GDYNIA (Poland) - Despite his young age, Motiejus Krivas is one of the most experienced players at FIBA U20 EuroBasket 2024.
The 19-year-old center played 77 games in four seasons for Zalgiris' junior team in the second division of Lithuania, establishing himself as one of the top prospects in Europe, before moving on to play an important role off the bench for Zalgiris' senior team during the 2022-23 season.
The 2023-24 season would bring even bigger things for Krivas, who would go on to have a productive and efficient freshman season in the NCAA for the Arizona Wildcats, before being called for Lithuania's training camp ahead of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024.
Krivas has been a consistent performer in every step of his career, always bringing a level of rim protection and interior scoring that few players in his age group do, and his performance during the Group Phase of the U20 EuroBasket has not been an exception, as he's leading Lithuania in points and blocks per game.
In this Player Spotlight, we'll look at how Krivas impacts the game, and how far he can take this Lithuanian squad with his dominant interior presence.
Offense - Thriving around the basket
Let's start with the obvious: Krivas is absolutely massive. Listed at 2.18m (7ft 2in) tall, with a wingspan that was measured at 2.26m (7ft 5in) in last year's Basketball Without Borders Global Camp, the Lithuanian center is extremely hard to contain in the restricted area, being able to establish deep position and impose himself against opposing defenders with relative ease. Once he's able to seal off his primary defender, Krivas utilizes his long arms and his impressive catching ability in traffic to secure passes and offensive rebounds.
Despite his tremendous size, Krivas is light off his feet, moving with a good level of speed, fluidity and coordination. He utilizes his straight line speed to be a factor in transition and his above-average quickness to beat defenders to the spot and find the open space around the basket for offensive rebounds.
However, while he's light off his feet, he certainly doesn't play like a lightweight: he's a strong center who utilizes his 116 kgs (256 lbs) frame to play through contact, being an aggressive interior player who is able to withstand physicality from opponents, draw fouls and finish at the rim against heavy defensive pressure.
His massive size, combined with his agility and ability to play through contact make him an absolute threat as a dunker-spot finisher. If he has space and there's a lob that gets thrown his way, it's game over, just because of the ease in which he can play above the rim.
Those opportunities, however, were few and far between, mainly because of the attention that Krivas commands from opposing defenders, which would double team him nearly every time he caught the ball in the paint.
In those situations, where Krivas is forced to create his own shot in the post, the Arizona center has not displayed a ton of flexibility, and still lacks an elite level of finishing ability in awkward angles. However, he's still an effective finisher around the basket due to his combination of massive size, above-average fluidity and really good level of touch, which allow him to finish heavily contested, off-balance layups and hook shots in the paint.
The biggest area for improvement is his ball security when catching the ball in the post. While the 2.3 turnovers he's averaging per contest are definitely a low number for someone who plays in the high-usage role that Krivas does, he has shown difficulties to hold on to the ball and opponents have been able to poke the ball away from him with certain ease.
When he's a few feet away from the rim, Krivas has shown some flashes, being able to put the ball on the floor to attack the rim on a straight line out of dribble hand-offs, and making plays for for others from stationary positions, but he's clearly more impactful when he's around the basket. The jumper has also been a work in progress and he certainly doesn't shoot at a high volume, but in this tournament he has converted three of his four jumpshot attempts, showing a solid level of touch in catch-and-shoot attempts and a willingness to step out and attempt jumpers in pick-and-pop situations.
Defense - Putting a lid on the rim
Krivas is the leading shot-blocker of the tournament, as he's averaging 3.0 blocks per game. The Lithuanian center takes full advantage of his physical tools, utilizing his size and length to contest shots around the basket as a primary defender, but there's certainly more to his ability to protect the rim than just his height.
Most of Krivas' blocks come when he rotates from the weak side, acting as the last line of defense against dribble penetration. In these scenarios, Krivas puts on full display his mobility, agility and quickness to react, being consistent in flying in from the wings or the weak side corner to rotate for blocks.
When opposing teams have attempted to involve Krivas in defensive actions, namely making him defend ball-screens, the Lithuanian big man has had a similar impact in contesting and altering shots around the basket. He's comfortable in drop coverage, staying a few feet behind the screen, which allows him to keep ball handlers in front of and cover their drives if necessary.
Krivas does a good job of staying low, which combined with his mobility and quickness to turn his hips for his size, allows him to effectively contest shots around the basket, even if quicker guards can beat him with their first steps.
The workaround that opposing teams have found is to involve Krivas as a pick-and-pop defender, attempting to pull him away from the basket. In these scenarios, Krivas' engagement as a rim protector works against him, as the Lithuanian center naturally gravitates towards the rim, which can leave stretch-bigs open in the perimeter.
In these scenarios, Krivas needs to do a better job of being quicker to recover and close out in the perimeter, as he's not as quick to go out and contest shots behind the three-point line as he is to contest shots in the paint, which leaves opposing bigs with too much time to get three-point jumpers off.
Outlook
In his fourth and final FIBA Youth competition, Krivas is looking for that elusive first title with Lithuania, while providing his team with the same type of impact that he brought to the table in every previous tournament. The main difference is that he has become more consistent: he's putting up career highs in points, field-goal percentage and blocks, while playing just below 20 minutes per game.
Few players in this competition offer the combination of interior defense and post scoring that Krivas brings to the table. Every time he's on the floor, Lithuania has a competitive advantage over nearly every other team in the tournament, as few have players that can match up with Krivas' size.
His elite physical tools and his impact around the basket make him not only an interesting prospect to follow for the 2025 NBA Draft, but also a player that will certainly be a cornerstone of the next generation of the Lithuanian national team, as he fits extremely well around other young Lithuanian talents who thrive in the perimeter like Paulius Murauskas, Kasparas Jakucionis and recent NBA Draft pick, Matas Buzelis.
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