Coach Schiller highlights Valencia’s offensive efficiency before Spanish double week 0

Zalgiris begins its road trip to Spain, where the green-and-whites play two EuroLeague battles against Valencia and Baskonia. As we close in on the match-ups, Zalgiris’ head coach Martin Schiller highlighted the opponents’ talent on the offensive end.

“Valencia is a very good offensive team, second in the league in offensive efficiency. They’re first in the league in two-point percentage, third in free-throw percfentage and first in the league in assists. They get this offensive efficiency mainly by getting the basket very close to the rim. They’ve got a very mature team that moves the basketball and it’s not just one player who’s in charge of the assists.”

Coach Schiller highlighted aggressive defense in the post against Nikola Kalinic and Bojan Dubljevic.

“If possible, we’ve got to deny the ball in the post, so they don’t get it there that easily. That’s the global idea. It’s not very easy to do and execute, and still that’s the big idea.”

While Valencia has recorded just one win in five games, Coach Schiller couldn’t say that his opponents are in poor form.

“It’s very important to look at the context, why it’s so. Dubljevic being out for so long, who plays a major role for them. Having him back now, it changes the whole outlook of the group. Labeyrie pushes back to the four, he’s at the five, now you’re more balanced offensively, and he’s the key piece of it.”

The head coach also gave a health report on Marek Blazevic, who recently caught the Covid-19 virus, noting that his body temperature has returned to normal, with the symptoms also being reduced.

With 7 games in the next two weeks, eyes will be drawn on the younger players to step up.

“You probably saw the last game, where we had two of the youngsters from the second team. They played good minutes. Mantas Rubstavicius played 18 minutes, while Paulius Murauskas, being 16 years old, played 5-plus minutes. We’re in tight exchange with the second team. We’re one big club, and their work, I said it in the last press conference, is very vital for us. We’re always looking at this option, how much we can work the young guys in, also how much do minutes raise for players who don’t play as many minutes in EuroLeague. Like Karolis, I think he did an excellent job and the minutes he’s been on the floor, he’s proving himself to be a real contributer.