VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - I know what you're thinking when sizing up the prospects of teams headed to the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Lithuania's don't look good.

They have a couple of walking wounded in the NBA in Donatas Motiejunas and Jonas Valanciunas and several players that are part of a Zalgiris Kaunas outfit that's on life support in the Euroleague.

Their best player at EuroBasket 2015, Jonas Maciulis, has gone from being the main man in the national team to averaging 3.3 points per game for Real Madrid in the Euroleague.

Don't be fooled, though.

Don't write off Lithuania's chances of doing something special next year.

Club basketball is one thing and international basketball is something else.

Everything changes for the Lithuanian players when they suit up for the country.

The drum-beating crowd of supporters from the Baltics that follows them to the ends of the earth will give them a lift.

Lithuania will fight.

We've seen it happen time and time again, like this year when a Jonas Kazlauskas-coached team lacked star power yet still met its main aim of Olympic qualification by reaching the Final of the 24-team EuroBasket.

Lithuania's players were just mentally tough when they had to be, winning games they weren't supposed to win.

When they upset Serbia on the penultimate day of the competition, it was mission accomplished.

It's true that on paper, Lithuania do not look as if they can field a great team.

There are no Pau Gasols or Kyrie Irvings or Lithuanian stars of yesteryear like FIBA Hall-of-Famers Sarunas Marciulionis or Arvydas Sabonis in the squad.

But you need to remember certain things when considering this side's chances.

Lithuania has been one of the darlings of the international game since the 1992 Olympics, when the national team played and captured a bronze medal shortly after the country gained independence from the old Soviet Union.

Despite having to compete in the toughest of continental championships every other year, the EuroBasket, Lithuania always find a way to show up at the Summer Games.

This was true after what happened in 2011, when Lithuania hosted the EuroBasket and fell to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD) in one of the great Quarter-Final upsets of the competition's history.

Lithuania stood strong in the face of adversity.

They travelled to Caracas for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) and survived.

Martynas Pocius (LTU) at 2012 OQT in Caracas

In a hostile environment, the team beat hosts Venezuela on Day 2 and also got wins over Puerto Rico and then the Dominican Republic to claim one of the three places on offer for London.

There was relief at the end of the tournament, but also a "you-should-never-have-doubted-us" attitude heard in the voice of Maciulis, a player that had fought back from a serious knee injury to take part in the OQT.

Their appearance at next year's Brazil Games will be a seventh consecutive for Lithuania's men at an Olympics.

Spain, who are about to make a fifth straight Olympic appearance, are really the other only European country that has consistently made it to the Summer Games like Lithuania.

The Spaniards have played at every Olympics since 1980, save the 1996 Games in Atlanta after they failed to qualify.

What is it that makes Lithuania so darn good?

There is something undeniably hard and resilient about these players.

Remember what former coach Kestutitis Kemzura said at the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup, when Lithuania finished third?

"I like to compare the basketball game with a life, with a country's life, with a people's life, and our country got a lot of, how to say, downs and tough moments," he said.

"But we survive. We survive.

"You can, you know, you can beat us, you can win, but you cannot destroy us. And this is amazing."

Kezmura could have used that speech to win a presidential election.

The current national team coach, Kazlauskas, could have cause for concern with the Olympics just eight months away.

Toronto Raptors center Valanciunas, who like Maciulis made the All-Star Five at the EuroBasket, fractured the fourth metacarpal of his left hand two weeks ago.

The national side's other NBA player, Motiejunas, has yet to play a game since injuring his back in March, something that kept him out of EuroBasket 2015.

There's no need to worry.

"We showed (at the EuroBasket) that Lithuanian basketball is great even without (Linas) Kleiza, Motiejunas, great players," national team forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas said.

Lithuania won close games in the Round of 16, the Quarter-Finals and the Semi-Finals to book their place at the Olympics.

"We were still able to reach something," Kuzminskas said.

"It shows the strength of Lithuania basketball."

For Kazlauskas, it doesn't matter who is available.

He will go into battle with the soldiers that he has.

The veteran coach will get them ready to play the game the Lithuania way and they will get the job done.

"This is the Lithuania mentality, that's all," he said.

"We have rules on the team.

"It doesn't matter if you are a big star, a role player - everyone has to follow those rules."

So when you're thinking about the teams that have the best chance of reaching the podium? 

Think Lithuania.

They'll be ready.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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