Left: About the unusually prepared preparation, the Goudelock form, and Jackson’s leadership / news

Photo: R. Lukoševičius

Photo: R. Lukoševičius

Photo: R. Lukoševičius

Photo: R. Lukoševičius

Photo: R. Lukoševičius

The Vilnius “Rytas” team finished their preparation for the season by failing in a persistent struggle, trying their luck at the Euroleague club. Donald Kairis’s students, who have the great support of their fans, entered the match in the Jeep arena under unusual circumstances, greatly confusing the end of the preparation.

The team recently made their debut with three foreigners: Andrew Goudelock, Chris McCullough and Christian Kitsing, a trio who couldn’t join the game, for which Kairys and her team have been preparing since August.

“There were interesting games, there were emotions, we all yearn for basketball, both players and fans,” Kairys said after the match. – It’s good that you could see this and that. Clearly, the image was not always beautiful. First of all, we played with many players, even thirteen, some had very few minutes, others more.

The problem is that all three players are newly connected. Clearly, we can’t learn many combinations. It felt like a misunderstanding of what we were playing. You had to play the simplest things, the fastest and shortest combinations. We did a little bit. “

– What positive can be drawn from the fourth quarter?
– First of all, I liked the leadership of Demetrius Jackson. He told me and the team during halftime that “we play harder, we stop a couple of attacks, we play faster because we do better. We catch the ball, I’ll push it forward, I’ll be ready to shoot. ”And such chaos was in our favor. Of course, Panathinaikos would like to play slower, and we would be quicker for the negative result. We had multi-position matches.

– Who got stuck for the first halves without all the circumstances listed?
– Very simple: first of all, we have to be in our own positions, I mean that the third numbers have to play in the third position, the fourth, in the fourth. We were very out of position, especially with Arnas Butkevičius. And that seemed like there was no certainty about what we were playing, where we were standing. This thing will take time that we are already very short of. But there is no other way.

– Andrew Goudelock was how you want to see him?
– He is a special player who is really capable of creating a launch by himself. After just three trainings, he scored 19 points for the Panathinaikos club. I’m happy with his performance, now he needs to get in shape. I am also satisfied with Demetrius Jackson. He also had an impressive game, not only in points: 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Of course, we made mistakes and many. It would be naive to expect to win a game with 24 errors against such a team, but you will simply have to learn to build better barriers.

– How long will Goudelock take to get into shape?
– We try to pay attention to this and make quick changes, not playing for long minutes, changing players every 3-4 minutes. You felt that fatigue, but you will not do anything, it will take time. He just voluntarily joined, he can only be praised and thanked for that.

“How did you see Chris McCullough?”
– Nothing yet. I didn’t even know if I would let him play or not, but due to the lack of tall people, I knew that it could happen that someone would be punished and that we no longer have tall people. I wanted to give it a touch of the ball.

– What is your athletic condition?
– It still does not change and it seems that it will take a few weeks to enter.

– How, in your opinion, did the tall people of Rytas pass the Euroleague club front-line test?
– It wasn’t easy for them, but they did score some points. I think they could end up being even stronger, they could happen more often in more aggressive situations where they would be sharper and better from the penalty area or from the penalty line. We issued only 9 fines. I would like them to create situations and be able to win penalty kicks.

– Has the situation with Saulius Kulvietis been resolved?
– Still to be decided. This is between the doctors, the club leaders and the player himself.

– We still see David Dulk in this company. Is there a chance that I will become an official “Morning” player?
– First of all, thanks to David, because there was a great shortage of people at that time and he helped us a lot. For the future, we will live and see. We will see how things develop.

– Have you decided what to borrow from the players?
– We talk and decide. I can’t reveal anything else.

– Do you feel ready for the start of the season?
– We will have to roll up our sleeves and do a lot during the remaining two training sessions to prepare for a good Utena team.

– Kristjan Kitsing: a new addition to the team. What do you expect with his coming?
– I hope to increase our percentage of three points from 24%. up to 44 percent. He made good shots but still hasn’t hit. Throwing well during training, but it’s one thing to quit after the break, it’s another to pitch a game. Again, her condition is not playful yet, she will also need time to enter. We have good pitchers, we just don’t hit the way we’d like today, especially in the crucial moments where we almost got caught up in the opponent.