This basketball season gave Rytas Vilnius fans a rollercoaster of emotions. From the historic triumph in the FIBA Champions League, which crowned the team’s efforts in Europe, to the unexpected and painful defeat in the Lithuanian Basketball League, sponsored by Betsson, in the quarterfinals, which broke a long-standing tradition and left the team without a domestic championship semifinal for the first time since 1997.
These drastically different results sparked many discussions and forced the club’s management to make difficult decisions. rytasvilnius.lt invites you to read an exclusive interview with Artūras Jomantas, who openly shares insights about the already finished season, the reasons behind the failure in the LKL, and explains the decision to part ways with head coach Giedrius Žibėnas. This interview also reveals the club’s vision and priorities for the upcoming phase, as they look for a new strategist and build the team for the future.
This season was full of contrasts: a historic FIBA Champions League title was achieved, but the LKL season ended with an unexpected series defeat in the quarterfinals, leaving the team out of the semifinals for the first time since 1997. How do you evaluate the combination of these two very different results, and what were the main reasons for it?
First of all, we must admit that the way the season ended is unacceptable. Regardless of what we won during the season, regardless of the problems we had, we cannot accept this as a norm or an insignificant event. And we must all take responsibility for this – myself, the administration, the players, and the coaches. There is no single person to blame, and we must communicate this clearly.
Similarly, there is more than one reason for this end to the season. It is obvious that at the end of the season we were in a somewhat critical state, both physically and emotionally. For many of our players, this was also a new experience, where after winning one tournament, they had to quickly refocus, regain concentration, and go out to fight – we did not pass this test. However, I have no major complaints about any player regarding a lack of fighting spirit. In the final games, some took to the court in a condition that we certainly would not have risked in regular season matches.
Additionally, the specificity of the tournaments is different. In the Champions League, we have a much smaller number of games, and the weight of each game is extremely high. In the Lithuanian Basketball League, the opponents know each other very well, they know both the strengths and the weaknesses – it is obvious that this year we were vulnerable as a team.
Did this LKL result, despite the Champions League triumph, force the organization to rethink its strategy or short-term goals?
I would not want to resort to loud phrases or statements. I believe that first of all, we must identify the mistakes made, acknowledge them, and learn from them. It sounds cliché, but it is very important.
On Monday, it was announced that you are parting ways with head coach Giedrius Žibėnas. Could you explain in more detail how, considering the FIBA Champions League victory and the LKL failure, this decision was made? Was it a mutual agreement, or was it initiated by one of the decision-making parties?
On Monday, we had a long board meeting where we discussed the results and the season as a whole. The board’s position in such a situation was quite understandable – we have to react. So we can say that this happened on the club’s initiative, but the decision was truly difficult for everyone.
We finished a beautiful cycle in which there were many victories. We lived through more than one difficult stage together. I think this season was extremely tiring and exhausting for everyone; we faced many challenges. There were certainly moments when we felt that within the club we were tired of each other, but we lived through all of that and looked forward.
Both before I joined the club and after, we tried to maintain consistency and not rush decisions. We went through a long and significant stage with Giedrius, during which there was everything – both big victories and difficult moments. However, we believe that now is the time when it is healthy for both the club and Giedrius himself to turn a new page.
Although Giedrius’s spell at the club was long, we must not forget that he is still a young coach who has the potential to open doors to the highest level.
I sincerely believe that Giedrius will also return to Rytas Vilnius in the future.
During his career in Vilnius, Giedrius Žibėnas achieved significant success with Rytas Vilnius, including making history by winning the FIBA Champions League title, as well as, of course, two domestic league trophies. How do you personally and the club evaluate his contribution and achievements over these years?
It is a massive contribution. Giedrius helped Rytas Vilnius bounce back, and no one can deny that. I believe that, in the same way, Rytas Vilnius gave a big boost to Giedrius’s own career. I think that during this period he grew both as a coach and as a person. It is impossible not to notice this. We can only be proud of what we achieved together.
Does this change of coach mark the beginning of a new stage for the entire Rytas Vilnius organization? What are the main directions and priorities of this new phase? What other changes can we expect?
Obviously, this is a significant change, so things will inevitably be different. However, we do not want drastic changes – we would like the team to remain quite young and hungry. We want every Lithuanian or foreign player who comes here to have the ambition to improve and want to achieve something. This year we had foreign players who came from teams that did not fight for titles, but last summer they all had that ambition. Money was not the main motivation for any of them to come. Of course, it was more difficult for some players to adapt, it took time, and in the end, not everyone succeeded. But we want to continue following this path.
Of course, the priority now is to resolve the coach’s situation. We will try to do this as quickly as possible. It was not like we had been planning or systematically preparing for this parting of ways for a while – we do not have a pre-agreement with another coach, so now quite a few conversations and discussions lie ahead. As a club, we always try to gather as much information as possible.
What is the profile of the new coach you are looking for? What qualities, experience, or playing philosophy are most important when choosing the new strategist?
We want to have a coach whom the players believe in, who is a hard worker, understands the club culture and, most importantly, the pressure he will have to face working at Rytas Vilnius. Human qualities have also always been important to us and will remain so. We are not biased against Lithuanians or foreigners – we want an ambitious person who seeks to improve.
What is the team’s vision for the upcoming season? Are major roster changes planned, or will the goal be to preserve the existing core, or perhaps attract new players and give more opportunities to youth?
I think it is still a bit too early to answer this question. The very next day after our last game, I spoke with all the players on the team – we discussed both the season and future plans. Regardless of how the season ended, I did not hear from anyone that we, as an organization, had failed to meet their expectations. This gives hope that we have the chance to keep the team’s core. Undoubtedly, the triumph in the Champions League significantly increased the players’ value, so we are at the negotiation table and talking.
As I already mentioned, we would like to continue to be a hungry team. We want players who want more from their careers than what they have now, and most importantly, who understand that this is impossible without team victories.