By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Lithuanian club Prienai Vytautas and team head coach Virginijus Seskus are definitely excited ahead of welcoming LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball in their ranks and not worried in case their father, LaVar decides to interfere with the team.
“When we get with him (LaVar Ball), we will put a good show. In the worst case, he can be my assistant,” coach Seskus joked in an interview with LRytas. “Then he can shout at my players, not me.”
During the last period, there have been many stories about Seskus’ coaching ways and the language barrier issue that the Balls might have with him since he doesn’t speak English. Among other things, he reportedly not only coaches but also sells meat to his players.
“I don’t reach much about who writes what. It’s absurd to talk about it. Maybe once Antanas Kavaliauskas asked to take some (meat) batches from me. I put them all out and it looked like I was selling them,” Seskus said.
The 50-year-old coach thinks that LiAngelo and LaMelo can truly be useful to his team.
“Why not? Clearly, it will be difficult for a 16-year-old and he’ll take time to adapt in European basketball. But we will try to help them and pay them extra attention. My son Edvinas played in a Lithuanian League match when he was 14. I think that it will be good for the brothers that they will practice and play with grown men.”
And what about the… “culture shock” the brothers will face arriving from Los Angeles? “Kaunas is very close to Prienai. Of course, it’s not a city like the US cities. But everything is fine. Birstonas is also very beautiful. We will give them a guide, they will be able to ride around and get acquainted with everything. I think it’ll be interesting.”
Some weeks ago, few people outside of Lithuania had heard of the city of Prienai. But now, everyone talks about it and the club is ready to put capitalize on this.
“I understand that the advertising is valuable to us. For me, it’s a good thing for the team. People want to help Prienai now while in the past they wouldn’t have even talked about it. It will benefit us financially and it’s great,” Seskus admitted.