On Monday, the 24-year-old point guard arriving at the national team camp in Birštonas was supposed to feel a déjà vu sensation.
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He also trained with the national team in Birštonas at the end of June, but ultimately never debuted with the inscription “Lithuania” on his chest – Rimas Kurtinaitis did not need A. Marčiulionis in either the friendly matches against Ukraine or the official ones against Great Britain and Italy.
The same had happened five years ago when Darius Maskoliūnas, who was still coaching the national team, called up the young point guard to the team but never used him in two European Championship qualifying matches.
So although he came to the national team for the third time, A. Marčiulionis is still waiting for his debut.
“In the summer, I managed to rest and train. I was in America for almost a whole month, met with university people, good friends, coaches. I trained more intensively, and now I have returned in a good mood and am looking forward to the work,” the point guard greeted the national team camp with a smile.
After bitter past experiences in the national team, did he have any doubts about going to the camp?
“What is there to consider? The national team is the national team, so I came. I was preparing, getting into shape, had a plan in my mind that I would be in the national team, so I trained accordingly. I had no doubts,” emphasized A. Marčiulionis.
With many key players absent from the national team, including playmakers Rokas Jokubaitis, Kasparas Jakučionis, Arnas Velička, and Dovydas Giedraitis, the main point guard role is predicted for the “Rytas” point guard. But A. Marčiulionis is not looking that far ahead yet.
“You have to earn it. You can say, plan it out, draw it on paper, but you have to show it, be in good shape, secure your role in training, that you can do it. Being a point guard is a big responsibility. The guard line may not be as strong now, so you have to show your game and that’s it. Whoever is best prepared that day will play,” said the young guard, who will face competition in the national team from Kristupas Žemaitis and Paulius Valinskas.
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And how did he cope with the fact that he did not play a single second during the last window?
“It is what it is. Of course, as an athlete, you think you can, so there was some… But when you are a professional, you have to accept it. That was the situation, and now it is completely different. I wanted to play in the first window, but it didn’t work out, and now I hope it will be different. This is a process – sometimes it goes one way, sometimes another. There is no big point in thinking about what was and what succeeded or failed. Now I look at this window, I am ready and waiting for the games.”
Since the last window, a lot has happened in Lithuanian basketball. Coach R. Kurtinaitis handed in his resignation after the loss in Italy, but Mindaugas Balčiūnas, head of the Lithuanian Basketball Association, who spoke with many famous Lithuanian strategists and received “no” from all of them, finally convinced R. Kurtinaitis to stay at the helm of the national team.
Did A. Marčiulionis follow these events?
“Thank God I was in America (smiles). I didn’t want to… I saw, but tried to distance myself. I would wake up in the morning, articles would come out, sometimes I would read them, sometimes not. But generally, I don’t take such things in. We love basketball very much, everyone has many opinions, but I just prepared and focused on my own things – I wanted to dedicate that month to improvement and distancing from everything,” said the point guard.
Despite the fact that there are only two players from the EuroLeague (Ąžuolas Tubelis, Marekas Blaževičius) and none from the NBA in the national team, A. Marčiulionis sees potential in this lineup and does not dismiss it ahead of the World Cup qualifying matches against Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Sometimes it even works better when players are hungry. It will be my debut, there are many new faces. This is not some eight-month championship or a four-week tournament – it’s just two games. Everything will depend on how we prepare, how we execute the coach’s ideas, how the new players learn everything. I think the potential is really good. We definitely have hungry players, we also have experienced ones – I think it’s a pretty good balance and everything will be fine,” hoped A. Marčiulionis.
He said he is also looking forward to the duo with Ąžuolas Tubelis, which will be reborn after six years – the players who once grew up in the “Rytas” system have never played together in any games since leaving for the NCAA.
“I’m looking forward to it, we haven’t played together for a long time. It will be fun,” said the point guard. “Even in the last national team with NBA players, Ąžuolas was a leader. His advantages are his touch, smooth finishing in the paint – that’s an NBA-level feel. If he is in good physical shape, he can run. We all know Ąžuolas’s strengths and it’s very good to have such a player on your team, especially as a point guard. He makes life easier for others too.”
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