Second Chance: Advantages of T. Dimsha and questions for Š.Jasikevičius Euroleague

In the late summer of 2013, Kaunas “Žalgiris” basketball players gathered for a preseason training camp. Many Žalgiris youth were already hitting the main team goal and hoped to wear a Žalgiris jersey. At that time, two Žalgiris doubles leaders and Lithuanian youth teams – Marius Grigonis and Tomas Dimša – applied for the position of attacking defender. Greece coach Ilias Zouras decided that the latter would be more suitable for him.

In the fall of 2013, Tom, when he was just 19 years old, even started his debut in the Euroleague match with Real Madrid. However, after the coaching carousel in Kaunas, after suddenly firing I.Zouras, then replacing Saulius Štombergs, and at the end of the season with Gintaras Krapikas, T.Dimša fell from the stable rotation of “Žalgiris”. After two years in the main lineup, in 2015 the defender put on a green shirt in the basket and went to Germany.

Frankfurt, Prienai, Varezė, Utena and Panevėžys: after passing five very different basketball stops, T.Dimša returns to “Žalgiris” again. How did these hardest and happiest experiences prepare the basketball player for a second chance?

15 minutes tells the idea of ​​T.Dimša, 26, for “Žalgiris” and the biggest challenge ahead.

Season	The team	League	Min.	Met.%	Trit.%	Why.	Lost	Tšk.
2019-20	Rain cable	FIBA CL	27.4	46.1	43.5	1.81	3.25	13.31
2018-19	Juventus	LKL	19.9	44.1	33.3	1.89	2.41	8.03
2017-18	Prienai	LKL	29.8	43.8	27.5	2.78	3.81	11.67
2017-18	Varese	Italy	4.1	22.2	0 0	0.12	0.5	0.5
2016-17	Prienai	LKL	20.5	35	28.8	2.14	1.14	8.5
2015-16	Skyliners	Germany	14.8	40.6	27.5	1.23	1.08	5.23
2014-15	Žalgiris	Euroleague	6.7	29.2	00	0.9	0.7	1.40
2013-14	Žalgiris	Euroleague	15.3	39.6	40.9	1.6	0.6	3.67

Advantage

Just as Žalgiris coach Šarūnas Jasikevičius loves golf, family travel, and good company, he also can’t resist players who have a universal skill pack.

Shar’s eyes typically don’t see a player’s resume, contract size, club or league name, or average points earned, but rather a basketball player’s inspection data showing what has to offer for a carefully measured and calculated game.

T. Dimsha can do many different things at a high level: create a situation for yourself and your teammates with the ball, read the game, hit from a distance, defend yourself, jump higher and run faster than others.

It is not for nothing that Nenadas Čanakas bravely entrusted him with freedom of action in Lietkabelis de Panevėžys. It could have been the same, except for Željko Šakičius, but it was Tom who was the main decision-maker.

T. Dimsha can well calculate the situation and make the right decision for his team. He knows how to control the pace of the game, seeing the need to sharpen it on time and, if necessary, wait for the most appropriate moment to attack. The good reading of the game is especially impressive for Š.Jasikevičius.

Although he is not a standard player, Dimsha can serve desserts to his teammates. In the LKL championship, he was tenth in the league in terms of successful passes (3.6 passes average) and according to this indicator, he was the leader in Lietkabel in both the national championship and the FIBA ​​Champions League.

After receiving the confidence of the coach, T. Dimša dove into the square like a pike in the Lithuanian lakes. The coach’s credit built the player’s confidence to trust not only the effectiveness of his decisions but also the shots.

Speed, sharpness, a good first pass and athleticism T. Dams helped create an advantage over a direct opponent. The defender fed his shot after bouncing off the bounce past the three-point line (Step back), that a virtually uncovered launch was created. In such isolated attack situations, T. Dimša averages the market. 1.4 points per attack with 50 percent. coup: it was one of the best results in the entire FIBA ​​Champions League.

After inflating his chest, T. Dimša boldly took responsibility for the decisive shots and did not shy away from taking the initiative when it was necessary to decide the end of the match.

Basketball psychology is everything, CSKA coach Dimitris Itoudis said last year. How else, if not psychology, to explain such an increase in T. Dimsha’s three-point hit?

“Skyliners”, Prienai, “Juventus”, Varese – in four years at any club, T. Dimas’ three-point hit of the season reached no more than 33 percent. At Panevėžys Lietkabelis, in the LKL and FIBA ​​Champions League, he attacked from a distance with a total of 41.1 percent. accuracy. In the international tournament, the three-point hit rate was a very solid 43.5 percent.

At Žalgiris, T. Dims will probably have to play more as an assistant than as a decision maker. But for that he put a good foundation of trust in Panevėžys.

In static launch situations, T. Dimša last season in the FIBA ​​Champions League market av. 1,282 points per attack, hitting 47.2 percent. Shots Discovered by the opponent in this position during an attack, collected vine. even 1,821 points with 60.7 percent. hit. This is one of the best results in the entire FIBA ​​tournament.

In addition to these technical strengths of the game, Tomas Dimša is one of the most athletic defenders in Lithuania. Generally, you will not find such springs in the Lithuanian basketball schools. T. Dimsha’s athletics will create an additional situation for the team by crossing into the basket along the sideline and receiving passes on the second floor.

T. Dimsha is not so short for his position (195 cm), and his long arms and nimble legs with good lateral speed block the way to the rivals.

T. Dams can be relied upon to defeat the most dangerous rival snipers. Last season in the FIBA ​​Champions League, his rivals were only av. 0.667 points for each attack with only 25 percent. hit. After defending T.Dimša, he can quickly launch into a quick attack, where he will either successfully complete the attack himself or assist a teammate.

The defender’s versatility allows him to play in various positions, which has always been an advantage for Šarūnas Jasikevičius’s team. T. Dimsha will be able to offer the coach many things that the strategist himself will be able to adapt to his game plan as necessary.

“Why isn’t he such a good player playing on Žalgiris’ team yet?”

This says a lot about the progress and potential of T. Dimsha for the Euroleague.

The biggest questions

In line with T. Dimsha’s statistics, some moments stand out more.

According to Synergy, the efficiency of his two-on-two game should be troubling, where in such situations in the FIBA ​​Champions League he scored just 0.558 points with 28.3 percent. hit. This is a below average result.

His statistical lines are not decorated with defensive numbers, where in two-on-two situations, T. Dimsha’s opponents picked up vine. 1,022 points per attack with 58.1 percent. He hit, and in the FIBA ​​tournament this was considered a bad result.

Many factors may have contributed to this, perhaps T. Dimša’s smaller body was mixed in places, preventing him from penetrating through the high-rise barriers, and making it more difficult to complete attacks in the area of penalty. Of course, the Euroleague red flag is at the top here: this tournament will require the highest level of physique.

Furthermore, T. Dimša relied on his teammates for defense and, for example, Željko Šakičius is not the most reliable defense pillar.

The rivals’ one-on-one attacks were also painful, during which the opponents collected vine. 1.25 points with 55.6 percent. hit. It can be assumed that at an even higher level, all of these indicators will be poorer.

Although such figures are surprising. T. Dimsha is considered to be a player who is definitely above the average limit for basketball players and coaches. It is true that he is superior in team defense than in self defense.

But the biggest question should be raised by Š.

You joke that in Žalgiris T. Dimša you can forget yours. Step back, which ended the decisive seconds of attacks on Rainbow. In the Š.Jasikevičius lineup, it will be necessary to gain confidence in the defense of precision, wait patiently and take advantage of opportunities in attack and time.

The possibility of touching the ball in Kaunas will be much less than in Panevėžys, where after the actions of T. Dimsha ended about 15 attacks per game. He will have to be as effective as possible in some situations created for him and demonstrate his worth more often by playing without the ball.

Everyone had to go through this natural selection. For example, Marius Grigonis also had a very difficult start in Kaunas, when he collected vine during the first seven games of the Euroleague. 2.6 points per meeting. But over time, he became the most important player on the team. Others, like Alex Perez, even with a breakthrough in Shar’s confidence, still couldn’t move to the next level.

These are mainly psychological challenges, which will show at the Euroleague level whether Dimsha can break through and belong to the elite circle, or if this poster is still too high for him.

T.Dimša recently received a test in the role of an assistant alongside his top-tier partners in the 2022 European Championship team, wearing his Lithuanian national team jersey for the first time.

Usually in situations where T. Dimša waited for the right moment in Panevėžys, the basketball player would sometimes rush or make the wrong decision. The defender did not seem as confident as usual and was not very bright in the overall context of the game.

However, it was only two games after the meeting to play with the company, which coached together for just a week. Summarizing the FIBA ​​window, Darius Maskoliūnas sent a clear message, evaluating T.Dimša’s performance in good words.

conclusion

Timsha is now much better prepared for the Euroleague test than she was five years ago. 15 minutes According to sources, the basketball player has dramatically changed on the side of the character. After throwing negative thought and mistrust overboard, T. Dimša displayed completely different facial and body language in Utena and Panevėžys.

T.Dimšai should be helped not only by the baptism already received from the Euroleague and the family arena “Žalgiris”. Alongside the sideline, he will be assisted by two coaches, Tomas Masiulis and Evaldas Beržininkaitis, with whom he transported medals from Europe, world championships and universities to Lithuania. In the square you will find your best friend Marius Grigonis and two other boys from the generation of 1994, Lukas Lekavičius and Martinas Gebenas.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Robertas Javtokas, Paulius Jankūnas, Artūras Milaknis, Edgaras Ulanovas: I had already fought for all the LKL gold rings with all these old men from Žalgiris.

Dimsha’s career faces an enormous and perhaps fateful challenge that will change her curve.

Not surprisingly, the defender, who averaged 10 shots at Lietkabelis, can freely paint the game picture of the Kaunas team. Probably in the first season he will be a 10-15 minute role player in the Euroleague, which will expand the defenders’ rotation and allow the leaders to rest in the LKL championships.

After the announcement of the acquisition of T. Dimša, fans of “Žalgiris” began to speculate on where another Žalgiris resident is planning to take this move. But it could be that Tom is only a 4-5 defender in Shar’s universal rotation, where he will push basketball players through various positions. The most important thing is that he is a Lithuanian who has grown a lot, who will not hit hard in the pocket of “Žalgiris”.

There are no high expectations on the Kaunas “Žalgiris” side. But a great opportunity for Tomas Dimša, who deserves his game.