Teaching Their Children Well

The tuition at the Marciulionis Academy is 120 litas per month -- about $45, or almost one-tenth of the average monthly salary in Lithuania -- but the most talented older players either receive a free or discounted tuition. Marciulionis said in special instances, he is willing to assist some families. "If we have a mother with three kids or a divorced family, there are other obligations, we help them out, free of charge," Marciulionis said.

Marciulionis has 815 children in his program, ranging from ages 7 to 18. He has 11 certified coaches who are assigned to two age groups each. Sabonis has a similar setup, except the age groups for coaches differ by five years.

The coaches stay with the same group of players until the children graduate from the program, which helps to maintain continuity and form lasting bonds.

Marius Linartis has coached the players on the Marciulionis under-16 cadet team since 1998. In beating an opponent by 63 points last month, his players put on a sharp display of team basketball -- moving without the ball, multiple passes on offense, cutting to the basket, solid defense. Povilas Duchouskis, the team's starting center, had a commanding presence inside but was just as apt to step out and make three-pointers. Augustus Peciulevicius was quick enough to dart to the basket almost at will.

When Linartis first began coaching them, he took them on the typical track, from having them running wild as neophytes, to gradually teaching them how to dribble, pass, shoot and defend. Linartis, 33, has been with the Marciulionis Academy for 10 years, working his way up as an assistant for one year, until he gained the experience to guide his own team. In addition to working with players born in 1991, he also coaches kids born in 1998. With the younger kids, the focus is simpler, like teaching them to dribble without looking at the ball. "At the smaller age, I am trying to get them mostly to feel the ball," he said. "To play basketball, they must feel the ball."

He teaches his team of mostly 15-year-olds the principles of zone defense and forces each player, no matter how tall they may be, to learn how to score in the low post. "I don't know who this player can be when he grows. Maybe in 10 years, he can play the center position," Linartis said, explaining his reasoning for not focusing on developing guards, forwards or centers. "They must all know. I want them to know everything about basketball."

Dallas Mavericks General Manager Donn Nelson, an assistant on the Lithuanian national team, was responsible for signing Marciulionis, the first NBA player from the Soviet Union, when he was with the Golden State Warriors in 1989. He believes that the focus on fundamentals creates a more well-rounded player.

The United States has "through a lot of things -- some within our control, some without -- slowly de-emphasized the educational aspect of our sport, I think," Nelson said in a phone interview. "There's no reason with the emphasis that we have on the sport of basketball, with the resources that we have -- both financial and educational -- and with the popularity of our game at all ages, why we shouldn't be doing a better job in developing our young players. There is no reason that anybody develops a better basketball player than we do."