2024-07-11 19:22:24
V. Gedvilas, who celebrated his 65th anniversary a few months ago, received the award from the hands of LTOK president Daina Gudzinevičiūtė, and after that he spoke about the most important issues in basketball today.
“I haven’t had time to talk to Maksvytis yet – I only came back on Wednesday with adventures from Puerto Rico. Pilots strike in Puerto Rico. We haven’t talked to the coach yet, because we were flying on different paths,” V. Gedvilas testified
– What is the situation regarding the future of K. Maksvytis?
– The situation is this – the agreement with him has ended. So he is not the coach of the national team. Now we’ll start thinking about who that next coach will be. We have to analyze the situation, why we lost the final, why we played like that.
After that we will make a decision. An international seminar for basketball coaches is waiting for the weekend, we will discuss and talk about this situation there.
Then the Coaches Association, Executive Committee meeting is waiting. The issue of the coach will be resolved in the near future.
– What do you think, is it necessary to change the strategist?
– He did not complete his task, he did not qualify for the Olympics. He did not fulfill the agreement. If he had made it to the Olympics, we would have talked with him about a further contract after the Olympics.
He did not complete the task – I alone cannot make that decision and I will not, because there is an Executive Committee for that, a strategic group – it includes Linas Kleiza, Tomas Pacės… We will make the final decision there.
The situation is not simple, because the “windows” of the FIBA selection for the European Championship are waiting in the fall, and the whole game will have to be molded anew. We will have to focus again on the next Olympics.
– Are all those conversations necessary – the goals have not been met, as everything is clear.
– Conversations only to analyze how and why this result happened. Make a decision not about K. Maksvytis, but about the changing situation in basketball. Basketball is different from the previous Olympics.
If we talk about my opinion, then I think that it is necessary to renew the national team, to include promising youth.
There are several ways to deal with the situation in the national team – include young and promising players or have to compete with the best and not look at their age. There are two ways. Once upon a time, the Serbian national team was completely renewed, and after a few years it showed results.
– As we understand, K. Maksvytis will not stay. Who could be his successor?
– I can only say my personal opinion. With a foreign coach, we would take a big step back – if there was a foreign coach.
Choosing a foreign player would be a big step back. We certainly won’t go down that road while I’m president.
We will certainly look for coaches among Lithuanians who could lead. Of course, there are. The first thing is that we may talk to Šarūnas Jasikevičius, who is now the number one candidate. I haven’t talked to him yet – I don’t know if he would agree. If he agrees, that would be great.
And then there are even more candidates – it could be Giedrius Žibėnas, it could be Rimas Kurtinaitis. It is difficult to list all of them impromptu now. There are more of those people and coaches.
– Who should take responsibility for not getting to the Olympics – the players or the federation?
– I don’t want to find fault now. You can imagine that those players are not competing for pay because they are all millionaires.
Some came to compete injured and gave everything. I don’t want to talk more about it, because it is already a private and personal matter for basketball players – with sore legs, they give themselves to the national team…
But everyone came – no one refused. I can only thank them for the game. On the other hand, if a person misses 5 three-pointers, who is to blame? Federation?
Or shoot penalties with 60 percent accuracy. Is it the Federation’s fault? I don’t think the federation has to answer for that. We chose the coach and did not interfere in the process, we did not say what to take in the 12 and compete or not a friendly with Puerto Rico. They didn’t listen to us, they just took it and played. I don’t think that friendly match decided the final result.
– Will you participate in the LKF presidential elections alone?
– If I will participate, it will only be with General Secretary Mindaugas Balčiūnas. But I haven’t made a decision yet. I was the president for the shortest time – only three years. You can’t do much in that time when Arvydas Sabonis was 10 years old.
We have done a lot during that time, we underestimate everything: we got the biggest funding, but not because of factors, but because we achieved results.
After all, the 3×3 national team will play in the Olympics, last year we took 6th place in the world championship, young people win medals or take high places.
Now there are other youth championships, where we also have a chance to win. We only see five-on-five basketball – but we don’t watch together. After all, the schoolchildren’s league has expanded, funding has increased, the circle of sponsors has increased, and we receive practically nothing from the state.
We are trying to renovate the National Basketball League. There are misunderstandings – I can’t say everything, but we don’t change everything out of goodwill. It is very important to look at everything in general. Results won’t come suddenly in three years – I’m not a wizard. It is impossible to come and make the national team qualify for the Olympics.
– Will anyone without you be a candidate for the post of LKF president?
– I do not know. No one has applied yet. Certain documents for participation in the presidential election must be submitted by August 17. Then we will see.
2024-07-11 19:22:24