Sarunas: Stock Rising? (I hope)

by olympicmike on Sep 6, 2007 1:54 PM PDT Comment 19 comments

Sarunas: Stock Rising?

A lot of attention has been paid to Marco and Andris playing in EuroBasket 07 but I wanted to share a little bit about our very own Sarunas Jasikevicius. Sarunas is actually the current EuroBasket 07 assist leader and has apparently been doing his best to prove his worth and re-assert himself as a dominant international player. Lets hope that NBA GMs are paying attention.

It's pretty clear and has been well documented that while having a nice skill-set Sarunas is a bad fit in our system. There has been some talk of a buyout recently to free him up to go back and play in Europe but the W's don't seem too interested and it looks like they are still holding out hope to use him (or his expiring contract) as a part of a deal in the future.

I have seen him play about as much as the rest of you and I have little doubt that he could be a very reliable back-up PG for the right team. He is excellent in the pick and roll and has a nice outside shot (especially when he gets enough minutes to get in rhythm) and shows great leadership on the floor in international play. Unfortunately he has little lateral quickness which makes him a liability on defense and he just can't keep up with an up-tempo team like the Warriors (not to mention his poor judgment on the fast-break, a stark contrast to his exceptional judgment in pick and roll play).

So I wanted to ask you all this:

What team do you think Sarunas would be most effective playing for?

Probably a team which plays at a slower tempo and features a lot of pick and roll. He would be good playing along side a low post threat because of his catch and shoot skills. Utah, San Antonio and NY come to mind but I'll leave that up to you. If your bored (like I am) and tired of the lack of Dubs info, see what kind of possible trades you can come up with and tell us why you think it would work (for both teams).

I also wanted to pass along an interesting article on him that I found on the EuroBasket 07 website.

http://www.eurobasket2007.org/en/coid_s7ykUuGHIss7dWa5pV9YD0.articleMode_on.html

Some of my personal favorite parts:

Sarunas is one of the best players in Europe, in my mind, and in the world. He did not have a special season in Indiana (and Golden State) in the NBA. But he's a special player, and every coach dreams about that kind of player. He can do anything," said Butautas, coaching Jasikevicius for the first time.

Even Turkey coach Bogdan Tanjevic was full of praise, saying: "He was just fantastic. When it was really a tough fight, he really found his holes and he was definitely the best player out there tonight."

The Bosnian also questioned why Jasikevicius hasn't been allowed to do more in the NBA, adding: "He showed tonight that American coaches don't understand basketball. They're not able to understand him."

"I'm happy to be back in business, happy to play for something meaningful. I missed that. In the NBA, you're on the road so much and wait for the end of the season to come," he said.

Lets all hope Sarunas has a MONSTER EuroBasket 07, the better he plays the more we can get for him. lol.

===========================================

[Moderator's Note, by OptionZero:]

Unnecessary comments deleted, trying to get this focused on Sarunas. Let's put all the Saras related stuff here, no need for new diaries on the subject.

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!

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i dunno

where he would go. the best fit for him in my opinion is somewhere in the east, where there are less teams that play the run and gun style. maybe boston? miami with pietrus? most likely though, nowhere

by llamalimbo1 on Sep 4, 2007 8:36 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Loose translation RE: Sarunas leaving

From Marca...

"The genial director of play has been the two last seasons in the NBA, but he has just terminated his contract Golden State Warriors in exchange for an almost incomparable slip in Europe: 8 net million dollars by the next three seasons."

by streetballer on Sep 5, 2007 6:34 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

uh...excuse me??

"I'm happy to be back in business, happy to play for something meaningful. I missed that. In the NBA, you're on the road so much and wait for the end of the season to come," he said.

unless I missed something the W's were playing VERY meaninful basketball until the bitter end last year. That quote is a bit misguided imo.

Let's Go Oakland! Gas, Brake, Dip.

by OaktownFunk on Sep 4, 2007 9:04 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah, but

Cabbages wasn't playing meaningful ball, the W's were and in his mind there is a distinction there and that pretty much sums up that.

As far as teams that want to trade for him and pay him $4M, few likely suitors.

Thinking of him as a contract with a body attached, lots of teams may want him for cap relief around Feb.

by Lifelong on Sep 4, 2007 9:12 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Cabbages

would be a great fit for the C's. Someone who just has to worry about distributing the ball to Pierce, Allen and KG. He has a nice assist to TO ratio and is a veteran PG who I think could thrive in the Celtics system. I'm not sure who we would actually be able to pry away from them though. I'd really like Leon Powe or Rajon Rondo. I think Powe could probably be a realistic target, more so than Rondo atleast. Other then those two players no one on their roster excites me, since they shipped 3/4 of it off to the T'Wolves.

by J Rich 4 MVP on Sep 4, 2007 9:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i read an article somewhere

forgive me not finding the link to the source. but it was a news article where Ainge stated he was satisfied with the C's PG rotation. He plans to start Rondo with the two Allens get some minutes behind him as well as Gabe Pruitt.

The article was about Ainge turning down the possibility of working out Hudson.

by lightz0ut on Sep 4, 2007 9:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

yea

i saw that too, and to be honest that doesnt seem like a good move at all, putting ray allen at back up point guard

by llamalimbo1 on Sep 4, 2007 9:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ray Allen at PG???

I read this too and the only explenation I can think of is that RayRay thinks the only way he will get shots up playing with KG and Pierce is to bring the ball up himself and jack threes whenever he wants. Haha.

Seriously though, i think this might be an attempt at motivating Rondo. He still has a lot to learn and I'm sure Ainge doesn't want him to feel like he has the job all wrapped up. In the end I'm sure that they will ride Rondo pretty hard at PG considering the alternatives.

by olympicmike on Sep 4, 2007 10:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think I read that article too

I was wondering why they didn't mention Eddie House. I know he's more of a shooting guard by nature but so are both the Allens so I dunno.

by saintfloppy on Sep 4, 2007 11:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Perhaps this

He also told the Boston Globe that Ray Allen can handle the point at times, and that the offense will often run through Pierce and Garnett in the high post.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/marty_burns/09/05/celtics.point.guard/index.html

by muritqua on Sep 5, 2007 10:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

jasi

I loved that quote, too, that NBA coaches don't understand basketball. I think he's on to something. reminiscent of the whole moneyball thing: whatever people here want to say about him being too slow for an up-tempo system, or whatever, the man flat-out gets it done. He's the king of the european game. with that in mind, I think he would be a good fit for a team like Toronto or San Antonio, which are both committed to playing team ball

by panhandlelegend on Sep 4, 2007 10:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

We signed Kelenna

for "strength" and "athleticism" at the SF spot--and, ideally, to fill in the rebounding void left behind with the JR(ich) trade. Buike can take it to the basket and even showed a little long range marksmanship in those games where he got decent minutes. Anybody who still thinks we need JR Smith needs to youtube Kelenna's highlight reel from last year, the last highlight being him emphatically denying a JR Smith dunk attempt at the rim. Priceless...

To get back on topic, I think that Cabbages' game is ideally suited for...

Maccabi Tel Aviv (or maybe CSKA Moscow)

by WhatWouldTerryCummingsDo on Sep 5, 2007 3:03 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Latest on Sarunas

I don't want to start another thread about the possible signing of Runi to a EuroLeague team, however I came across this rumor from the HoopsHype. Because of his stellar performance in the ongoing EuroBasket, could this be it?

"Sarunas Jasikevicius has passed on FC Barcelona and will sign with Olympiacos"

http://www.hoopshype.com/rumors.htm

Here is the translation of the article from Mar

THE LITUANO IS HAD IT JEOPARDIZE WITH THE GREEK EQUIPMENT

Jasikevicius "happens" of the Barça and bets by the euros of the Olympiacos
By JESUS SANCHEZ · Seville
Sarunas Jasikevicius, the base that champion twice did from Europe to the Barça and to the Maccabi (from the 2003 to the 2005) and that between averages gained the European of Sweden for Lituania, it has fichado by Olympiacos, which turns automatically to the Greek runner-up in candidate to the title of Euroliga 2008.

The brilliant director of game has been the two last seasons in NBA, but he finishes terminating his contract Golden State Warriors in exchange for a card without comparison in Europe almost: 8 million net dollars by next the three seasons. The Barça, that wished its draftee to palliate the devastating effects of the march of Navarrese, has remained with the desire to recover to `crack' to which it invited to go away with a ridiculous supply in 2003, nothing else to do historical `triplete'. The spare part of the man who gained Liga, the Glass and the Euroliga in his last year of azulgrana, was Ilievski...

Saras (31 years) wanted to return to Europe to finish its race. Very of the bench in NBA and to see players worse than he clearing minutes to him of game, the lituano genius has decided to bury its American adventure for always. The money cannot compensate it everything. Nevertheless, yes it has helped him to decide his destiny in the Old Continent. It chose the highest card, in spite of desires, confessed to the intimate ones, to return to the Barça. It has house in Barcelona, where one married in the summer of 2006, and Spain is its favorite country to live, but the azulgrana supply was less than half which it assured the fact to him to dress red and living in the Pireo with his Macijauskas compatriot.

To Saras also knowledge that in the bench of the Palace of La Paz and the Friendship is `Pini' Gherson, with that has helped him agreed in the Maccabi. The perspective to train every day next to Dusko Ivanovic was not very hopeful either. Like the azulgrana proposal - that has spent the money in Acker and Ilyasova- was not very convincing, Jasikevicius has chosen to the Olympiacos

by muritqua on Sep 5, 2007 7:10 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

BTW

The translation is from Google Translate

http://translate.google.com/translate_t

by muritqua on Sep 5, 2007 7:14 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Too bad

It can't translate into English... ;-P

by Sleepy Freud on Sep 5, 2007 7:28 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Quick update

Warriors have been given offers but haven't liked them. It isn't much, but it's something

by pree on Sep 6, 2007 3:57 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks Pree

This is from the Inside Bay Area

The Spanish newspaper Marca reported Wednesday that Jasikevicius had terminated his contract with Golden State and agreed with Greek club Olympiacos on a three-year deal that would net him $8 million.

But Jasikevicius' agent and a team spokesman shot down that theory, stating flatly that no such papers have been signed and that the rights to the 31-year-old former Euroleague star are still very much under the Warriors' control, thanks to the $4 million option Jasikevicius picked up in June.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6815388?source=rss

by muritqua on Sep 6, 2007 7:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

saras is old school bad -ass

man i still remember saras torching larry brown's team usa during the 2004 olympics..i think team usa was up by like 12 plus points or something with only 7 minutes to go in the game..dude just goes bananas creating good plays and hitting really big shot, with the last one being a crucial 4 point play on a foul called on lamar odom..dude was actually a good fit for indiana back then, mark jackson even approved of his signing and even said that saras had the same old school flare that he had..i hope the dubs give him a chance this season..i would much rather have him handling the back-up point than monta..

Warriors Fan Representing the P.I.

by thetruth22 on Sep 8, 2007 12:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs