Wolves Twinsbet's Sports Director Donatas Zavackas and Head of Basketball Operations Algimantas Bružas have recently visited the US city of Portsmouth, Virginia for the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, a long-running national invitational featuring top college basketball prospects.
During their trip, D. Zavackas and A. Bružas observed and scouted some of the best senior college basketball talents who have competed in the NCAA Championship and exchanged ideas and views in meetings with NBA and European club representatives, and basketball agents.
"We had a productive week during which we recruited about 60 basketball players who have graduated from universities and who will soon be looking for clubs in Europe to start their professional careers. We have found some players who will probably be interesting for us in the future. The format of the tournament is very convenient not only for player analysis, but also for building stronger ties with agents and representatives of other clubs, so this trip made a lot of sense," shared A. Bružas upon his return from the USA.
Every year, 64 promising basketball players who have completed their studies in the USA are selected for the tournament in Portsmouth - this invitational garners a lot of attention from clubs, scouts and basketball agents.
The tournament participants are divided into 8 teams, which then play 12 matches against each other in four days.
In the entire history of the tournament since 1953, basketball stars such as John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Tim Hardaway, Derek Fisher, Jeremy Lin, Ben Wallace, and Jeff Hornacek have participated in it.
A few years ago, current Wolves Twinsbet center Garrison Brooks, as well as well-known names to Lithuanian basketball fans Thomas Walkup, Marcus Foster, and Jock Landale also played in the tournament.
The long-awaited return of Wolves Twinsbet's Latvian guard Artūrs Žagars has finally happened. The spitfire playmaker made his successful comeback to the hardwood after a six-month hiatus during Saturday's Betsafe-LKL game against BC Pieno Žvaigždės.
His performance was the only spice to the game as the Lithuanian capital's team easily dominated the visitors from Pasvalys 111:79 (30:13, 30:31, 24:22, 27:13).
The 23-year-old A. Žagars entered the game in Prienai towards the end of the 1st quarter - he previously suffered a serious knee injury last October 2023 and went through an intensive rehabilitation program in half a year.
As soon as he stepped on the floor, the Wolves guard immediately made his presence felt and knocked down a three-pointer that brought the Wolves Twinsbet bench to their feet.
"I'm just glad we had a W and obviously I'm glad that I had a chance to play after a long time. So I was definitely looking forward to that," said the Latvian right after the match.
A. Žagars played a little more than 11 minutes, during which he scored 5 points, lobbed a beautiful pass to Jeffery Taylor for a dunk, stole the ball once, and collected 3 utility points.
The guard said that he felt great on the court and the effects of the previous injury did not bother him at all.
"The knee is doing good, no pain, nothing. Just trying to catch some game rhythm and be back ready for playoffs," he said.
Wolves Twinsbet have three more matches left in the Betsafe-LKL regular season. After their victory against Pieno Žvaigždės, the Vilnius club secured the third seed before the playoffs.
"Definitely we want to win it all, go as deep as possible in playoffs, be in the finals and win the finals," said A. Žagars.
Wolves Twinsbet will play their next match on April 27th on the road against BC Šiauliai.
(Photo: Rokas Lukoševičius)
The Wolves Twinsbet (19-8) of Vilnius welcomed back their Latvian teammate against hapless BC Pieno Žvaigždės (4-23) of Pasvalys and dominated from start to finish - 111:79 (30:13, 30:31, 24:22, 27:13), in a match that saw the Betsafe-LKL return to Prienai for one night.
It was the fourteenth straight loss for the team from Pasvalys, while the Lithuanian capital's club picked up its fourth victory in a row. Having already been eliminated from the playoffs, BC Pieno Žvaigždės will try to pick up a win in their last three games, while Wolves Twinsbet have assured themselves of the third seed in the regular season.
The troops of Nedas Pacevičius established the tone of the game right from the jump and by the middle of the first quarter, the two teams were already separated by 10 points (16:6). The lead continued to balloon as Wolves Twinsbet ended the first canto with a solid lead, 30:13. In the second quarter, BC Pieno Žvaigždės ramped up their offence but continued to struggle on the defensive end - they won the quarter (31:30) but were still lagging by halftime, 44:60.
In the third quarter, the scoring for both teams slowed down, but it had little effect on the course of the game. Entering the last ten minutes of the faceoff - the team from Vilnius were ahead comfortably, 84:66. The match was practically over early in the final quarter as the Wolves lead proved to be insurmountable - 96:66. Vitalijus Kozys was the last remaining Wolves player to score, and his lay-up allowed the Vilnius club to breach 100 points yet again (100:71). The beatdown mercifully ended by the time the final whistle sounded.
This game saw the return of Artūrs Žagars after a six-month absence as he underwent rehabilitation to recover from a serious knee injury. The Latvian played 11.5 minutes on the court, made 1/6 from 3pt distance, assisted on a crowd-pleasing Jeffery Taylor alley-oop dunk, and collected 3 utility points.
Wolves Twinsbet: Jeffery Taylor 19, Vaidas Kariniauskas 14, Tre'shawn Thurman 12, Regimantas Miniotas 10, Christian Mekowulu 9, Rasheed Sulaimon and Garrison Brooks 8 each, Arnas Beručka and Vitalijus Kozys 7 each, Eigirdas Žukauskas and Kristupas Žemaitis 6 each, Artūrs Žagars 5.
BC Pieno Žvaigždės: Kadeem Jack and Jordan Watson 22 each, Simas Jarumbauskas 12.
(Photo: Rokas Lukoševičius)
The teams of the Lithuanian Basketball League (Betsafe-LKL) are all uniting for a charity event - "To Live For Victory" - a league-wide advocacy of which the Wolves Twinsbet team of Vilnius will also be a part.
In the final weeks of the Lithuanian Basketball League regular season, most of the league's clubs will play one home match of the charity tour - which will be marked and highlighted by a special and honourable objective.
The goal of the Rimantas Kaukėnas charity foundation, the organization that initiated this charity tour, is to unite charity campaigns and people, as well as bring together basketball teams and the community for a noble intention - to encourage helping those who need it the most.
Before the games, each home team will choose one charity to represent during the campaign, and the players will be competing wearing specially designed jerseys that embody the charity that they are representing.
Wolves Twinsbet will be playing their charity match on May 5 in Vilnius against BC Žalgiris of Kaunas, and the Wolves will be wearing exclusive white team uniforms with blue highlights - adorned with the slogan of the charity tour "To Live For Victory" and will include the Rimantas Kaukėnas charity foundation logo.
After the game, all the jerseys will be auctioned off via the Wolves Twinsbet club's Facebook account, and the accumulated funds will donated to the Rimantas Kaukėnas charity foundation which helps seriously ill children and their families, as chosen by the men of Vilnius.
"We thank Rimantas Kaukėnas, who proposed the idea of uniting the Betsafe-LKL clubs for this noble purpose. The participation of LKL clubs in the charity tour "To Live For Victory" is a great platform to invite and encourage basketball fans, communities of cities of LKL clubs to contribute to charitable activities. Unfortunately, both in Lithuania and around the world there are many areas for which any kind of help and support is really critical," said LKL General Director Rasa Liuimienė.
"Uniting people who want to donate to charity and those who compete hard every day on the basketball court is very good. It is a wonderful feeling to see representatives of various teams willing to help those who need aid today. The project is intended to pause a little in this tense rhythm of life and turn to those who still strive for the most important victories in life - to live. Each team is encouraged to choose an organization that is close and important to them, to which they will donate funds. This idea makes sense because it reminds us that it doesn't matter what field you are in or what job you do - you can contribute to noble goals in the most diverse and inventive ways", said Rimantas Kaukėnas.
"To Live for Victory" charity tour schedule:
April 18 (Kėdainiai) Nevėžis-Optibet Kėdainiai - CBet Jonava
April 28 (Panevėžys) 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevėžys - Uniclub Casino - Juventus Utena
April 28 (Jonava) Cbet Jonava - Rytas Vilnius
May 1 (Klaipėda) Neptūnas Klaipėda - Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius
May 4 (Utena) Uniclub Casino - Juventus Utena - CBet Jonava
May 5 (Vilnius) Vilnius Wolves Twinsbet - Žalgiris of Kaunas
May 5 (Šiauliai) BC Šiauliai - Neptūnas Klaipėda
May 9 (Pasvalys) BC Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys - Rytas Vilnius
May 9 (Telšiai) M Basket-Delamode Mažeikiai - Nevėžis-Optibet Kėdainiai
Every year, 64 promising basketball players who have completed their studies in the USA are selected for the tournament in Portsmouth - this invitational garners a lot of attention from clubs, scouts and basketball agents.
The tournament participants are divided into 8 teams, which then play 12 matches against each other in four days.
In the entire history of the tournament since 1953, basketball stars such as John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Tim Hardaway, Derek Fisher, Jeremy Lin, Ben Wallace, and Jeff Hornacek have participated in it.
A few years ago, current Wolves Twinsbet center Garrison Brooks, as well as well-known names to Lithuanian basketball fans Thomas Walkup, Marcus Foster, and Jock Landale also played in the tournament.