As summer drew to a close, club director Eimantas Skersis openly spoke about the offseason work – team formation, the failure to retain the entire core of last season, the club’s financial situation, future challenges in Europe, and “Juventus'” position on the “Lietuvos krepšinis” association issue.
– Now that emotions have settled, after a bit of rest and returning to work, has the realization of what was achieved last season finally set in?
– I’d say it’s slowly passing. After that euphoria, after that joy, we returned to reality, returned to work, which is by no means easier than before. Sometimes I still look at the medal hanging on the wall at home, but essentially, we are already thinking about what will be, not what was.
Of course, the interest and attention in the city have not disappeared – it is still alive. There is probably not a day that passes without talking about what happened at the end of last season. However, that euphoria is slowly receding, and its place is being taken by the concerns of the new season.
The understanding, joy, and pride in the team, the organization, and the city have remained. I believe this is a reward for the hard work of the organization, for the support of sponsors, the municipality, and the fans, which has continued for many years. It is a gift to them for so many years of belief and not turning away from the team. But now we are already looking to the next season, as it has been a long time since we had such a short summer, and it is already coming to an end. There is still a lot of work to be done.
– A topic that interests everyone – money. Let’s talk about it. What is the financial situation with which the “Juventus” club enters the new season?
– First of all, special thanks should go to the people of Utena who bought tickets for last season’s playoffs. This was a very significant financial boost for our organization. We had planned for considerably lower ticket revenues in the budget, so I am very grateful to the people who bought them so quickly and enthusiastically. This was a very strong financial impulse for our club.
Of course, we also need to thank our sponsors and the Utena District Municipality, who allocated additional funds, because reaching the Final Four, no matter how much joy it brought, financially meant additional expenses for the club. I am glad that thanks to these organizations, we will start the upcoming season practically from a clean slate.
We managed to completely eliminate debts that had been lingering for several years. I’m not saying they were very large, but every season a portion of the budget had to be allocated to cover previous obligations, so that cycle was constantly spinning. I am very happy that we finally managed to stop it and today we can confidently say that after a very long time, the club no longer has debts.
I am also glad that our results gave a positive impulse to our sponsors. I hope that we will start the upcoming season with a significantly larger budget. I believe this is already reflected in the current team formation and will be reflected in our future acquisitions.
Therefore, I once again thank all sponsors, the city authorities, and the people who buy season tickets. And those who have not yet done so, I invite you to join. I believe that this financial starting position will give us the opportunity to pursue even higher goals in the upcoming season.
– After the season ended, it was said that the club aimed to retain the team’s core. Šarūnas Beniušis, Titas Didžgalvis, and Paulius Valinskas remain with the team, but did you aim to retain more players from last season? Why was that not possible?
There are various reasons. Despite our budget increasing, the financial expectations of some players grew even faster.
We had no options with Maxwell Lewis. We negotiated with Hassan Diarra and his agent for quite a long time, but the Greek club’s offer was significantly higher than our capabilities, so the young player chose a more financially beneficial option.
We waited for Lukas Uleckas until the last day and hoped to retain him. However, the biggest problem was that Lukas wanted to start a career as a legionnaire (foreign player). Perhaps we could have kept him by offering significantly more money, but we still don’t have such opportunities. Especially now, with taxes for Lithuanian athletes having increased so much. In this situation, there was little we could do.
Evaldas Šaulys chose to be closer to home. We wanted to wait a bit longer and assess the market, but Evaldas decided not to wait. That is his choice. We thanked each other for the years spent at the “Juventus” club and parted ways amicably.
Erikas Venskus signed a new contract very early, so he had probably already decided to leave Utena during the season. As for Mintautas Mockus, we ourselves decided to choose a slightly different direction for team formation.
We partially succeeded in retaining the core, as Paulius Valinskas remained with the team. He was one of our key players, so retaining him was one of the most important offseason tasks and one of the highest priorities. Of course, it’s a bit regrettable that we couldn’t keep more members of last season’s team. But a sacred place is never empty, and we will try to fill the gaps with other people.
– The formation of the upcoming season’s roster has gained momentum. How do you evaluate the work already done, and how many players are still left to sign?
– I think the team formation we’ve managed to achieve so far is quite good. I am quite satisfied. This year is the first time I’ve had to get significantly more involved in team formation myself. We chose this vision – not to hire a sports director and manage it ourselves. I think we’re doing quite well so far, as both Laimonas and I have extensive databases of players and agents, so we decided to manage this entire process ourselves.
I am truly satisfied with all the signings without exception. Most of the players we managed to attract were exactly the ones we wanted.
We’ll see how our big man performs. So far, what he’s demonstrating in Syria looks truly impressive. No matter how skeptically some might view that league, you need to be able to collect 35 efficiency points even in an amateur championship. I really believe in this player. His potential is huge. His offensive arsenal is very wide – practically from A to Z. Maybe not yet to “Ž”, but certainly to Z. He is a player who can do a lot on the court. I really hope he becomes a great force under the basket, which we have lacked a bit in recent years. Our centers were of a different profile, so I think that together with Šarūnas, they will form a truly interesting duo.
I am very pleased that we managed to attract Chase Hunter. He has athletic qualities that, in certain aspects, allow him to be compared to Brae Ivey. Especially when it comes to defense. Offensively, he can also create his own shot, be productive both on the perimeter and in drives. I think he will be a very interesting player.
As we discussed earlier, this will be his first season in Europe. It’s clear that adaptation will take time, and miracles should not be expected in the first games. However, we are ready to work, and the player himself is also determined to put in a lot of effort.
We already talked about retaining Paulius Valinskas.
I am very happy that we managed to invite Justas Furmanavičius to the team. We have been interested in him for several years and had made offers more than once. Finally, after two or three years of discussions with agents, we managed to agree on a two-year contract.
I believe he is a person who always brings energy and physicality to the team. We will need that very much. When assembling the roster, we try to form it in such a way that we have enough physicality, especially for FIBA Champions League games. We know what level of opponents await us and what kind of physical teams play there. We want to be a team that can withstand those duels.
I am very excited about Gintautas Matulis’ return. He is a person who truly deserves to be here. His love for the club and dedication to the city of Utena are maximal. He is a person who will give his all both on and off the court.
I had already mentioned that for some time we tried to have a vision of nurturing a young player alongside Titas, giving him perspective. However, practice showed that this vision did not quite work out. We did not get what we expected from young players – primarily the desire to work and improve. Therefore, this year we decided to entrust this spot to Gintautas. I don’t want to say now that he will be the eleventh player. Perhaps he will be the third person in the rotation, given his physicality and dedication. Today, we decided to entrust this spot alongside Titas specifically to him.
We hope that his contribution to the team will be very important. Perhaps it will not always be reflected in statistics or playing minutes, but he can give a lot to the team’s development, atmosphere, and improvement.
And, of course, with such a team, you need someone to manage everything on the court. Therefore, we decided to invite an experienced player for the point guard position. We will entrust the functions of a true point guard to Jack Pagenkopf, who successfully led a team in Germany last season.
Yes, his team did not achieve the highest places, but we really liked his playing style and how he leads the team. He is a true point guard who can create opportunities for his teammates. His shooting percentages do not satisfy us, and we can say that openly. However, we believe that we can improve this aspect. That is already the coaches’ job, and I believe they will do it very well.
In addition to this entire roster, we plan to sign three more players – one Lithuanian and two foreign players. We have identified specific candidates and are currently awaiting responses. We want both foreign players to be leading players for the team. It is likely that they will also be our most expensive acquisitions.
The plan is to entrust the fourth position to a Lithuanian, and the second and third positions will be filled by foreign players. If we manage to conclude the negotiations, which are currently quite advanced, I believe we will have some truly interesting additions. I believe we will be a sufficiently interestingly assembled team that will once again be able to fight for a place in the strong four. I think that such a goal is the aspiration of every LKL team.
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Perhaps it should also be mentioned that there have been changes in the coaching staff. Paulius Juodis was replaced by Henrikas Paulauskas. This was the head coach’s wish. He wanted to have his chosen coaching team. During last season, we did not want to dismantle the staff, but in the summer, having more time, we arranged everything as the coach desired. We did not object to this. I believe that ambitious and young specialists will want to achieve the best possible results.
– The return to the FIBA Champions League is also approaching. The group stage opponents are already clear. How do you evaluate the draw and what goals will be set for the team in the international tournament?
– We would like to see the team at least in the play-ins. It is quite difficult to evaluate the draw now. We came from the third pot, so it was clear that we would get opponents from higher up. And everyone there is strong. Perhaps the Malaga team is the favorite from the first pot, but it is what it is – we will try to fight and play.
We already have a lot of information about our future opponents. We are observing how they are forming their teams, analyzing their rosters, and preparing. The goal is to fight for a spot in the play-ins. I believe we have the capabilities for that. Of course, much will also depend on our own performance.
– The FIBA Champions League home games will have to be played in Vilnius. Is this a disappointment, or do you also see positive aspects?
– Of course, it is a disappointment. It’s truly regrettable. Before this, for two seasons, we played in qualifiers, paid large sums of money, and back then, no one found fault with our arena. Even before participating in the qualifiers, we had clearly stated that if we qualified for the main tournament, we wanted to play only in Utena. At that time, no one paid much attention to it, and the arena was suitable.
Now the situation is different. Unfortunately, we will have to play in Vilnius. This is an additional challenge and a completely new situation, but we try to view it as a certain test.
As far as we talk to people in Utena, we don’t see much skepticism. Many say they are ready to travel to Vilnius. We will play in the capital’s main arena, so perhaps it will become a kind of celebration for people – to go, spend an evening, and support their team. We will see how many people actually come when the season starts. For now, there is certainly no lack of desire from both fans and our side. We are considering various ideas that we hope to implement as the season approaches.
I also hope that some Vilnius residents will come. Despite the fact that we defeated their city’s team in the playoffs last season, many Utena residents live and work in Vilnius, and the offices of a significant portion of our sponsors are located here. We hope the arena will not be empty.
It is what it is, but we hope to receive such support that would allow us to create at least some home-court advantage.
Despite the fact that a lot of effort was truly put in – we tried, and the Lithuanian Basketball League, the “Lietuvos krepšinis” association tried, and we even asked for help from Jonas Valančiūnas, as the most famous Utena native in the world – ultimately, we have to accept that we will play in Vilnius.
Otherwise, we would not have participated in the FIBA Champions League at all. Therefore, out of two evils, we chose what we believe to be the lesser one. We will try to create a celebration for the people of Utena in Vilnius.
– Speaking of the “Lietuvos krepšinis” association – there have been many discussions about it recently. We see organizations that support it, while others have a different opinion. How do you personally evaluate the entire situation and what is the club’s position?
– First of all, I now well understand how Mindaugas Balčiūnas felt at a certain point. When our club was in an eleven-game losing streak, I was in a similar situation myself – there was a lot of criticism, and it came from all sides.
On the other hand, I had expressed my opinion even before the association’s presidential elections, and today I don’t really see any reasons to change it. In almost two years that the current association leadership has been working, I was contacted only once – when the whole EDAK circus was happening. No one else ever inquired about how our club was doing, whether we needed help, and no one congratulated us even when we achieved a good result. Therefore, I truly have no reason to change my opinion today.
When that whole EDAK story was happening, we seriously considered the possibility of withdrawing from the “Lietuvos krepšinis” association. And today, I still don’t fully understand what real benefit our club gets from being a member of this association, especially when we still have to pay an annual membership fee.
We contacted the Lithuanian Basketball League, but we were told that to participate in the LKL championship, we must be members of the “Lietuvos krepšinis” association. So we had to stay. Nevertheless, we seriously considered withdrawing from it, at least until certain changes occur within the association.
Despite a few positive things, such as the created youth testing program, I don’t see any more significant positive changes there yet. Therefore, my opinion has not changed. If there is a collection of signatures to support the current association leadership, neither I nor our organization will join it.
All that remains is to wish good luck to the Lithuanian men’s national basketball team. Despite everything happening at the administrative level, we sincerely wish the national team to qualify for the World Championship and perform successfully there.
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