Sarunas Marciulionis Career Retrospective

Take a look back at the career of Sarunas Marciulionis as he is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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[@CroPETROforeverNBA]

Respect from Croatia for Šarunas... he was a beast. Drazen Petrovic & Sarunas Marciulionis 4ever

[@joshaw1705]

***** And sabonis

[@CroPETROforeverNBA]

Dominykas Survila Ofcourse.

[@b00ba87]

+CroPETROforeverNBA Aleksandar Djordjevic !

[@xontreras4]

NIK GALIS THE BEST OF ALL THEM.....HE BROUGHT THE STYLE OF NBA, IN EUROPE.... 1.83 HEIGHT AND HE PUTTED 40 POINTS COMFORTABLE....IF SARUNAS AND DRAZEN HAD 1.83 HEIGHT......THEY WOULD NOT MAKE THIS CAREER THEY DID...SURE....IF GALIS WAS 1,96 ,WE WOULD TALK FOR THE ΟPPONENT OF JORDAN....

[@fotioucartoons6934]

THEY CALLED DRAZEN THE SON OF DEVIL,SO WHEN SOME JOURNALIST ASKED HIM ABOUT GALIS HE SAID IF I'M THE SON OF DEVIL GALIS IS THE DEVIL HIMSELF... I LOVE MARCIULIONIS , I LOVE JASKEVICIUS,I LOVE SABONIS BUT THE BEST EUROPEAN PLAYER I'VE EVER SEEN WAS NICK GALIS...THE GANGSTER!

[@RickyMoss]

he was Ginobili before Ginobili .. the original euro stepper

[@Pretendentas]

@Fei Long marciulionis brought eurostep to nba

[@Pretendentas]

@Fei Long The move was first brought into the NBA in 1989, primarily by Šarūnas Marčiulionis, now generally accepted as the league's first practitioner of the move. The move was further popularized in North America in the 2000s by Manu Ginóbili,

[@Pretendentas]

@WHATEVER'S CLEVER type on youtube marciulionis eurostep. You will see him doing it

[@thebasketballhistorian3291]

I watched Sarunas on the Warriors. His game was similar to Ginobili in that he was a good slasher. However, Ginobili was known for flopping while Sarunas wouldn't be afraid to take real contact.

[@BastyRev2]

Yes im from lithunia

[@sctmprn]

Strong, fast, technical and with the killer instinct. A terrific player

[@davidefontolan2364]

One of the best European players of all time. He played in NBA in its best era.

[@conflicto7575]

Right and destroys the league coming to the bench before the injury

[@iron_nosepicker]

David Robinson is just happy that he does not need to talk about Arvydas Sabonis destroying him.

[@scottipippen6554]

+Iron_nosepicker Probably true:) But he did talk about Sabas on another occassion: when Sabas was introduced in the HOF! And he praised Sabas highly, to say the least..

[@RayOnRoundball]

You have to remember Robinson was how much smaller in 86 or 88? I mean he weighed 235 in college, and he had to have been what? 260 or 270 at his peak. The man got a whole lot bigger. I remember on my birthday in 96 Robinson absolutely killed Sabonis in Portland I think. He had like 40 or 45 points or something.

[@scottipippen6554]

Ray Petree When Sabonis entered the NBA, he was basically another player. He already had had 2 major foot surgeries, couldn`t move or run the floor any more like he used to do when 100%. Sabonis is only one year older than Robinson, and when Robinson meet him at the Olympics, he was already very athletic. Sabonis was simply stronger and heavier by nature. And, of course, sligthly taller. And simply the more skilled basketball player. He really could do it all;-) Dont get wrong, i like Robinson a lot, he was a beast in his prime. But Sabonis was the better Baller..

[@RayOnRoundball]

Sabonis peaked around 21 or 22 when he played against Robinson. Robinson only got better lol

[@RayOnRoundball]

Manu Camus What did I say that was nonsense? I'm just throwing logical thinking into this

[@Stardumz]

I like Jordans "Ohhh c'mon" :)

[@ucookin]

cause he didn't get the call like he always did

[@drRuMIO]

To all the hate comments- Do you even know where Lithuania is located?

[@purvinisjacksonasmeskinis1731]

RalfsB yeah ... i think is it in Narnia

[@iceteas1748]

Right near latvia and poland :)

[@lithuanianavgeek1612]

Yes

[@stefdav5782]

@@michealpowell1299 μην κανεις ετσι εισαιο μαλακας

[@modestasgendvilas4779]

it knows everybody who is educated.

[@ericnguyen392]

Jamal Crawford admitted that some of his moves are based off of Sarunas.

[@PyroInferno110]

Eric Nguyen i can tell

[@Zo_1987]

Jamal know he lying ...lol

[@rueservin]

@@Zo_1987 Did you not watch this video? Look at the behind the back (shake and bake) layup he was doing

[@tigg1972]

Loved watching that guy play

[@LoneWolfMishania]

My favorite european player. In his prime he was a beast!

[@costumeninja1914]

Speed and power - the man was a force.

[@roncuyos1595]

Underated. Strong for his Size. Awesome to Watch. #Sarunas

[@JeffreyPillow]

Sarunas was a baller. Fast, physical, shifty all in one. His fundamentals set him apart and allowed the flash in his game to shine. He used to eat dudes up in Tecmo Super NBA Basketball. Only wish his NBA career (and Drazen's) could have been longer.

[@NostalgicMem0ries]

probably strongest point guard ever, what a player, and original father of eurostep

[@StevenSton]

Tribute to Marciulionis. Bow and lots of applause!

[@patricksobb5762]

In the mid 90s my sister travelled to the US and I asked her to bring me back a Shawn Kemp Sonics #40 jersey. She got confused and brought me back a #30 Marculionis jersey I still have to this day lol

[@ZhylvisLT]

Would you like to sell it?

[@sohorny4myself]

Hahaha

[@laupoming]

He is definitely a tough guy.

[@unusanimusgaming4821]

It's just so sad, that I keep hearing "russian team". All the best USSR time basketball players where Lithuanians! Cheers.

[@davydignatenko8651]

But gold of Olympic Games gave USSR A. Belov.

[@bleach2557]

Yeah we went through a lot it was never Russian it was Lithuanian

[@leonidas8251]

Not all the best players were lithuanians.

[@mindaugaspetrauskas3727]

@@leonidas8251 yes not all,except 4 out of 5 starters and leaders for 1988 summer olympics were lithuanians,marciulionis,sabonis,kurtinaitis,chomicius so yeah not all :)

[@Алексей-ш5н6ц]

@@mindaugaspetrauskas3727all of these pleyers were USSR sports product

[@thebasketballhistorian3291]

As a kid, I watched him play for the Warriors and loved his game. Always played with a lot of heart. Scored a ton of points. Super quick. He was like Latrell Sprewell before Sprewell joined the Warriors. And for a year, we had BOTH of them on the team!

[@FilipoSooaUlufale]

There was another year Golden State had both Sprewell and Marciulionis, 1993-94. Only in '92-'93 did Sprewell and Marciulionis play, whereas in 93-94, Marciulionis and Tim Hardaway both tore up their knees to miss 93-94, and Golden State became Sprewell's team to run instead of Chris Mullin.

[@egidijuskuprusevicius4225]

Drazen Petrovic & Sarunas Marciulionis are 2 TOP guards ever in Europe...sorry Galis and Parker

[@xontreras4]

LIKE GALIS, NO ONE MY FRIEND.....WHEN GALIS WAS 30 YEARS OLD ,HE PUTTED 40 POINTS WITH HEIGHT 1.83.....AND DRAZEN AND SARUNAS WHERE 23 YEARS OLD......AND THEY PUTTED 20-22 POINTS ONLY.....GALIS WAS JORDAN OF EUROPE.....THE BEST OF ALL....

[@zmogushibridas2992]

@@xontreras4 SABONIS AND MARČIULIONIS DEFEAT usa like 4 times :D

[@johnjanos1]

@@zmogushibridas2992 And Galis won by himself Yugoslavia and USSR like 2 times each and i think once was when Sabonis and Marciulionis played together against him. I am not saying Galis was a better player than those two, but Galis was for sure the best scorer on Earth. Galis led the Greek national team to the EuroBasket 1987 gold medal. Averaging 37.0 points per game during the tournament, he was named the MVP of the tournament, after scoring 40 points in the final against the Soviet Union national basketball team and its legendary player, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, for a 103-101 victory. Galis also led Greece to the second place at the EuroBasket 1989, averaging 35.6 points per game. Galis is most remembered from that tournament, for a stunning effort against the Soviet team led by Marčiulionis, and its other star player, Arvydas Sabonis, in the semifinal game. He scored 45 out of his team's 81 total points in a dramatic, last-gasp 81-80 victory.

[@andreaspapadakis2602]

40pnts + 45pnts in a two times knockout on final plus semifinal Eurocap speaks for it self..i cant definetely say without a shadow of a doubt that Sarunas, was a very weak defender of Galis that even his coach was retiring him from the defense so his wont be COMPLETELY destroyed ,all game long ,assigning galis to Volkov or Tihonenko..the games are available for anyone thinking otherwise..just go and see..on top of this Galis holds the record of fiba scoring 33 ppg and 60% fg..he holds also the record scoring over Parker,Noviski,Gasola record that would never be broken..like EVER..but knocking out twice the late 80s early 90s United Yugoslavia greatest generation and United Soviet Union Greatest generation national teams offensively almost by himself is a HERCULEAN Task no other player in the planet ever did..like MJ knocking out twice the best Showtime Lakers and the best Celtics of the 80s..Unreal and Mythical

[@latenightnessii]

Luka

[@MindeJu]

Kobe sayed:" To Bad i didnt get to play against him,Jordan called him toughtest oponent he ever played against.

[@redman6790]

Mitch richmond was his toughest opponent

[@ernstalbrecht5212]

100% legend!!!

[@igarioxxx]

sutinku

[@cflo1386]

One thing that stands out to me all these years later is that Sarunas was built.

[@mw5649]

Kind of got a point but he wasn't no Ivan Putski, lol!

[@Vyyyt]

He brought the EuroStep to NBA

[@emogotti23]

That was Elgin Baylor in the 60's.

[@NOYOUSHUTUP3.14]

I watched another video where it showed more of the Mullin interview and he said something that stood out to me due to the confidence in which he said it and The incredible nature of the assertion. The comment in question was this: That Sarunas Marciulionis was the strongest player he ever played with or against. Think about that! He played against Barkley, Charles Oakley, Karl Malone and Shaq! Played with guys like Dale Davis and Tyrone Hill! I don't know how true that is but he has no reason to lie.

[@FireAngelChris]

Pioneer for a lot of euro players

[@joedummers6860]

The whole country of Lituania must be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball HOF.

[@brockman562]

I wish younger Dubs fans knew of him and got to see him play. Go Dubs!

[@jonathangasana]

Cavs 2016 NBA champions

[@brockman562]

jonathan gasana put an asterisk next to your 2016 title *champ* ....injured curry, injured bogut...LBJ teabagging Green. Everyone in the ENTIRE world knew that Dubs would spank your calves if green wasn't suspended.

[@pistolpete6796]

+Manny Donaire curry wasn't injured stop with that bullshit. He dropped 40 against the thunder so he wasn't hurt.

[@pistolpete6796]

+Manny Donaire green came back yet they still lost. So bogut gone meant immediate loss. So that means the Warriors were lucky last year due to love and kyrie being injured

[@brockman562]

#CalvesWithAnEasyPath #calves2016champsAsterisk

[@liam9083]

I bet there's about 5 warriors fans in the world right now who know who this man is

[@LordDigz12]

I loved that era of warriors ball, up until the Sprewell years.

[@iceteas1748]

I know and i know it just because im lithuanian, he was a star here

[@nickyvtown]

Sprewell was in his prime with the Warriors in my opinion

[@canicas7]

Marvin Santana well said!! Amen to that 😀 Count me as one since 87!

[@canicas7]

A few more of us than 5 that’s just ignorant. Many of us rooting for years and years when they were not good. Me since 87! Go Dubs!

[@christiannau7408]

I see so much of him in Goran Dragic

[@nadamejorqueatacar4778]

A great international player

[@truongnd1]

my favorite player

[@Ycodexp]

Sarunas was one the strongest players ever. He would take a simultaneously held ball away from everyone.

[@sarunasluksys5808]

Strength, speed and power! He never gave up! True LEGEND!

[@jakeb3055]

He was one of my favorite players. Manu Ginobili reminds me of his game play so much

[@vigankrasnici5441]

Damn he was build like a bull!

[@thatguy1860]

I remember watching him play w golden state, there were times where he would just score over and over and over again and nobody could do a thing about it...

[@jopac4742]

I had season tickets during this time. I even have Grateful Dead t-shirts they did SM

[@humbertoguerrero6873]

You guy's do realize the basketball hall of fame ain't just for the NBA! It's college basketball international basketball and NBA. This man was Ginobali before Ginobali lol.

[@KaliAndy2]

he was a much tougher player than Ginobili. Marciulionis loved contact and drove hard. While Ginobili copied some of his moves but he flops way too much which Sarunas never did.

[@BucketsBasketball]

KaliAndy2 you’ve never watched Manu Ginobili lol, Ginobili was dunking on people, going body to body with shaq, go learn before you say dumb shit

[@zuvutukai]

LIETUVA !!!

[@Kiprass1]

Thanks for inventing the Euro step, Sarunas.

[@t5786]

@Fei Long he's credited with bringing the euro step the the nba. Didnt get popular until Manu mastered it later on

[@MrTheHunteris]

i'm from lithuania

[@zanetasarakauskiene7431]

I'm from Lithuania and I live in Lithuania I can prof it la as NBA man labai patinka jusu zaidejai:-)

[@juandoNoPoncho]

Respect

[@marcelochuk]

Great player, champion olimpic in 88 for URSS, one of the best players of the world no american

[@MillionaireCamm-]

His behind the back move was crucial, I try to do that and it works every time. He was a great player

[@loko66]

the best euro-five: Šarūnas Marčiulionis; Dražen Petrović; Toni Kukoč; Dirk Nowitzki and Arvydas Sabonis

[@johnjanos1]

And Galis above all of them if we want to speak about scoring, Also Greek freak is already better than half of them.

[@praytogodandhopeforthebest2052]

One of the MOST UNDERRATED Players Ever!

[@mrmagoo491]

What i remember about sarunis, he was fearless. He would attack, and attack. Loved to come barreling in, rather then always settle for jump shot. Physical, and very strong. Sorry his career ended too soon

[@joelm3954]

Nelson tried to break Sarunas and that was unfortunate, but Sarunas was one fearless play and a very good one at that.

[@paologisela]

Un grande!

[@Obeythepancake]

You’re here cuz he has a galaxy opal in 2k20 myteam don’t lie

[@stevenyang7479]

He was like a bigger, better Goran Dragic

[@noahcricket]

Yea no he wasn’t

[@timberwolvesxx7250]

i remember this guy, powerful athlete. short legs, long torso. low centre of gravity very hard to defend.

[@greygxds2910]

Respect💯💯

[@skalawitz]

He brought the euro step in the NBA.

[@modestasgendvilas4779]

Šarūnas was the superman at that time !

[@teeinfinity]

Dope, wasn't expecting all that

[@shuva21]

For people who did't get to watch him play then, this man was a physically stronger version of today's Russel Westbrook, only many times better in posting up and passing, and also with mid-range as reliable as any nba superstar at the time.

[@codyseeds2372]

He and Ginobili are only similar because they are left handed. The guard he most resembles is Dragic! Raging bulls when going to the basket!

[@Torrinbirdy]

“The human karate chop!”

[@PyroInferno110]

Underrated

[@Philgob]

damn he looks like a beast! why is he not more well known?

[@yoe91]

He was Ginobili before Ginobili, the first true stretch 4, and would've been the greatest Center of all-time if not for that hair injury. I think in the right conditions, he could've scored 57 rebounds per assists.

[@MegaBagman]

THATS THE DERRICK ROSE OF THEIR ERA

[@Sevcen23]

Just without leaping ability

[@AerialDefensegames]

Or without ACL tears

[@MAFUX02]

Sevcen23 He had pretty high vertical actually

[@linatirilis]

@ 3:22 - this. Here because of "the other dream team" doc.

[@marios8120]

Dražen is best ever. Galis is right to him, and Šarunas is right to them. You have to love them all.

[@gate2wire365]

Beast mode 247

[@xart23x]

I remember people saying he had the strongest hands. Dude looks like LaVar Ball.

[@ShrinkRaptor]

The OG Manu Ginobli

[@GunterJPN]

We called him Rooney in the Bay, but to me, he is the unofficial "Run" in Run TMC.

[@Cahiller21]

Reminds me of Goran Dragic

[@Cahiller21]

I'm an avid Phoenix fan and have studied Goran's game. They look almost identical in the way they play except Sarunas was a tad more athletic

[@KaliAndy2]

Cahiller21 thats because Dragic uses some of Sarunas moves

[@benjayflorencio7240]

Dude is good.

[@Vibestr]

those traps (muscles)

[@br79105]

Τρομερός παίχτης τον απολαύσα στο Ευρωμπάσκετ του 95 που άξιζε το χρυσό η Λιθουανία που λόγο διαιτησίας και ότι δεν είχε πάγκο σε σχέση με Γιουγκοσλαβία! Σαμπόνις Μαρτσουλιονις καρνισοβας πήγαν να κερδίσουν το τουρνουά μόνοι τους ! Μαζί με Πέτροβιτς Γκάλη ότι καλύτερο ever

[@rosrebel]

Ginobili ( Argentina) was never the athlete Saruanas was , Both players not comparable ,,completely different styles ...Sarunas was very explosive ....

[@teminator365]

So why isn't he rated higher in 2k again?!

[@ballinboxer3676]

He's not in the HoF because he was good. He was decent at best in the NBA. He's in the HoF because he paved the way for Euro players to get in to the best league in the world

[@classicslayer456]

youre either overated or underated in 2k

[@JulioLeonFandinho]

+WormChemistry no, he was good, really good

[@KaliAndy2]

Descent at best? He avg almost 20 pts coming off the bench before injuries took a toll on him.

[@ballinboxer3676]

KaliAndy2 "decent at best" was referring to his career as a whole, including all the injuries

[@ericwyatt3646]

I went to his debut game and still have a penant signed by him

[@Ενωση1924-ζ7ω]

Damm Dragic is so close to him!! 💪 So similar style of playing!!

[@vinhbui30]

Is it just me or Manu does a lot of stuff this guy did?

[@chewyihong698]

"Developed in European basketball, the move is generally accepted to have been brought to the NBA by Lithuanian Šarūnas Marčiulionis" ... "and was popularized in North America by Manu Ginóbili" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_step

[@KaliAndy2]

Vinh Bui they are both quick to the rim and good long range shooters. Sarunas a much tougher player though that never backed away from contact. Manu flops a lot and flails his hands as if getting fouled every time he drives to hoop.

[@matthewweiss8579]

KaliAndy2 don’t disrespect Manu

[@BucketsBasketball]

KaliAndy2 wtf is your problem with Ginobili, he’s 10x better than this dude show some respect

[@Bdrbs]

@@BucketsBasketball nice joke.

[@mariomm9080]

Marciulionis was Sabonis and his crew rival in Lithuania , because he never got a chance to join Kaunas Zalgiris even though he was born in that city , so he joined 2 nd best team

[@scottipippen6554]

3:02 Casey Smith is everywhere, man! Great guy.. By the way: Donnie Nelson and the Grateful Dead should get a statue in Lithuania for bringing the team to the 92`Olympics!

[@tfrf0042]

💕💕💕💕💕

[@karolic112]

how many player defeat dream team :)

[@TheCabIe]

It's already been said, but I'll say it again. He was a role player on his team. Played 20-25 minutes, scored 12ish pts, shot FGs at 50%. Definition of average? Sure. The point is that he's in the HOF because he's one of the first players to pave the way for Europeans into NBA.

[@KaliAndy2]

Modestas Malakauskas paved the way for Europeans and also introduced euro step into NBA which changed the way NBA game is played. Manu, Wade, Rose and bunch of other guys use his moves now. Take away his injuries and give him starter minutes and you'd have a 20+ pt per game player. Couple seasons he averaged 17-19pts per game playing less than 30 min per game.

[@princekelvin6476]

KaliAndy2 naa that bullshit he was a bench player

[@egidijuskuprusevicius4225]

just because soviet had to be on the bench...it's politics

[@918cam]

He was tuff

[@lunchbag_larry]

I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable basketball fan, and i've never heard of this guy. great video.

[@dougfresh4454]

baserocks206 early 90”s played with golden state with hardaway million and Mitch he played for 92 Lithuanian national team with Sabonis tooo

[@mrwebb3000]

Beasty!

[@shadowfighter298]

in 1990s Marciulionis in 2000s Ginobili in 2010s Dragic who is 2020s unstappable lefty driver to basket?

[@cr1pson]

OG goran dragic

[@brianfergus839]

Look at him strip the whining Airness then beat everybody down the court on the fast break. Big time face

[@gedog77]

He deserves all this recognition BUT Chris M, you're wrong about 1 thing, he wasn't the best player on that squad, we all know Arvydas was.

[@armin38822]

wait a minute. wasn't Divac the first european player who really got the chance to play in the NBA ?

[@tonyjiang94]

Lithuanian James Harden

[@WoM_63]

James Harden who does not forget defence

[@Amick44]

NO, NO, NO. Sarunas played D. And didn't hold the ball.

[@damiengwapitojk]

you mean james harden is the american sarunas marciulionis

[@porkchop6714]

Tell me the last time a player routinely would take a 20' jumper then crash the boards to get his own rebound.

[@donq2957]

His name was an announcers dream.

[@RyanWow65]

reminds me a Dragic a lot

[@akgardner5]

yuppp

[@kenney0313]

Let's not forget about pre-injuries Sabonis. His total destruction of David Robinson & USA spoke VOLUMES!! That was the reason for the original Dream Team. Up until the Jordan-era, our college players were more than enough, even against the professionals outside the States. Sabonis made Robinson look like a CHILD vs a full grown MAN, which was EXACTLY the case. Hakeem treated Robinson the same way years later. Sadly, the NBA has officiated physicality out of the game AND these guys play ZONE!!?!! Unbelievable.

[@koymatv9602]

dragic before dragic

[@bsjsbsbsjk9059]

King Magno In europe he was like Westbrook in todays NBA.

[@AllPureSkill]

Damn Don Nelson