Linas Kreza, Lithuanian striker

Does anyone remember Linas Kreza? A Lithuanian striker who is not bad.

Linas Kleiza, Linas Kleiza, 6-foot-8 inches (203 cm), plays as Power Forward (PF)/Small Forward (SF). He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in January 1985, and is from Lithuania. He is produced by the University of Missouri. He was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 27th pick in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft and was immediately traded to the Denver Nuggets. He played for the Nuggets (2005-2009) and the Raptors (2010-2013) in NBA career (2009-2010 in the Greek League).

As a space-type forward with the technical characteristics of European players, Linas Kreza has comprehensive offensive skills, has both confrontational and delicate skills, can use her physical advantages to carry baskets and singles, and has excellent long-range pitching feel, strong sense of positioning, good rebounding ability, and high ball quotient. He can better understand tactics, make correct decisions, and have certain support skills, which can create opportunities for his teammates.

However, Kreza's athletic ability is average, which limits his threat of breakthrough on the offensive end and his coverage on the defensive end. When facing opponents with excellent athletic ability, it is often difficult to effectively limit. His defense is slow and his lateral movement speed is insufficient. His performance on the court sometimes has a large ups and downs, making it difficult to continuously and stably output. Moreover, due to the awkward positioning, the speed of playing small forwards is not enough, and the height and wingspan of power forwards are not advantageous, resulting in a mismatch on the field, which is very unclear. In his seven-season NBA career, Linas Kreza played 409 games in the regular season, including 65 starts, averaging 20.0 minutes per game, scoring 8.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.2 blocks. In the playoffs, they played 26 games, including three starters, averaging 15.8 minutes per game, scoring 6.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.2 steals, and blocking. Although Kreza is just a character player who is not well positioned, she also has some good highlights.

On January 17, 2008, local time in the Denver Nuggets defeated the Utah Jazz 120:109 at home, Linas Kreza started for 42 minutes, making 13 of 21 shots (including 4 of 8 three-pointers), and 11 of 14 free throws, scoring the highest single-game 41 points in NBA career, plus 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. On April 20, 2008, in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Denver Nuggets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 114:128 away, Creza played for 38 minutes on the bench, making 9 of 13 shots (including 3 of 5 three-pointers), and 2 of 3 free throws, scoring the highest single-game 23 points in the NBA career playoffs, plus 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. In the offseason in 2013, Linas Kreza was specially appointed by the Raptors. Since then, he has re-signed to the Turkish League. After his contract expired in 2015, he gradually faded out of the arena. No other news has been heard since then. He has been in a state of not officially retiring but has been away from the field for a long time.