Lithuania : Sylla, Murauskas, Canka, Doualla …. Bonga
Lithuania : Sylla, Murauskas, Canka, Doualla …. Bonga
Lithuanian LKL tipped off with Round 1 action featuring youngsters like Amar Sylla, Paulius Murauskas, Abramo Canka and Darryl Doualla - all on one team. Plus Joshua Bonga showed his first flashes.
One of the first domestic leagues to start play in 2021-22 was the Lithuanian LKL and of course the same teams are the favorites … Zalgiris Kaunas and Rytas Vilnius with Lietkabelis hoping to make some noise. But one team is perhaps more exciting than any other - especially for youth basketball fanatics: Nevezis Kedainiai.
Nevezis opened the season with a 90-80 victory over Prienai CBet at home. Kedainiai will be a hot spot for NBA scouts as Nevezis have put together a strong group of high, high level talents. Here are the highlights of the game … plus the Nevezis portion of the boxscore.
Amar Sylla (2001) opens the season as an NBA free agent after he was not selected in the 2021 NBA Draft. The former Real Madrid farmhand, who spent the last two seasons with Belgian powerhouse Filou Oostende, is in Lithuania trying to re-establish his name after he was one of three international early entrant players not chosen in the draft (Vrenz Bleijenbergh and Biram Faye being the others). Sylla scored a team-high 18 points on 7-11 shooting, including hitting both of his three-point attempts. He also collected 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.
Paulius Murauskas (2004) is with Nevezis on loan for one season from Zalgiris Kaunas. He averaged 10.2 points with Zalgiris’ second team in the second division last season but continued to struggle with his shot, hitting just 32.3 percent of his threes. Murauskas played 23 minutes against Prienai and scored 7 points including hitting one of three triples. This has the potential of being an extremely valuable season for Murauskas, who won’t turn 18 years until mid-February 2022 and will get to really develop on the team. Murauskas also will have time to interact with other players with high potential and learn from them how they deal with expectations.
Abramo Canka (2002) had a superb all-around game with 17 points (on 5-13 shooting but 7-7 free throws), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and just 1 turnover in 30 minutes. The Italian, who came up in the Stellazzurra Rome Academy, starts his first full season with Nevezis after he was loaned to the club in 2020-21 after signing a long-term deal with Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. Last season, Canka averaged 7.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 17 games in Lithuania’s top flight.
So much of the talk of French 2004-born players goes to Victor Wembanyama and then Kymany Houinsou among others, but Darryl Doualla (2004) is also part of that France generation and now he gets to test himself far out of his comfort zone. The former LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne talent signed with Nevezis to start his professional career, and he starts there after collecting 12.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals at the FIBA U20 European Challengers 2021 this past summer - as a 17-year-old. Some observers felt Doualla had not taken a step forward when he played at the 2020-21 Adidas Next Generation Tournament after he shined in the 2019-20 ANGT. He still has all the tools to shine - besides the fact that he will play the entire season at 17 years of age. Doulla picked up 13 points on 6-12 shooting (0-3 3ptrs), 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block.
Learning from one of the greats
In addition to playing in the Lithuanian LKL, those youngsters will also have the invaluable opportunity to learn from one of the country’s true greats as Jonas Maciulis has just retired from the game and joined Nevezis. Maciulis played one season with Nevezis before launching his great career which included the 2015 EuroLeague title with Real Madrid, two FIBA EuroBasket silver medals as well as one bronze at both the FIBA Basketball World Cup and EuroBasket. He also competed at three Olympics - and he wants to help work with the young players.
Past successes with youngsters
Nevezis is not new at bringing in young foreign players with the idea of helping their development - and also having success. The club helped build up the career of Greek NBA player Georgios Kalaitzakis, who spent one season on loan in Kedainiai from Panathinaikos Athens (2019-20) before heading back to Athens and now the Milwaukee Bucks. Nevezis also was home for one season for German star big man talent Ariel Hukporti, who will play this season in Australia for Melbourne United.
Joshua Bonga shines for first time
Another bit of news from Lithuania youth hoops this weekend was Zalgiris’ second team in their 77-77 preseason tie against Atelo. It was the first game where 2005-born Joshua Bonga really had some major production, picking up 11 points - the first time he scored in double figures for his new team. Here is a video in which Bonga talks about his early adaptation to being in Lithuania.