio of 21-year-olds that is Arturas Gudaitis, Vaidas Kariniauskas and Lukas Lekavicius. Gudaitis and Kariniauskas are actually 1993-born, while Lekavicius is part of the 1994 generation. 

Kariniauskas helped Lithuania to second place at the 2009 U16 European Championship and reached the final of the 2011 Nike International Junior Tournament with Zalgiris along with Gudaitis.

Lekavicius, for his part, finished second at the 2010 U16 and 2012 U18 European Championships as well as claimed a third place at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship.

Success at the youth level is one thing but how does it translate when the players start to take on more responsibility at the professional club level?

Zalgiris management was confident enough in the youngsters' talent that they set up their roster for the 2014-15 season so that they will be needed to play a big role. Kaunas also had help built in with Lithuania veteran leaders such as Paulius Jankunas, Darius Songalia and Robertas Javtokas on the team. Coach Gintaras Krapikas also had Sarunas Jasikivicius move from ageing veteran player in 2013-14 into the coaching staff as assistant coach. 

And the commitment has been paying off. Ulanovas, Gudaitis, Kariniauskaus and Lekavicius have combined for 28.8 points, 12.1 rebounds and 7.3 assists/blocks (Gudaitis with 1.3 blocks, the others with assists) in the Lithuanian league. In the Euroleague, they clearly were not over-matched, averaging 21 points, 10.1 rebounds and 6.4 assists/blocks. 

And that is not all at Zalgiris, who also have the 21-year-old Tomas Dimsa and 19-year-old Regimantas Miniotas in the pipeline - though they were not selected for the preliminary squad.

Kazlauskas will be bringing one 19-year-old to his training camp starting on 20 July in Palanga - that being the uber-talented Domantas Sabonis. 

An invitation to a senior national team training camp does not mean these young players will be playing in Riga and possibly Lille this summer, as Kaslauskas remarked.

"These are the players that we want to invite to training camp and once the club season is over we will be able to know everybody's chances more accurately."

But they are bigger dots on the national team radar - for good reason

David Hein

FIBA  

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