Robertas Javtokas

Robertas Javtokas (born March 20, 1980) is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player. He most recently served as sports director of Žalgiris Kaunas. Standing at 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in), he played the center position. He has been a member of the senior men's Lithuanian national team since 2004. In the 2001 NBA draft, he was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 55th overall pick.

Robertas Javtokas
Javtokas with Lithuania's national team in 2013
Personal information
Born (1980-03-20) March 20, 1980
Šiauliai, Lithuania
NationalityLithuanian
Listed height6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight270 lb (122 kg)
Career information
CollegeArizona (1999–2000)
NBA draft2001: 2nd round, 55th overall pick
Selected by the San Antonio Spurs
Playing career2000–2017
PositionCenter
Career history
2000–2006Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2006–2007Panathinaikos
2007–2009Dynamo Moscow
2009–2010Khimki
2010–2011Valencia
2011–2017Žalgiris Kaunas
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Lithuania
FIBA World Cup
Bronze medal – third placeTurkey 2010
EuroBasket
Silver medal – second place2013 Slovenia
Silver medal – second place2015 France
Bronze medal – third place2007 Spain

Player profile

Javtokas had very good athletic ability when he was young, with long arms and good coordination. As a young player, he was a good jumper, who had a 40-inch vertical leap[1] and he could easily dunk in traffic. He still has to work on his offensive technique and to improve his free-throw shooting. As a young player, he was good at running the floor and making plays on the perimeter, with his good athletic ability, nice size, and good leaping ability. He is a good rebounder, and a good defender as well. He once set a world record, by dunking on a 12-foot-high basket.[2]

Professional career

Europe

In 2000, Javtokas joined Lietuvos rytas and quickly became the best center in the Lithuanian League. Javtokas, playing alongside Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Arvydas Macijauskas, Simas Jasaitis and Rimantas Kaukėnas won the 2002 Lithuanian League championship and also the North European League championship. After the motorcycle crash, Javtokas missed the entire 2003 season and came back in 2004. In 2005, he won the EuroCup championship and he was named the EuroCup Finals MVP.

In 2006, with his help, Rytas made a strong debut in the EuroLeague, and also beat their main rival Žalgiris 4–0 in Lithuanian league finals series. The team also won the Baltic League Championship. After the season, Javtokas was disappointed that Rytas was not able to offer him a bigger pare of money and also was returning to the EuroCup instead of the EuroLeague, so he decided to play in another club.

He joined Panathinaikos for the 2006–07 season and with them he won the Greek League championship, the Greek Cup title, and the EuroLeague championship (thus winning the coveted Basketball Triple Crown), although he played very limited minutes all season. On July 24, 2007, he signed a two-year contract with Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Super League A. In Dynamo, he improved his free throw percentage from 35.5 to 54.5 percent, and he improved in scoring average to 12.2 points per game. In 2009, he joined the Russian club Khimki Moscow Region.[3][4] On July 15, 2010 he signed a two-year contract with the Spanish club Power Electronics Valencia.[5]

In June 2011, he returned to Lithuania, and signed a three-year contract with the pro club Žalgiris, of the Lithuanian LKL.[6] His contract was renewed in 2015.[7] On June 20, 2012, Robertas Javtokas was named as one of the best EuroCup players of all time. He took 4th place out of 10.[8] In 2015 his contract was extended for one more year.[9] In 2016 his contract was further extended with Žalgiris.[10]

On June 8, 2017, Javtokas announced his retirement from playing professional basketball.[11] On June 9, 2017, he played his last game as a professional player.[12]

NBA draft rights

Javtokas was selected by the San Antonio Spurs, with 55th overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft. The San Antonio Spurs retained his NBA draft rights for 16 years until 2017 when Javtokas announced his retirement from playing professional basketball. Javtokas is 1 of 8 players selected in the 2001 NBA Draft that ended up never playing a game in the league.

National team career

Javtokas debuted with the senior men's Lithuanian national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He averaged 8.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. At the EuroBasket 2005, he played in six games with the Lithuanian men's national basketball team. During the tournament, he averaged 11.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. His 2-point field goal percentage was 61.7 percent, and his free-throw percentage was 47.1 percent.

He also played with Lithuania at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, where he won a bronze medal.

EuroLeague career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high  †  Won a EuroLeague championship
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2005–06 Lietuvos Rytas 202028.8.521.125.4178.2.91.02.09.613.9
2006–07† Panathinaikos 1938.8.613—.3551.6.1.3.52.62.5
2009–10 Khimki 161325.7.591.000.4576.4.4.21.210.112.3
2010–11 Valencia 212024.7.574.500.4145.3.7.6.78.29.1
2011–12 Žalgiris 161423.4.489.000.4215.2.5.2.76.36.8
2012–13 8415.0.542.500.7142.9.6.1.44.05.4
2013–14 232324.8.625.273.7505.31.4.51.19.712.7
2014–15 231923.2.451.000.6674.31.1.4.85.76.9
2015–16 9016.4.645.000.4443.7.0.3.44.95.9
2016–17 1757.2.607—.6251.4.2.1.02.31.9
Career 1555624.1.565.194.4844.9.7.4.97.19.0

Post-playing career

Following his retirement from playing professional basketball, in 2017, Javtokas expressed his wish to not digress from the sport of basketball, and he was invited by Žalgiris Kaunas, to become the sports director of the club.[13] On July 1, 2021, Javtokas left Žalgiris Kaunas in order to participate in the election of the president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation.[14]

Awards and achievements
Javtokas, with Lithuania's national team, in 2010.

Club titles

Lithuanian senior national team

Personal awards

Personal life

Javtokas attended to St. Vincent – St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, the same secondary school that LeBron James went to growing up. Javtokas also attended Bishop McGuinness High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for one year of high school during the 1997–1998 school year. His older brother Artūras Javtokas is a former basketball player.

Motorcycle crash

On May 1, 2002, while driving his Honda CBR1100XX motorcycle at a speed of around 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour) towards Vilnius, he had a serious accident. Approaching a side road, Javtokas started to pass a van, but the van driver did not see the motorcycle and turned left. There was no chance for Javtokas to stop and he hit the van, losing control but not the bike, which crashed into a car in the opposite lane. Javtokas flew dozens of meters and landed in bushes off the road, crushing his thighbone, breaking his shoulder, and injuring his knee and kidneys. He returned to basketball for the 2003–04 season.[15][16][17]

References
  1. Team Draft Overview-San Antonio Spurs.
  2. Javtokas dunks on a 12 foot high rim.
  3. BCKhimki.ru Khimki Adds Javtokas (in Russian).
  4. Championat.ru Khimki signs Javtokas (in Russian). Archived 2009-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Power Electronics signs Javtokas.
  6. ZALGIRIS brings Javtokas back to Lithuania
  7. Zalgiris re-signs veteran center Javtokas
  8. Eurocup Top 10 – A Decade of Eurocup Greats: The Top Players!
  9. Zalgiris re-signs veteran center Javtokas
  10. Zalgiris Kaunas keep Renaldas Seibutis and Robertas Javtokas
  11. Lithuanian legend Javtokas finishes professional career
  12. "Paskutinio pasirodymo metu ašaras tramdęs Javtokas: "Trūko nedaug"". BasketNews.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  13. "Karjerą baigusiam R. Javtokui nauji darbai "Žalgiryje" – užims sporto direktoriaus pareigas". DELFI.lt. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  14. ""Žalgirį" palikęs ir į LKF prezidento kėdę nusitaikęs Javtokas: galiu pasiūlyti naujų idėjų". lrt.lt (in Lithuanian). July 1, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  15. "R.Javtokas sužalotas autoavarijoje (video)". DELFI (in Lithuanian). 1 May 2002. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  16. Šilinskaitė, Eglė (3 May 2002). "R.Javtoko avarija - smūgis krepšiniui". DELFI (in Lithuanian). Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  17. Interbasket.net InterBasket > profiles > Javtokas.
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