J. Kazlauskas on Marek sitting on a bench: “You need to solve this problem as soon as possible”

The 65-year-old can boast of an impressive career, during which he won victories such as bronze at the Sydney Olympics, two silver medals at European championships with the Lithuanian team and the Euroleague title with Kaunas “Žalgiris”.

At the beginning of the conversation, J. Kazlauskas recalled the times when in 1994 he joined the helm of the Kaunas team. According to the coach, the attitude of the players was not very professional at the time.

“When I came to Žalgiris, most of my energy had to be spent in order, the rest was basketball. After 4-5 years, this has changed dramatically: the players have started to think about the sports form, the contracts and everything else, ”said J. Kazlauskas early in his career.

Recently, an individual theme in the Lithuanian basketball world is the individual dominance of the players. The specialist also highlighted the lack of perimeter players, although he sees the future of this chain in the hands of Marius Grigonis, Lukas Lekavičius or Rokas Jokubaitis. However, J. Kazlauskas has yet to rule out basketball based on the team’s efforts.

“Lithuania stands out for its team play. There comes a time when other teams and clubs start to see it too, because ‘give me the ball, I’ll do my best’ is coming to an end. Maybe team play is back. “the technician shared.

Currently, two Lithuanian coaches, Rimas Kurtinaitis and Šarūnas Jasikevičius, work at the highest level in European basketball. J. Kazlauskas also coached these two basketball players at one point or another.

“It was much more difficult for me than for Kurtinaitis or Jasikevičius. I only saw Soviet basketball. They have already played in several clubs, with several coaches, they have tried basketball both in the NBA and in the Euroleague, they were good players, smart men. Also I was lucky with the coaches, but their range was much wider, “said the strategist.

At the end of the conversation, R. Valatka asked J. Kazlauskas about the era of modern coaches. Maybe now strategists can work until at least 70?

“If you feel that you are not making mistakes, you have the same reaction, the intuition is still good and you can make decisions, everything is fine, keep working. If you no longer feel that you are having a good time at a good job, you need to go elsewhere. Why torment yourself and torture the spectators sitting in the hallway? ”The coach replied.