Sarunas Number Three

Yes, yes, finally the post about Sarunas Jasikevicious, the Lithuanian basketball player that recently joined the Greek team I'm rooting for, Panathinaikos. A 31-year old playmaker (PG), who excells in long-range shooting and assists. Funny story, in NBA 2K7, presumably due to his rather peculiar last name, the announcer calls him "Sarunas... Number Three." It's pretty hilarious to listen to.

At any rate, this story begun during the first months of summer '07, when Panathinaikos's arch rival, Olympiakos, decided to expand its budget and bring big-name players in the Greek championship. Their main target? Sarunas Jasikevicious, who had had a very mediocre year with the Golden State Warriors, failing to gain coach Nelson's trust. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring one of the best European players back in the continent.

However, Jasikevicious didn't seem all that eager to return, he liked living in the States, and his wife (a model) wanted to work there as well. And in most cases, wives get the last word in this. And in the end, it seemed that he wasn't interested in joining Olympiakos.

Due to that, Olympiakos decided to sign the young Serbian playmaker Theodosiç, a player for which the Panathinaikos coach Obradoviç had expressed a serious interest in. A few days later, Panathinaikos declared their interest in Jasikevicious. And by now, you know how that ended.

Was this move made just to spite Olympiakos? I believe it definitely played a role, but it wasn't the turning point. Panathinaikos may have already had one of the best European playmakers already, Dimitris "3D" Diamantidis, but it was no secret that beyond 3D, we lacked a good playmaker. Jasikevicious should bring a lot more options to Panathinaikos's game, as well as giving an opportunity for Diamantidis to finally catch a break, as he has been playing for more than 30 minutes in every game, for four years straight.

In this sense, Panathinaikos's acquisition of Jasikevicious may even help the Greek national team, for which 3D is also a key player. Fatigue is one of the main reasons why the Greeks played so badly in the recent Eurobasket, after all.

Going back to Panathinaikos, another reason which proves why this acquisition wasn't meant just as a nudge towards their arch-enemies, is the fact that Jasikevicious is perhaps the best playmaker in the world when it comes to organizing an offense based on pick and roll. And it's exactly this type of offense that Panathinaikos has been using for the last seven years, ever since coach Obradoviç came to the team, during which time they have won six national championships and two Euroleage trophies. Almost makes one wonder why they didn't try to get him earlier.

Of course, it remains to be seen if the best-paid basketball player in Europe at the moment (his wage exceeds even that of world-famous football player Ronaldinho) will really live up to his salary, but the potential is definitely there.

Another interesting story about Sarunas: Back when Team U.S.A. was still called the "Dream Team" and championship schedules were created with taking into consideration that they would win every single on of their games, the Lithuanian team lead by Jasikevicious were the first to challenge them. In the semi-finals for the Olympic Games of 2000, Lithuania was two points down with just a few seconds to go, and Jasikevicious went for the three. For a couple of moments, basketball fans around the world held their collective breaths as the ball spinned around the rim, and seemed to go down. At the end, it merely bounced out again, after having teased everyone like that. But Jasikevicious made the right call by trying a three instead of a two, even if he missed. When given the chance to kill a beast, you take that chance. Simple as.

I firmly believe that if he had made that shot, he would have been one of the best, if not the best playmaker in the world right now. Just by being the person responsible for the first defeat of an American basketball team would have been a tremendous boost for him. Just look at where Manu Ginobili is now.

Lastly, you just have to love this guy for having the guts to tell things as they are. It's no secret that the recent Eurobasket that took place in Spain was tailor-made to their needs (even though they still lost *snicker snicker*) and yet Jasikevicious was the only one to come out and say it first. Honestly, what's the point in taking the first place in a group if the second team gets more days of rest? I believe that a healthy and rested Lithuanian team would have won over the Spaniards without too much trouble, but that's all theorycrafting at this point.

Furthermore, a few weeks ago, Olympiacos's coach Pini Gerson (with whom Jasikevicious won a Euroleague trophy in '05 with Makabi Tel Aviv) said that Panathinaikos acquired Sarunas just to spite them, since they didn't need him as they already had better players, and went on to mention that Olympiacos has players just as good as him.

Jasikevicious's reply? "I love Pini, but he has a really big mouth."

<3

Coming soon: A continuation of the post on independent adventure games, a year or so later.