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Photo: Illustration by BNS / BasketNews.lt
Photo Illustration by BNS / BasketNews.lt
Kaunas “Žalgiris” welcomes another difficult week. Already today, the challenge of the “Fenerbahce” of Istanbul awaits the residents of Kaunas in Turkey, and on Sunday, the “Rytas” of Vilnius will try to get pregnant at the Betsafe-LKL championship.
Before waiting for the important duel this week, the LKL.lt portal spoke with the assistant Tautvydas Sabonis, who joined the Coaching Staff of the Lithuanian Champions this year.
It hasn’t been two years since Sabonis, then 27, swapped his basketball outfit for that of a coach. Still, Tutis quickly earned the respect of the people of Žalgiris. Every day he is one of the first to race to the Žalgiris Arena on Nemunas Island and is always ready to help those players who want to work individually.
“Very good chebra this year, it’s good to work with them,” Sabonis said happy with the environment around him. “And I think they are also happy to work with me, if they write to me, want to and ask me to come, that means I’m doing a good job.”
Currently, the Lithuanian champions are sharpening their weapons for decisive battles in the Euroleague, but also expect an intense programming regime on the home front. However, according to Sabonis, all matches should be taken seriously, not Sunday’s battle in the capital.
“Žalgiris” is “Žalgiris”. All matches must be set to win. With such a schedule, we are preparing for the match for all occasions. We will always win, show our best side. If we see that the game is going better and we can give the leaders a little rest and free the young people, that is what happens. But every game is important to us ”, the assistant coach did not look for excuses.
“At the end of the game, the coach gets a scout, the next day we go back and prepare for the next duel, this time it will be with Rytas. After the game in Turkey, we will prepare for them on the plane, “added Sabonis.
– How is your week at this stage of the season?
– As for team training, this year is the first in the Euroleague, and with the coronavirus there are not as many training sessions as all coaches would like. The season is long, many games, their schedules change, new ones are added. We have a double workout this week, maybe there was no time in a month, I don’t remember. It is not possible with such a schedule. Interestingly, there are not so many team workouts.
Personally, whether the training is in the morning or in the evening, I am in the sand in the morning, I play sports. The coaches come, we talk about the game, what we will do, what they will do (competitors, aut. Past). Then many players come, we have a lot of individual work. As I mentioned, there are not as many team workouts as you would like. Players perform throws, other jobs.
The coaches work with the players. When the players ask for it, we come to work. Exploration, video analysis, clippings of the player, showing what he was doing, how to improve. Nothing impressive, we all have our responsibilities, I personally very sad, because I have a lot of confidence in the coach and I’m happy to work.
– Do you work mostly with tall people? How would you rate the improvement of the players you have worked with since the beginning of the season and the fruits of your joint work?
– Arnis (Arne Woltmann, aut. Past.) He works with tall people, he is responsible for them. But we all put those players together. With the same Carol that I have to work with, Patricio works really hard, Thomas, Nigel. I had to work a lot with Marek, you can see it in him. We work with habits to change them. At the moment you do the exercises you don’t see much, but after a while you see that it works better and takes shots.
– And how much personal contact do you have with the players? With which players is that closest connection? Who is the best worker?
– Nigel is the one who invites the most, every day. On Monday I had a day off and did not write, I was surprised. Even a wife knows that if someone writes, it is probably him. It’s interesting to talk to him, it’s easy for me to work with Americans, I work with the same Thomas every day. Anyway, with everyone, Griga, Milu. He was Jankis’s training partner, so now I also help Jankis train. There is a coach-player relationship with everyone, but at the same time a friendship.
– How much older do you feel as a coach during this period in “Žalgiris”?
– Very much, I’m sorry myself. I spoke with my dad recently and said that 3-4 months here really brings a lot. You think and look completely differently. There are many games to explore for players interested in how they do it and what the coach emphasizes. Sometimes it seems like you’ve never thought about it before. I had to talk a lot with Evaldas, it was very interesting to learn from him because he had been in Shar for so many years. Has a lot of thought Shar. I lost that level, so I learn from everyone, both coaches and players. I really feel a lot better and I want to keep doing it, I can learn something new all the time.
– For Martin Schiller, this is the first season at the wheel of the Euroleague. How much did everyone have to adapt to the American way of training?
– I, as a former and seen dad or dressage in America, I know this style of training. I watch the video myself, I find it interesting, the NBA not only because of Domo or Dad, but also because of me, it’s a bit interesting to follow. I immediately spoke to Doma about all these new methods in Europe. He said it would be interesting how Lithuanians would react to this. Everyone was a bit new and needed to get used to, and now everything is fine. And anyway, it was very easy for me to grasp what I wanted. I’ve been seen myself, so it wasn’t difficult.
– You yourself have said that you are actively watching your brother’s game in the NBA, and how many comments do you receive? How much does your brother see the Žalgiris?
– Send a message to the family group all the time – “maladec, Tuti, good victory, etc.”. I don’t know how much he watches those games, but he always signs. Like me, brother looks at brother. Clearly, your schedule is even more difficult than ours, even that time difference. Sometimes I wake up at night, but I know that he really looks at everything and knows that he is interested in “Žalgiris”.
– A month ago, you and your team won your first title: Citadele KMT trophies. How much does such an achievement and the first title with “Žalgiris” mean to you?
– The last time I personally won something with the U-20 team was when we won the European Championship in Slovenia. 8 years have passed, I have not won anything. Where I played, I had to play in the playoffs, but not to win. The very raising of the glass, the feeling that the job was done, was longed for a long time ago. Citadele KMT gave me my first title, albeit as an assistant coach, but it was very important to me. Tal Jankis already has many titles, it may not mean much to him, but it was important for me, I know, also for the coach. The feeling was good, you pay and you get a prize. Photos, memories, the first drink with “Žalgiris”, I think I will never forget it.
– There are two foreigners working in your coaching staff. Did you and Evaldas Beržininkaiitis have to familiarize Schiller and Woltmann with the importance of the matches against “Morning”?
– You don’t need to say a word. Which was very surprising from the first day the coach called, everyone was very prepared, he knew everything. He’s a workaholic, he knew what “Grunwald” is, what “Morning” is, what is important here. We didn’t have to say anything.
– You definitely won the first two games with Rytas this year. Looking back on the summer, many hoped that the title intrigue could return this year. How much of this gave the players an extra boost in those games?
– Easy to talk without seeing how it works. I know the players really wanted to show that they were better with that win. We have shown that we are a better team and that there shouldn’t even be those languages. Those languages will still be there all the time, but we have shown and done everything that we should have done. The players were determined to show everyone that we are “Žalgiris” and that in Lithuania we will always be number one. That is what we have shown. The first half of those first matches was quite good for them, there were people in the stands, they did a good job, but in the end we showed the character of who we are. There were no languages in the second game, we won by a wide margin.
– At the moment, Rytas has not been stuck in the Betsafe-LKL championship for several months. How different is this team from when they crushed it in Kaunas?
– It didn’t have much to do with it because we are still preparing for the game with Fenerbahche. You look at the results and you see that the Vilnius coach has done a good job. Winning both games is not easy, no matter what the situation is. It is seen that the players believe in the coach again, they play well. And we will be determined to prove that we are the best team in Lithuania.
– The captain and leader of Rytas is a long-time friend of his youth team Arnas Butkevičius. How important will the party be to prevent it from dominating?
– I still can’t say anything about the next game, but in the first game Arnas started very well, then he got out of the game with not very intelligent fouls, but at the beginning he was a very good engine for them, attacking. us in a quick attack.
I remember Arna when she came to the U19 team, I was surprised that she had not been with us before and where she came from. Arnas is a hard-working, versatile 3-4 player. You will need to prepare.
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