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i still cant spell or pronounce his last name.
Jasikevicius' time with Pacers was 'miserable'
Posted: August 15, 2008
BEIJING -- Watch Sarunas Jasikevicius now. Watch him in this Olympic basketball tournament, playing the style he plays best, working that high pick-and-roll, finding cutters or stepping back and hitting his shots for the unbeaten Lithuanian national team.
This is the player the Indiana Pacers thought they were getting when then-general manager Larry Bird signed him to a three-year, $12 million contract in July 2005. This is the player Jasikevicius thought he would be as he made the move from the Euroleague to the NBA.
It never happened.
A year and a half after Jasikevicius came, he was gone, traded to the Golden State Warriors. Now, the point guard is back in Europe, playing for Greece's Panathinaikos and for Lithuania in international compe ion.
"I was pretty much miserable (in Indiana)," Jasikevicius said Thursday night after an emotional victory over Russia. "Those were bad times for me. Obviously."
Those were bad times for everybody connected to the Pacers organization. The team was in post-Reggie Miller, post-Brawl meltdown mode, falling apart on the court, off the court and in the stands.
Jasikevicius, whose signing drew great applause from here at the time, had the look of a player who would Super Glue Jamaal Tinsley to the bench and be the selfless leader this mercurial team needed. He could pass. He could shoot the stand-still jumper. Mostly, he could lead.
We never saw it in Indiana. Never saw the game, never saw the passion, never saw anything.
"How could you see it when I was at the end of the bench right next to you?" he asked, laughing.
Jasikevicius doesn't mince words: He blames most of his problems on former Pacers and current Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle.
"Obviously, the (up-tempo) style of play Rick promised me was never there, the opportunities to play were never there, and the players who were supposed to be gone by the time I came were still around," he said. "Rick did a great false recruiting job on me, like college recruiting where they say, 'If you come here, we promise you the world.'
"But Larry (Bird) being such an honorable man, and (then-president) Donnie (Walsh), too, they hire the coach and let him coach the way he wants. Rick's a half-court man, no question."
In Carlisle's defense, his issue with Jasikevicius was his defense, or the complete lack of the same.
Jasikevicius could generate perimeter offense in the most creative ways -- that was never a question in any league -- but his lack of foot speed made him an easy target for opposing guards. At times, Carlisle, a man-to-man proponent, relented and played a zone when Jasikevicius was on the floor in the hope of protecting his guard.
It should also be pointed out that when Jasikevicius was in Golden State and playing a wide-open European style of game, he still couldn't get off the bench for Don Nelson.
"I don't know that there's any reason to respond,'' Carlisle said later in a telephone interview. "It's all pretty baseless . . . I respect Sarunas' game and his basketball IQ, and that's why the only NBA success he had was with me as a coach."
Jasikevicius played last season for Greece's Panathinaikos and his defensive shortcomings were an issue, according to Ioannis Ntentopoulos, a radio broadcaster for Greek basketball.
"Every game, he had a target on him," Ntentopoulos said. "Teams would come straight at him because they knew of this weakness."
How about the idea that some international players don't fit in the NBA, just as NBA players -- and even NBA all-star teams -- struggle in international play? It's a different game over here. The bigger, trapezoidal lane. The way the games are officiated. Everything.
"I always say, there are 15 to 20 players, you can put them on any team in any league and they're going to dominate," Jasikevicius said. "And then there are average players like myself, you put them in a bad situation, they're going to be destroyed. You put them in a good situation, they're going to be above-average NBA players.
"I know I'm a much better player than I showed over there (in Indiana). I've had good years before and after. It just didn't work out."
That's an understatement. And it wasn't just the fact Jasikevicius couldn't get comfortable, or get playing time, under Carlisle. He showed up in a toxic, agenda-driven locker room in 2005 and was shunned as Bird's golden boy. He acknowledged that some players even froze him out, refused to give him the ball.
"There were a lot of guys (in the Pacers locker room) who were in the last year of their contract, and they didn't like the European boy coming over and getting the money," Jasikevicius said. "Obviously, Fred (Jones), a lot of guys, they weren't happy I was there."
One thing he wanted known, though, was that Stephen Jackson was not among those conspiring against him. "He might have been my best teammate," Jasikevicius said.
Still, it was a mess.
"A sinking ship," Jasikevicius said. "We weren't acting the right way, we weren't playing the right way and you could tell by the people who weren't coming to Conseco (Fieldhouse)."
Now, though, Indiana is in the rear-view mirror. Which, for Jasikevicius, is a good thing.
"If I ever write a book," he said, smiling, "a lot of chapters are going to be about the Pacers."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...TS15/808150458
i still cant spell or pronounce his last name.
yah-seh-kev-i (short i)-chus
doesnt matter. hes a crybaby just like v-span
ya he really exceled at Golden State under Don Nelson in that run n gun system after being trading didnt he?..please, he just isnt good enough and both Nelson and Carilse realized it
what is this, olympic patriotism that has everybody's panties in a bunch?
he says very clearly- i'm an average player and my success is dictated by my environment.
are american players immune from that? no team has ever signed a 4m/ a year guy that didnt turn out as expected? that same guy never went on to another team/league to find success? no american players talk bad about former teammates/coaches? please...
i thought it was an interesting article. the point being, that even if you change systems, you still need chemistry.
it also shows that sjax, for all his ghetto/thug image, learned from his own international experience and is an open minded dude.
ahh, nevermind. just mav fans getting protective about their new coach.
Sarunas are the Lithuanian Steve Nash. He is like Billy. Both player is more good than so many American NBA player. But coach is liars who say not true things so they come play and American liar coach want to make all European players look like they are not good player.
Jazzy Cabbages wasn't good enough to hack it in the NBA. Stop yer whinin' ...
"Obviously, the (up-tempo) style of play Rick promised me was never there"
Wasn't Golden State's style uptempo enough for him ??????
Lame excuse Sarunas
Carlisle tried. Cabbages couldn't D it up... Simple as that. Nelson doesn't play defense. And he still couldn't crack the rotation. Not a good sign.
I am surprised Stephen Jackson can reach out to this crybaby, but then it just shows that SJax is such a great teammate.
With those long arms, SJax is capable of reaching all sorts of people.
But I still have to listen to posts here from American fans says "He is dominate in Europe" "He is always greatest player in Europe" "He is best guard in Europe" "He is superstar in Euroleague".
How many time I have say this same thing here as article? This is crazy craps make up by Americans. He is average player in Europe and nothing more.
The guy he hit seemed unaware that he was about to get punchedWith those long arms, SJax is capable of reaching all sorts of people.
actually that had absolutely nothing to do with it. i swear, some of you spurs fans are the most insensitive people in the history of humankind.
anyways, it had to do with a joke that some of us have in making fun of specific foreign players. but you obviously didnt know that, did you, you ignorant head?
V-Spam knows all about that, so I'm sure they're good friends.
Damn, and I haven't changed my sig in a while.
Yeah like that video actually happened.With those long arms, SJax is capable of reaching all sorts of people.
if and when he comes back to the usa, ive got some land in florida that ill let him have at a great price........
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