“Ask Fiba. What do you ask me about a second game in a row with such a referee? Against Australia they played against us rugby, in the second game we played without contact? This is a fucking joke! This is not basketball! This is not a method! What are monitors for? You do not have to be smart, you have to be decent, stop the game and go check! My players, they spent the whole summer preparing, two months, without families, and got zero dollars, zero! Well done to them! But someone does not respect this game. That’s a fucking joke !!! ‘
To understand how much this speech of Dainius Adumitis, Then coach of the Lithuanian national team, and today whoever will soon be announced as the new coach of Hapoel Jerusalem, was sharp and unusual for him, should know him personally, in depth. Anyone who does know, knows that something very extreme had to happen for the balanced, diplomatic, calm Lithuanian to open with such a stormy monologue. Something as extreme as Lithuania’s failure to qualify for the final of the tournament, and finishing in ninth place, a respectable place for any non-Lithuanian team.
Just like the cliché article, this unsatisfactory achievement is not considered a failure among Lithuanians, but rather a disappointment. Adumatis, despite the poor tournament, remained highly esteemed among Lithuanian basketball, and many called for him to continue with another campaign. It finally did not happen. Adumatis continued his job as coach of Ritas Vilnius, won his first title the following season – the Lithuanian Cup with a particularly prestigious victory over arch-rival Zalgiris, and still, at the end of the 2019/20 season found himself without a team, after Ritas decided not to renew his contract with him. So how did a promising Lithuanian coach like Adomitis find himself at Hapoel Jerusalem?
“Should have been in Zalgiris at all”
If you rely on the Lithuanian media, this was not supposed to happen. In fact, Adumatis was supposed to coach Zalgiris this season. “It had to happen, everyone thought it was going to happen,” he explains Donatas Urbanas“The only reason it did not happen is because he has now finished his way to Britas, and is still considered affiliated with Ritas, Zalgiris’ No. 1 enemy, the fans would not accept such a move.”
Urbanas explains the team’s frustration: “Today, when you see what Ritas does without him, and when the team has a gray coach like Darius Masculionas, everyone is sorry he is neither there nor there. I think time will tell what job he did on the team. It is true that he did not record achievements, but in his time our team played beautiful basketball, and that is what is important for Lithuanian fans. “
On offense: “Compatible with Katash”
In terms of style of play, Jerusalem was in fact looking for a “Katsch match”, one that could express itself with the existing squad because changes in the squad are not possible at the moment. In this sense, Urbanas claims, Jerusalem has hit a bull. ‘Adumitis is a devout follower of Picnicroll, second only to Andrea Trinkieri in this field. He is very jealous of the small details in the game, and defense is a very big issue for him. He is not willing to compromise. As a coach he is very strict, he likes players who are willing to work hard, he is not willing to waste time on players with a problematic nature and therefore makes sure to choose his players accordingly. “
According to Urbanas, “His level of dedication to his teams is very exceptional, and he expects to see the same level of commitment from the players. After losses he usually does not fall asleep at night, stays awake, watches the video and analyzes what went wrong. He takes every loss to heart. ‘
“Not the most charismatic, but very hungry”
As an actor, the 47-year-old Adomitis is best remembered for his time in Zalgiris in the late 1990s. It turned out that the 1999 European Champion replaces the 2000 European Champion in Jerusalem (and thanks to the reader Udi Hirsch for this exciting mouse trivia detail). Adomitis began his career as a coach in Poland, in Slopsk, first as an assistant and then as head coach.
In 2012 he returned home to Lithuania, to the position of assistant coach Britas, and a year later took over the position of head coach. After one season he moved to Lithuanian Juventus, then coached for two years at Neptune. These were the most successful two years of Adomitis in his career, and although he did not win any titles with his team, he was twice selected in a row, in 2015 and 2016 as the coach of the season in Lithuania. That was enough for Ritas to bring him back in 2018, and a year later he won his first and only title so far in his career – the Lithuanian King’s Cup, with a narrow victory over Zalgiris of Sharas in the final.
“He’s not the most charismatic guy there is, certainly not compared to Sharas,” admits Urbanas. “He’s pretty diplomatic with the media. That’s why that World Cup press conference was a big shock to all of us, and he showed that in the heat of the moment he can say great things. ‘
Lithuania is convinced that Adumatis can succeed with Jerusalem. One of his former aides says: ‘He is very hungry to succeed, the disappointment from China is still very strong in his head. I do not know for how long he signed in Israel, but if they are patient with him at first, because this is not a team he built, I am convinced that he can bring Jerusalem to great places. ”
Urbanas concludes: ‘Adumatis is a family man, first of all. He has a wife and three daughters, and he largely implements in his personal life what he demands of his actors: dedication, passion and hard work. ‘
