Robertas Javtokas (born March 20, 1980) is a Lithuanian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

executive and former player. He most recently served as sports director of Žalgiris Kaunas. Standing at , he played the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position. He has been a member of the senior men's Lithuanian national team since 2004. In the

2001 NBA draft The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001 in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizards, ...

, he was selected by the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

with the 55th overall pick.

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 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.

Professional career

Europe

In 2000, Javtokas joined

Lietuvos rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also ...

and quickly became the best center in the Lithuanian League. Javtokas, playing alongside

Ramūnas Šiškauskas Ramūnas Šiškauskas (, born September 10, 1978) is a former Lithuanian professional basketball player and basketball coach. At a listed height of 6'6" (1.98 m) tall, he could play at both the shooting guard and small forward positions. His indi ...

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and

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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 The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavi ...

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 The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

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 MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

of the Russian Super League A. In Dynamo, he improved his

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

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. On July 15, 2010 he signed a two-year contract with the Spanish club Power Electronics Valencia. In June 2011, he returned to Lithuania, and signed a three-year contract with the pro club Žalgiris, of the Lithuanian LKL. His contract was renewed in 2015. 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. In 2015 his contract was extended for one more year. In 2016 his contract was further extended with Žalgiris. On June 8, 2017, Javtokas announced his retirement from playing professional basketball. On June 9, 2017, he played his last game as a professional player.

NBA draft rights

Javtokas was selected by the

, with 55th overall pick in the

. 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 The 2005 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2005, was the 34th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. It also served as Europe qualifier for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, giving a berth ...

, 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 The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

, where he won a bronze medal.

EuroLeague career statistics

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Lietuvos Rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also ...

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Khimki Khimki ( rus, Химки, p=ˈxʲimkʲɪ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, 18.25 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, and immediately beyond the Moscow city boundary. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station th ...

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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. On July 1, 2021, Javtokas left Žalgiris Kaunas in order to participate in the election of the president of the

Lithuanian Basketball Federation The Lithuanian Basketball Federation ( lt, Lietuvos krepšinio federacija), also known as LKF, is a national governing body of basketball in Lithuania. It was founded in 1936, but due to Soviet occupation, the federation disappeared from FIBA. I ...

Awards and achievements

Club titles

* 9× Lithuanian League Champion: 2000, 2002, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 * North European League Champion: 2002 * ULEB Cup ( EuroCup) Champion: 2005 *

Champion: 2006 *

Winner: 2007 * EuroLeague

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

: 2007 * Greek League Champion: 2007 *

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

Winner: 2007

Lithuanian senior national team

EuroBasket 2007 The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

: *

EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France defeated Lithuania in th ...

Personal awards

* 3× Lithuanian League All-Star Game: 2001, 2002, 2006 * Lithuanian League Rookie of the Year: 2001 * Lithuanian All-Star Game MVP: 2002 * EuroCup Finals MVP: 2005 * Led the Lithuanian League in blocked shots: 2006 * Led the

in blocked shots: 2006 * 2× Lithuanian League Slam Dunk Champion: 2000, 2001

Personal life

Javtokas attended to St. Vincent – St. Mary High School in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

, the same secondary school that

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...

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 The Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird is a Honda motorcycle, part of the CBR series made from 1996 to 2007. The bike was developed to challenge the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 as the world's fastest production motorcycle, and Honda succeeded with a top sp ...

motorcycle at a speed of around 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour) towards

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, 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.Interbasket.net InterBasket > profiles > Javtokas.
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