Mindaugas Balčiūnas, head of the “Lithuanian Basketball” association, hinted last Friday that the coaching staff of our national team might be reinforced by forces from the NBA.
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Now it is becoming clear that it should be Alvydas Pazdrazdis – a former teammate of the current national team coach Rimas Kurtinaitis in the Lithuanian national team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
Recently, 55-year-old A. Pazdrazdis worked as a scout for the NBA club “New York Knicks”, which became the NBA champion this year.
15min wrote this year that despite his merits to Lithuanian basketball, A. Pazdrazdis lost his Lithuanian citizenship this year.
On April 8, Vladislavas Kondratovičius, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, signed an order regarding the loss of A. Pazdrazdis’ Lithuanian passport, citing the acquisition of citizenship of another state.
The Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania allows multiple citizenship only in very rare, exceptional cases.
A. Pazdrazdis has long settled in the United States.
From 2009 to 2023, the Lithuanian worked as a scout for the “Mavericks”, and in recent years – for the “Knicks” club, which triumphed in the NBA finals series, defeating the “San Antonio Spurs” 4-1.
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When the “New York Knicks” held their championship parade, the Lithuanian tricolor was also visible. It was carried by A. Pazdrazdis, who works as a professional player scout for the title-winning club.
A. Pazdrazdis became the first Lithuanian to have two NBA championship rings.
He earned his first ring in 2011 while working with the “Dallas Mavericks” team.
In recent years, A. Pazdrazdis had no points of contact with the Lithuanian national basketball team, which has recently been struggling in the World Championship qualifiers.
After the first qualifying round, the team led by R. Kurtinaitis has 3 wins in 6 games.
Lithuanians share 4th-5th places with Icelanders in the new group, where we will play twice more against Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The three best teams will qualify for the World Championship.
Before the next competition window, in which the Lithuanian national team will play against the Turks and Bosnians at the end of August, our country’s team was left without a coach when R. Kurtinaitis submitted his resignation.
However, after unsuccessful searches by the “Lithuanian Basketball” association and discussions with other candidates, the 66-year-old coach was asked to remain in his position and ultimately stayed to lead our country’s basketball players.
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