Interview with Celtics scout Benas Matkevicius: “There are no more Giannis Antetokounmpos”

Benas Matkevicius is an international scout for the Boston Celtics and has been on the coaching staff of the Lithuanian national team for years. In an interview with SPOX, the Lithuanian talks about his beginnings in Cuxhaven, the art of scouting and he explains what German talent lacks in comparison to other nations.

Matkevicius also reveals how you can get a superstar like Luka Doncic out of his comfort zone, how the contact with the Celtics came about and what happens in the draft room.

There are biographies and there are biographies like that of Benas Matkevicius. Born in Lithuania, grew up in Cuxhaven, high school in Louisiana, college in Arkansas and then back to Cuxhaven before going to the Boston Celtics via Moscow. Matkevicius has worked his way up in world basketball, he has now been working for Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens as an international scout for almost eight years. In an interview with SPOX Matkevicius talks about his career path, his daily work and what German talents often lack.

Mr. Matkevicius, a good ten years ago you were still an assistant coach in Cuxhaven, now you are an international scout for the Boston Celtics and have a podcast, The Benas Podcast, in which you welcome guests like Andrea Trinchieri, Andrew Bogut, JR Holden and many others . How on earth does this work?

Benas Matkevicius: It was never my goal to be employed by an NBA team. I loved the game as a basketball player, but had to retire early due to injury and then put my heart and soul into working on the sidelines in Cuxhaven. The club then gave me the opportunity to get a job on the coaching staff, both as a youth coach and as an assistant with the ProA team. We were successful, twice promoted to the BBL, but were not allowed to participate there due to various regulations. This frustrated me because I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere – in my career and in my life. At that point, I was about to quit basketball and instead continued as a personal trainer. I had already collected a few licenses and trained the first athletes. For me that was part of the development. As a person you want to get better, learn new things. This is what nature intended for humans.

And then the call came from Moscow.

Matkevicius: Exactly, that’s where Jonas Kazlauskas just became the new coach of CSKA. He used to play with my father in Lithuania and the two have remained friends over the years. That’s how he knew I existed. (laughs) And that I worked as a coach and at the same time did the scouting reports for the team. He needed a scout and took me even though I wasn’t his first choice. Another coach turned down the position of scout, so I took over the entire scouting department.

Celtics scout Matkevicius: “I was a naive, north German boy”

That sounds almost too good to be true.

Matkevicius: It was all completely new territory for me. That was Russia and the level was many times higher than in Cuxhaven. At that time JR Holden, Trajan Langdon or Matjaz Smodis still played there. That was a huge challenge for me. I suddenly needed a lot more understanding of the game because it had so much more nuance. I was confronted with things I didn’t expect at all. At the time, I was a naive North German boy who initially worked quietly to keep this job. I gave everything in those first three months because I knew that my contract would either be extended and I could then prepare for the following season or not. It was said that somehow we should bring the season to a successful conclusion. We succeeded and the upheaval followed, Andrei Kirilenko, Nenad Krstic and Milos Teodosic came along and we marched all the way to the final, where we unfortunately lost to Olympiakos in Istanbul.

Ever worried that that jump was too big?

Matkevicius: Every now and then, but I’ve been preparing hard and encouraged by all my friends or players I’ve worked with. I don’t want to praise myself, but they saw how much time I put into it. I don’t like free time and instead try to fill it with work. It used to be youth work or additional training sessions and so I subconsciously prepared myself for the next level. So I just had to keep my workload at that level and for me it was the door opener even though I kicked in the door earlier.

Don’t you get overwhelmed by information? Some after-work basketball players played in the ProA and from one day to the next you are dealing with the elite of Europe.

Matkevicius: In Cuxhaven we almost only had professionals, only one or two players had another job. But of course, at CSKA the possibilities are endless. If you want or need something, you get it. There are no excuses because everything is there to get your job done. In Cuxhaven, when I was an injured player, I started preparing the scouting reports because I simply wanted to contribute something. I did it the way I knew it from college back then. At the time, some players in Cuxhaven said they didn’t need that much, but if I know that things can be done better then I want to do it accordingly. It’s like in a restaurant: you eat with your eyes. I always try to think one step ahead of what might come my way.

Benas Matkevicius: His Stations

Celitcs scout Matkevicius: Didn’t know what Messina would like

But you can’t plan everything in advance, can you?

Matkevicius: That’s correct. An example: When Ettore Messina took over ZSKA, I didn’t know at first what he expected, what things he liked and didn’t like. Which clips does he want? What situations does he prefer? Then I just prepared six or seven things that he could ask. So I prepared way too much just to be safe and not possibly get out in the rain. But the longer you work with someone, the better you know what they want. Then such a report can be significantly narrower. Although the work wasn’t in vain for me if a coach didn’t want it. You are always learning and practice is the best teacher.

Can you enjoy working at such a top club or is it more of a pressure? As is well known, the thread of patience is not necessarily thick in Moscow.

Matkevicius: In Moscow there is only black and white, top or flop. The expectations are huge, but you have to deal with them. That’s life at the highest level, be it as a player, coach or scout. If you don’t like it, then you don’t belong there, it’s as simple as that. After victories in the VTB League (which consists mainly of Russian teams, editor’s note) or “normal” EuroLeauge successes, I felt more relief because joy. That was a difference to Cuxhaven, for example, where you’re happy about every win. Pure joy can sometimes be lost. I also talked about this with Nikos Zisis in my podcast. He also said that as an athlete you have a choice. You can play on a smaller team and just have fun, but if you want to play at the highest level, you have to live with it.

Where to address the podcast. The guest list is quite illustrious with Trinchieri, Messina, Dimitris Itoudis, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Daniele Baiesi, Andrew Bogut or JR Holden. What can the listener expect?

Matkevicius: The foundation is basketball, but there can also be exceptions, as recently with the boxer Noel Mikaelian. My guests are there to tell background stories that may not be available elsewhere in this form. It’s about the nuances of coaching, being a sports director or how a player lives after his career. A guide by professionals for professionals. The day-to-day business of athletes and the people behind them should be presented a little. Among other things, I also spoke to Stefan Weißenböck from Bamberg about what individual training with players means or how to get out of a shooting slump. So it covers a wide spectrum and should also draw a bit of a comparison to everyday life.

Despite all the podcasting, your main job is scouting for the Celtics. How did the contact come about?

Matkevicius: Good luck here too. When I was a child, I acted in a play on Borkum and I was allowed to play the leading role as the lucky lion, which I may still be to this day. The contact with Boston came about in 2011 when I went to all the FIBA ​​tournaments in the summer, although we at CSKA were actually not interested in signing any talents. But that was important to me. Among other things, I was in Poland at the U18 European Championship. A certain Dennis Schröder also played there. That’s where I met my current boss, Austin Ainge.