Klaipėda’s “Neptūnas,” having signed a long-term contract with the EuroLeague family and definitely playing in the Europe Cup for the next three seasons, has assembled a deeper roster than ever before, with only three players remaining from last season.
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These are Lithuanians Mindaugas Girdžiūnas, Arnas Beručka, and Donatas Tarolis.
The port city team dreamed of retaining both leaders Arnas Velička and Rihardas Lomazas, but these players significantly increased their value and became unaffordable for “Neptūnas.”
Among the eight newcomers coached by Gediminas Petrauskas, six players are already known and seen in the Lithuanian Basketball League, while only the NBA-experienced Estonian Henri Drellas and the athletic Raymond Somerville from the second Adriatic League lack such experience.
“First of all, let’s start with the fact that it’s a pity we couldn’t keep certain players who really increased their value and became unaffordable for ‘Neptūnas.’ We began assembling the roster with the desire to retain as many players from last season as possible; some players couldn’t be kept, but later we grabbed many of the initially planned options from the market. We changed the team model because last season we saw some gaps.
Every coach would want more athleticism, size, length—what we call extended arms—so that the paint area is as occupied as possible. That’s a fact. We somewhat improved in this situation, but the key point was to assemble a deeper roster so we wouldn’t be so heavily dependent on a few players. That’s the coach’s narrative, but the fact is that last year we relied heavily on Velička, Lomazas, and Tarolis. If one of them was out, the whole team felt it. We saw that Velička was tired at the end of the season, so our chosen model was indeed risky. This time we wanted to have a longer bench, more players who can carry the team. I’m not saying that other ‘Neptūnas’ players from last season weren’t important, but their roles were quite different. This year we wanted to acquire more players capable of taking on leadership roles.
The most important thing now is how to unite them all into one unit? The biggest unknown is how the players will find chemistry with each other, how the small players will mesh with the big ones. We will have to wait because four of our people represent national teams. The process will take time, but as of today, we are satisfied with the roster,” said Gediminas Petrauskas, the coach entering his second season at the helm of “Neptūnas,” to 15min.
- Guards: Kristupas Žemaitis (30 years old, 192 cm), Elvar Fridriksson (31 years old, 183 cm), Yannick Franke (30 years old, 195 cm), Mindaugas Girdžiūnas (37 years old, 188 cm), Simas Šarkauskas (19 years old, 189 cm);
- Forwards: Henri Drellas (26 years old, 205 cm), Arnas Beručka (29 years old, 196 cm), Lukas Kreišmontas (25 years old, 198 cm);
- Centers: Martynas Echodas (29 years old, 206 cm), Donatas Tarolis (32 years old, 203 cm), Einaras Tubutis (27 years old, 207 cm), Raymond Somerville (26 years old, 208 cm);
- Head coach: Gediminas Petrauskas (41 years old).
An extensive interview with Klaipėda team’s head coach Gediminas Petrauskas on the 15min portal—about the duo who left the port city aiming for EuroLeague level, the misunderstanding between Rihardas Lomazas and “Neptūnas” sports director Branko Mirković, different play style, newcomers, opportunities for players to leave during the season, budget, and goals.
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