Talent Matas
Image: Kamilė Linkevičiūtė
Younger Jogela brother comes close to orchestrating Zalgiris upset
When Lithuanian giants Zalgiris were recently eliminated in the semi-finals of the 21/22 LKL playoffs by Lietkabelis, it sent shockwaves through the basketball world. But the Green-Whites had already struggled mightily in their quarter-final matchup with BC Neptunas and only narrowly made it to the next stage by winning Game 5 in the best-of-five series.
One of the key figures in the surprising upset berth was a familiar face for Zalgiris fans. Matas Jogela had played for the club's farm team from 2016 to 2018. The versatile swingman had been identified as a major prospect early and put himself on the NBA radar with a great showing at the 2018 FIBA U20 European Championship where he put up 16ppg/4rpg/2.5apg/2spg.
Afterwards, his development stagnated a bit as he made the rounds through smaller LKL franchises but at 24, he seems closer to being ready for the next step. Still somewhat inconsistent, he brings an intriguing mix of positional size at the wing, athleticism plus on- and off-ball qualities. If he can up his three-point percentage to the mid-thirties, which should be possible given his solid FT shooting and decent mechanics, we can see him have a career on the higher levels of European basketball.
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