By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Paulius Jankunas retired from basketball in 2022, being honored as a legit Zalgiris Kaunas legend. Now, one of the most important Lithuanian players of recent years spoke to Mozzart Sport about his new chapter.
“Basketball is basketball, but now I’m on the other side. I have playing experience, but there are new challenges ahead of me. I have to learn, and look at things from a different perspective so I can take control”, he said.
Jankunas is currently working as an assistant to Zalgiris GM Paulius Motiejunas. “I expected something like this, I like the role I play in the club and I really enjoy it. Our general manager wants to introduce me to the job as soon as possible, so I get a lot of information and that makes me happy. I’m glad that after my playing career I immediately continued with my job in Zalgiris”, he added.
He also talked about one of the best current players in the EuroLeague, who was Jankunas’ teammate for one season in Kaunas. “He arrived very young, but it was immediately clear that he possessed serious talent. He had a difficult year because Saras works with playmakers in a specific way and likes to control them. There he built the foundations and then played at a high level”, he said about Vasilije Micic.
“In Efes, he got his freedom and used the experience from Zalgiris and the cooperation with Jasikevičius in the right way. Now he is perhaps the best player in the Euroleague. He has great physicality, is big for a playmaker, and has long arms. He is very strong, intelligent, and can shoot, and pass… He became dominant”, he added about the 28-year-old Serbian superstar.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague