„I have to say, I wanted to go to the national team, I had even promised coach Rimas. I wanted to keep that promise and had already said I would come, but when I started training more intensively, like last summer, I felt groin pain. The sensations were quite strong – I did a couple of more intense basketball trainings and that area immediately gave a signal that it was not ready yet. I was even surprised, I did not expect to feel anything bad because there were no signs before. We consulted with the doctors and decided that it was better to spend a couple more weeks focusing on strengthening that area, rather than trying to prove something and going into heavy load with unprepared muscles. I don’t want to carry such issues into a long season, so the decision was made to skip the national team and we worked intensively on that area for two weeks. Now I see that everything is really not bad and it no longer reacts to the load like it did a few weeks ago,“ said A. Butkevičius.
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The Žalgiris player also discussed the start of his and the team’s preparation, Ąžuolas Tubelis’ dominance in the national team, and then revealed the behind-the-scenes of the first trainings.
„What is already visible is definitely Kaodirichi and his athleticism, which is really insane. I wasn’t in the episode when he elbowed the hoop, but I have already seen other footage. One training is enough to see it. Yesterday we played and it seems like he’s shooting a floater, the ball is high, but he still blows on them. Of course, with players of this level, there is more ‘trashtalk’, Edwards talked a little yesterday, but so far everything is interesting – every such nuance adds spice to the trainings,“ added A. Butkevičius.
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The Žalgiris players continuing their preparation for the upcoming season will play their first preseason game against Riga’s “Zelli” team this Saturday at 6 p.m.
