DEBRECEN (Hungary) - The development of young basketball players in Europe is in a very healthy state and only getting healthier, according to Jonas Maciulis.

The Lithuanian legend is in Debrecen for the second edition of the Youth BCL and the players who take part in the tournament are fortunate enough to benefit from his valuable insights during a series of workshops organized by the Basketball Champions League.

"For a lot of these kids, these games are their first experience of a professional tournament with a club, so it's very important for them to gain experience, to be outside their country, and live the life of a professional basketball player," Maciulis explained.

For Maciulis, the workshops he's leading with the players during the tournament offer a vital opportunity to share his experience and help prepare them for the future.

"During the FIBA workshops, we are talking to the players about how to be professionals. What does it mean to be a role model for other young players? How are they supposed to behave outside the court? What does it mean to be part of a professional team?" Maciulis said. 

These workshops present these young players with an incredible opportunity to hear from a player like Maciulis, who came up through the famous Sabonis Basketball School and went on to have a star-studded playing career.

He won medals with Lithuania at all levels, including a gold medal at the U21 World Championship, back-to-back silver medals at FIBA EuroBasket in 2013 and 2015, and a bronze medal at the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Jonas Maciulis starred for Lithuania at FIBA EuroBasket 2015

At club level, Maciulis was a 2015 Euroleague championship and numerous domestic trophies and honors throughout his career in Spain, Greece, and of course, Lithuania.

But even during such an illustrious career, there were no club competitions like the Youth BCL when his career was starting as a 17-year-old.

"We had nothing like this [when I was this age]," Maciulis remembered.

"We had some tournaments, I can remember one tournament in Spain with a similar level to this but there were no cameras, there was no TV, it was just a tournament in a small city."

"Now we can see that we have better basketball schools in Europe and in other leagues, Europeans are dominating." - Jonas Maciulis

Back then the only way to get access to experienced peers was from within his own club.

"All the information we used to get was from our older teammates when we met them in the medical rooms or when we met at gatherings or dinners, " explained Maciulis.

"There was no social media back then where you could interact with other players every day, this was the only way but we would have loved it to have somebody to talk to us and share their knowledge.

"These things are really important for young players to get involved in and to meet their role models."

Promitheas Patras' next generation soaking in the experience

Take one glance across the global basketball landscape and it's clear that something is going right and that events like this are part of a larger, European basketball ecosystem that in Maciulis' opinion is on the right track.

"We know how good the Serbian schools, the Lithuanian schools, and the Spanish schools were in the past and maybe some of that was a little bit forgotten but now they are trying to do the same things again and this is very important," he said.

"Now we can see that we have better basketball schools in Europe and in other leagues, Europeans are dominating," he affirmed.

With the likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and Domantas Sabonis, to name just a few, winning MVP awards and becoming the biggest stars of the NBA, it's not hard to see that Maciulis makes a strong point.