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Arvydas Macijauskas

Not in any ranking or draft
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
Weight: 210 lbs (95 kg)
Position: SG
Hometown: Klaipeda, Lithuania
Current Team: Olympiakos
Win - Loss: 2 - 0

Articles

Top Non Draft-Eligible Euroleague Regular Season Performers (Part One)

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Feb 05, 2008, 03:08 am
After sitting out most of last season with a torn Achilles, Arvydas Macijauskas seemed to be back at full strength early on in the Euroleague season, putting up some of the most impressive numbers of his entire career. Unfortunately he suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of the last 4 ½ Euroleague games, but should be good to go once the Top-16 stage kicks off. To highlight his importance to his team, Olimpiacos went 6-3 in games that he played, and 1-4 with him on the bench. Would his head coach Pini Gershon have been fired had “Macas” managed to stay healthy all season? That’s a question Gershon would probably like an answer for himself.

There’s no question that Macijauskas is the go-to guy for his team. His team realizes his importance and looks for him excessively for on-court leadership, and Macas seems to have no problem stepping up and providing it himself. Besides being one of the best perimeter shooters in all of Europe, Macijauskas is simply outstanding at moving off the ball, in full-sprint mode, and finding himself open looks and easy baskets at the rim. Olimpiacos runs him off plenty of curls to take advantage of his textbook stroke, and also likes to run him off flex and backdoor cuts to put him in a position to finish at the rim, which he can do equally with his left or right hand, despite his lack of size and explosiveness.

He is also very intelligent in transition, again putting in a great deal of effort to be one of the first players up the court, and being extremely crafty once he gets the ball to put it in the net. Although his first step is nothing to write home about, he’s outstanding at unbalancing his defender in the half-court with a series of head and shot-fakes and getting to the basket using either hand. He also has an incredible knack for getting to the free throw line, either by getting his man to bite on his pump-fake and then creating contact when he’s on the way down, or by flailing his hands demonstratively and screaming bloody murder anytime someone lays a hand on him. The refs give him a great deal of respect, which partially helps explain how a slow and stocky shooter like him is second in the entire competition in free throw attempts per 40 minutes.

Defensively, Macijauskas will always be limited by his unattractive combination of poor size, length and lateral quickness. That can be masked to a certain extent at this level, though, particularly with the matchup zone defense that Olimpiacos likes to play. Macijauskas does a pretty good job in it, mostly thanks to his effort and terrific timing. He’s a pretty crafty guy, and will get in the passing lanes from time to time as well. He will always be susceptible to being Iso’d out on the perimeter, though, particularly by a quick guard with excellent shot-creating skills.

All in all, there is no question that Macijauskas is one of the top shooting guards in all of Europe. From what we’ve been told, despite the terrible experience he had under Byron Scott in New Orleans, he has not totally shut the door on playing in the NBA down the road, although it will have to be in the perfect situation. That’s going to be hard to find, though, as he’s already stretching himself physically in terms of the production he’s able to get at the Euroleague level, and probably would be relegated to too small of a role in the NBA to make sense for him compared to what he can make (he’s on the second year of a 4-year, 9 million Euro contract) and accomplish in Europe. Stranger things have happened, though.

The Top Overseas Free Agents on the 2005 Market, Part One

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Jul 06, 2005, 04:44 am
One of the best pure shooters in the world, Arvydas Macijauskas is a big-time star in Europe. Born 25 years ago, he's another product of the unbelievably talented Lithuanian pool which has already made its mark on International basketball by winning the European Championship two years ago.

Macijauskas made his debut in his domestic league at age 16 while playing for Neptunas Klaipeda. After three seasons, he was signed by Lietuvos Rytas, a powerhouse club in Lithuania. He spent four years there, winning two championships from the almighty Zalguiris Kaunas in 1999/00 and 2001/02 and earning MVP honors in 2001/02 and 2002/03. But international stardom came for him at the 2003 European Championships, when Macijauskas led his National team in scoring (15.8 per game) en route to wining the golden medal. More fame came along with his performances in the Euroleague with his new team, TAU Vitoria, where he has played for the last couple of seasons. In the 2003/04 campaign, he averaged 19.4 points in the top European competition (second overall total after leading the first stage with 21.50 ppg). This last season, even if his point average dropped to 17.8 (although he was the best scorer of the decisive Top-16 stage), he earned All-Euroleague Team honors. In the ACB League, he has averaged 16 points in the recently finished season, including the playoffs. Last summer, he dropped 24 points on the US Team in the Bronze medal game at the Olympic Games.

Strengths:

Macijauskas is a world-class shooter. He's right there with the best of them. Not only because of his reliability, but also because of the tremendous speed in which he gets his shot off. Any momentary lapse on the part of his defender and he fires. He can be dribbling in motion or coming off a screen, and in no time he balances himself to shoot. He can practically shoot the ball asleep from anywhere on court, shooting for volume as well as accuracy as he nailed 149 triples in 65 games this past season, good for 43%. His free-throw percentages are usually over 90%.

Arvydas is also a decent penetrator, finding ways to finish in traffic in spite of his height, as he shows a good stroke in any situation or distance. This season his decision making seems better, showing an improved passing ability. He has also learned when to dish off to a teammate while driving to the basket, and he's rather effective playing the pick and roll.

Weaknesses:

The main problem for Macijauskas is that he's a shooting guard trapped in the body of a point guard. Not only because of his size, but also because of his thin frame and poor athleticism for a shooting guard. His defense is not even average at the top levels of European. His attitude looks OK, but the results are not particularly good, even if he has significantly improved in the last season. He gets abused by stronger and faster match-ups.

On the offensive end, he's not always patient and occasionally makes bad decisions, especially when he's not getting good shooting position. Sometimes he insists on dribbling in front of his match up, trying to find room to penetrate or to shoot, and risks the possession of the ball excessively. Although as we said in the strengths section, the situations in which he forces his ball-handling are becoming rarer in his game. Still, he can barely create his own shoot due to his limited ball-handling and explosiveness.

Why sign him?

As you can see, Macijauskas is a very unique player, with some amazing weapons to play the game, but also with some very noticeable flaws. That's why his potential to play at the NBA level remains a mystery. The main problem is of course his defense. If he already suffers in Europe, what will happen in the NBA going up against faster, taller and stronger opponents? It's quite probable that if he does make it he becomes a one-dimensional situation type player in the NBA, because given his height and athleticism it won't be easy for him to score on anything more than jumpers.

Therefore, I don't think he has the proper tools to become a starter at the next level, but his wonderful stroke could make him a valuable off-the-bench player. He will need a coach that believes in him and knows how to take advantages of his great strengths while masking his weaknesses as much as possible.

His contract situation is worse than last year's, but still affordable. After not receiving a good enough NBA offer last year, he extended his contract with Tau Vitoria, also increasing the $200,000 buyout clause he had then. A likely raise in buyouts allowed to be paid by teams in the upcoming CBA should be close enough for the new and so far undisclosed amount. Besides, it seems that Arvydas is again fishing a contract this summer, so the opportunity is open for any NBA team willing to add a terrific long-range bomber to its roster.

The Top Overseas Free Agents on the Market

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Jul 08, 2004, 01:00 am
One of the best pure shooters in the world, Arvydas Macijauskas is very close to accomplishing his dream of playing at the NBA. Born 24 years ago, he's another product of the unbelievably talented Lithuanian pool. He made his debut in his domestic league at age 16 while playing for Neptunas Klaipeda. After three seasons, he was signed by Lietuvos Rytas, a powerhouse club in Lithuania. He spent four years there, winning two championships from the almighty Zalguiris Kaunas in 1999/00 and 2001/02 and earning MVP honors in 2001/02 and 2002/03. But international stardom came for him at the 2003 European Championships, when Macijauskas led his National team in scoring (15.8 per game) en route to wining the golden medal, along with his performances in the Euroleague with his new team, TAU Vitoria, where he has played for the last season averaging 19.4 points in the competition (second overall total after leading first stage with 21.50 ppg) and 18.5 points in the ACB League this season.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Macijauskas is a world-class shooter. He's right there with the best of them. Not only because of his reliability, but also because of the tremendous speed in which he gets his shot off. Any momentary lapse on the part of his defender and he fires. He can be dribbling in motion or coming off a screen, and in no time he balances himself to shoot. He can practically shoot the ball asleep from anywhere on court. His free-throw percentages are usually over 90%. Arvydas is also a decent penetrator, finding ways to finish in traffic in spite of his height, as he shows a good stroke in any situation or distance.

The main problem for Macijauskas is that he's a shooting guard trapped in the body of a point guard. Not only because of his size, but also because of his thin frame and poor athleticism for a shooting guard. His defense is not even average at the top levels of European. His attitude looks OK, but the results aren't there. He gets abused by stronger and faster match-ups. On the offensive end, he's not always patient and occasionally makes bad decisions, especially when he's not getting good shooting position. Sometimes he insists on dribbling in front of his match up, trying to find room to penetrate or to shoot, and risks excessively the possession of the ball. In fact, when playing against decent defenders who are familiar with his game and typical body fakes and moves, he can barely create his own shoot due to his average ball-handling and explosiveness.

Why sign him?

As you can see, Macijauskas is a very unique player, with some amazing weapons to play the game, but also with some very noticeable flaws. That's why his potential to play at the NBA level remains a mystery. The main problem is of course his defense. If he already suffers in Europe, what will happen in the NBA going up against faster, taller and stronger opponents? It's quite probable that if he does make it he becomes a one-dimensional situation type player in the NBA, because given his height and athleticism it won't be easy for him to score on anything more than jumpers.

Therefore, I don't think he has the proper tools to become a starter at the next level, but his wonderful stroke could make him a valuable off-the-bench player. He will need a coach that believes in him and knows how to take advantages of his great strengths while masking his weaknesses as much as possible.

What seems pretty clear as of right now is that he's on his way. His $200,000 buyout is a bargain these days, and he seems pretty eager to try the next level. The Chicago Bulls are rumored to be his destination, but that was before they drafted a much more athletic version of himself in Ben Gordon. Considering the field goal percentages that we saw this year in the NBA, there are quite a few teams that could use such a pure shooter, but the initial speculation about a 3 year, 9 million dollar contract seem a little far fetched even though it wouldn't be the worst contract handed out this summer.

Checking Stock at the King's Cup

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Mar 19, 2004, 12:00 am
The hype around Macijauskas had been quite intense since the very beginning of the season, so the expectations were high, and although his performance was quite good, he disappointed to some degree. He was closely followed by his defenders all tournament long, and he had a hard time finding open shots to show his amazing touch from outside. Even so, his presence made his teammates life much easier. It's not likely he'll move from Vitoria anytime soon, as he's under contract until 2006 and doesn't exactly fit the typical physical demands of an NBA shooting guard. Personally, I think he could be a heck of a shooting specialist off the bench for any team.

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