NEWS: Zalgiris has fired Coach Ramunas Butautas only a day before their trip to Malaga to take on Unicaja. The team will be run in the interim by joint assistants Darius Maskoilunas and Gvidonas Markevicius. If anyone has an explanation, we’d love to hear it.
IMPACT: I imagine it went a little something like this: “Hey Coach, good to see you. Thanks for coming. We just wanted to thank you for getting us into the Top 16. Considering we were 1-7 before that, it was pretty much an unthinkable freaking miracle, so good work with that. 12-2 in the Baltic League ain’t half bad either, and while you’re here, kudos on the undefeated record in the Lithuanian League. Good stuff. That’s all, you can go now. Oh wait, one more thing: you’re fired. Later, pal!”
I don’t understand this at all. Yes, they’re 0-2 in the Top 16, but this time last year the Euroleague was a distant memory. Not to mention, these guys are playing without the league’s best rebounder in Travis Watson and they’re relying largely on young and inexperienced players like Mirza Begic, Martynas Pocius, Mantas Kalnietis, and now newcomers Aleksander Capin and Mario Delas. And what about all this double coach business? Considering the team’s players speak a handful of languages to begin with, one voice in the huddle is already hard enough to follow. I’m sure they’ll figure something out. On second thought, maybe not. For this week at least, Unicaja is dealing with some problems of their own and are 2-5 after starting the season with 5 victories. This game might take the shape of a YMCA run n’ gun pick up special. I’ll be watching closely.
Hi there! I’m from Lithuania, Kaunas, and believe me.. I HAVE NO IDEA why Butautas was fired!! Yes they lost to youngster team (Perlas) at LKL, but that doesn’t mean you must fire the head coach.. Everybody here is in a shock! Even SABAS said to Lithuania media that he is in shock!!! Damn it that’s not cool.. After few hours we have a Euroleague game, but.. But we’re playing Unicaja away, everybody knows, that Žalgiris plays very badly away.. Every player is in shock.. I believe my team and I hope we’ll win.. I hope..
At this point,pretty much everyone is confused as to what the hell is going on with Zalgiris.I’ve tried looking at this situation from many different angles and the firing of coach Butautas still doesnt make any sense to me.Zalgiris had a few very tough games in the domestic league,almost losing to Sakalai and Nevezis and then suffered a shocking loss to Perlas team which consists of 18-19 year olds mainly.But come on,you cant fire someone over that,right? With the brutal schedule we got this year its perfectly understandable why the team sometimes underperforms.Playing in 4 leagues was never a good idea,most players cant handle the physical toll.Coach Butautas did a lot of good things for this team,its mind boggling why club owner let him go,how will this improve the team? All the basketball experts in the Lithuania are saying this was a bad decision.We havent heard the official statement from Coach Butautas yet but it sure will be very interesting to see what he has to say.
Club owner Romanov said in an interview that he fired most of management staff,not only Butautas for not giving young players enough playing time…If we look at box scores from the games this year though its clear they played plenty,assistant coach Maskoliunas said the same thing.
Romanov wants to make business,develop young talents then sell them to european powerhouses,however,at the same time he also says he wants to win all the domestic championships.Not very realistic imo,the young guns on this team arent ready to do this by themselves yet.
I gotta go watch the game now but if i got time ill come back later and elaborate on this subject a bit.Got a feeling its not gonna be a pretty game in Malaga tonight..
Thanks both of you for your thoughts. I’ve read certain comments from Romanov on http://www.LithuaniaBasketball.com saying that “It’s not his job to win games” but to advance the club. And firing two coaches in one season does that? And Rob, I agree with your assessment that the youngsters have been getting plenty of burn. Delas has taken on a huge role and he’s only been with the club for 3 weeks. Also, all of the names I listed above are taking on roles usually reserved for more seasoned veterans. We’ll keep monitoring this situation. Down early in Malaga too…
Baltic leagu is nothing for Zalgiris, 12-2 means nothing good, its just how it is supposed to be (or better).
Zalgiris lost 2 games to ventspils and perlas (who are junior team of BC Lietuvos and should be banned from LKL - its against rules) - these were completeley unacceptable. Also Zalgiris almost lost to nevezis and sakalai.
The game was a disaster.
As for top 16 - cibona at home was clear win with butautas or not and fenerbachche, as it is said in Lithuania its because of the good vibe (you know when you change coach first few games are always good). Not much of butautas help.
Just some clarifications
hey… this picture is sweet for my dog lol