New firefighter in Vilnius: why did Rytas players trust Giedrius Žibėnas?

After his last defeat in Vilnius, Donaldas Kairys went up to the VIP lobby of the Jeep Arena. There he was summoned by the club leaders Darius Gudelis and Justas Jankauskas. Without curtains, the coach who played in Vilnius for half a year was told: “Thank you and all the best.”

Soon two of his assistants, Giedrius Žibėnas and Georgios Dedas, were invited into the executive room. They were given a helmet, a fire hose, and an order to shut down the broken Rytas camp.

And the club in the capital has long been on fire.

For the first time since 2003, “Rytas” is close to not winning a single title and not leaving the group competition of the international tournament. 2015-2016 Vilnius residents, who had four coaches at the wheel, did not cross the barrier of the EuroCup group, but Tomas Pačėsas made the team a victorious round in the King Mindaugas Cup.

Confidence in G.Žibėnas was measured.

15 minutes According to sources, Rytas executives consulted with the protagonists of the dressing room regarding G.Žibėnas. They expressed their confidence in the 36-year-old Lithuanian.

During that semester, Vilnius residents saw the brighter side of G.Žibėnas. Most of the time, the assistants are those good patrols who establish a much friendlier relationship with basketball players than with men. coaches. But the “Rytas” basketball players got stuck not only with G.Žibėnas’ positive attitude towards basketball and the work process.

The young strategist has already done the “Rytas” trainings and led the team in two LKL championship matches, when D.Kairys was sent off the field in a duel with Prienai “CBet”.

It was a brief acquaintance with the basketball players “Rytas” with G.Žibėnas. However, the players got caught up in the high knowledge of Lithuanian basketball.

The biggest change was noticed by the Vilnius people on defense. It was enough with the training of the others, one and the second game, so that the defensive rules of the players in the morning were much clearer. The team really lacked that clarity with D. Kairis. The word “clarity” was underlined at the top of G. Žibėnas and G. Ded’s “Morning” rescue plan.

Vine. Ryto’s defense, who missed 87.2 points during a FIBA ​​Champions League match, was so punctured that even the team’s most defensive player, Arnas Butkevičius, looked poor.

In this context, the story of the hot training of “Rytas” before the KMT match with Utena “Juventus”, in which D.Kairys told the players that they need to know how to defend themselves in specific situations, is not surprising. When the basketball players asked who the coach was here, they kicked him out of the locker room.

According to Synergy, of the 32 teams in the FIBA ​​Champions League, Rytas was the team with the most points in an attack (average of 1,083) and the only team that allowed opponents to hit more than any other throw (51.7 percent accuracy) .

“The potential for improvement in defense is huge. To improve here, we need to be very precise with habits, a clear system and continuity. Continuity would better describe what we should change, – said G.Žibėnas in an interview on official communication channels. – Perhaps we have had too many options in defense so far, which has led to disagreements. With the coaching staff of coaches, we will try to simplify the defense model as much as possible. But it demands more from the players. Their responsibilities in defense one on one and two by two should be greater.

Physically, the players are very well prepared. Fitness coach Tadas Jackūnas does a good job. The schemes were too diverse for our type of team. Sometimes misunderstandings would arise and we began to blame each other instead of blaming ourselves. We will try to keep the defense systems as simple as possible so that the player knows who is to blame and takes responsibility.

We need to put ourselves in a fist and be all in line, and the coaches must provide a clear framework. “

Team unity and players ‘personal responsibility for individual errors in defense are other important points on G.Žibėnas’ list of amendments.

The lower non-distribution of ego and players is another interesting feature of G.Žibėnas, which the basketball players from “Rytas” point to.

During the first half of the season, the Vilnius camp was more egalitarian than the others. As he says 15 minutes sources, the mistakes of the Americans were overlooked, and the scapegoats of all the troubles were translated to the Lithuanians. It’s no wonder why some of Ryto’s players this season looked and felt like they had lost their love of basketball.

G.Žibėnas will have to justify the confidence of the players and rebuild the bridge with the team that already burned in D.Kairis.

“The coach will always be dissatisfied and will find something to stick to. And we want to stay more and more often. Because the responsibilities in defense will grow and increase. We will not lose sight of the fact that somewhere someone is not doing what we have. agreed. This will make us a more united team. This will give us clarity and stability for each other, “said G. Žibėnas a lot on the subject.

15 minutes Sources say that Rytas’ coach, who had the opportunity, came to the Vilnius club and firmly believed in the philosophy of D. Kairis and the title hunting ambitions. Having high ambitions is healthy, but it will require a change in the work process and attitude towards the team.

He remains a coach in search of his style, whose portrait was formed in the quarries of Indonesia, Denmark, Italy, Iran, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania.

However, he is a stuntman who loves his job very much, and played basketball for the V. Chomičius and Kaunas sports schools with coach Darius Dikčius until he was 18 years old. Seeing that he did not anticipate major losses in his basketball career, he immediately joined LAPE (now LSU) and received an invitation to work as a coach, first at V. Chomičius and then at the Tornado basketball school.

“It would be a balance between Serbian and American basketball,” G. Žibėnas told Jonas Radzevičius about his basketball philosophy on the Rytas website. – The entire base of basketball is from the USA and all discipline and discipline – from Serbia. Especially from the older generation of coaches. Only the times are a little different now, that discipline must be forgiven. “

Coach searches paused

15 minutes According to the news, when “Rytas” players expressed their confidence in G.Žibėnas, the Vilnius club suspended talks with possible candidates for the lead. coach position.

The agents also offered the names of the Euroleague coaches to the capital team. These were specialists like the head of the Panathinaikos of Athens. Georgios Vovoras or Ilias Zouras, former Kaunas Žalgiris strategist, and several other strategists from Spain or Greece are not established in the coaching position.

It is true that “Morning” is limited by financial opportunities. D. The left will have to pay a huge compensation, therefore 15 minutes Sources report that currently the capital’s team could offer only about 5,000 to the new strategist. monthly salary.

This situation makes Rytas think mainly of the young Lithuanian coaches, among whom are specialists such as Marius Kiltinavičius or Aurimas Jasilionis, who is still at Khimki.

However, until there is a new sports director in Vilnius, no changes in this position are expected.

Future adjustments at Rytas

Unlike “Morning”.

Keith Benson, who put his cell phone on the bench in a KMT counterattack match with Juventus, was probably looking for tickets for his next flight back to the United States. Meanwhile, Ryan Boatright, with his physical form and attitude towards the team, is not very desirable on the “Morning” team, neither in the wardrobe nor in the organization.

Among the Americans, Andrew Goudelock will probably stay in Vilnius, and the headquarters of the coaches of “Rytas” would like to change to R. Boatright and M. Ndour.

“Everything is clear about the style of the players, we need athletic players. It is no secret that our main scorers are not the best defenders. Therefore, we are looking for more mobile players and in better physical shape, – G.Žibėnas replied to the Vilnius residents’ hearings on the club’s official channel – We are looking for a tall man who defends himself in two against two situations and who adapts to us, not us to him.

In the quarterback we are looking for a player who can represent one on one, under the basket, and be able to lead the game through defense. There are many of those solutions, many options. We are talking to the club, the management, but so far it is within the team. “

True, 15 minutes Sources say Rytas will only gradually see a chance to get stronger.

Rapolas Ivanauskas, a 22-year-old 208cm tall Lithuanian scout a few years ago, is at the gates of the Vilnius club.

Meanwhile, if Ryan Boatright left “Morning,” a newcomer wouldn’t necessarily make it to his post. For an indefinite period of time, the residents of Vilnius can entrust the functions of the player to Augustas Marčiulionis and Dovis Bičkauskis.

When G. Žibėnas started working in Indonesia a couple of years ago, due to the tragicomic conditioning system, he had to lead the Jakarta team into the room with a heat of around 30-40 degrees. But even that is not equal to the fire and thick smoke that engulfs him in the attack to put out the fire in the “Tomorrow” team.

The 26th technician’s first attempt at Rytas since 1997 is already on Wednesday, in the LKL championship with Klaipėda “Neptūnas” (6:50 pm, Vilnius).