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Poderis' Frame, Game Continue To Develop

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2007

PORT RICHEY - Lukas Poderis was a normal-sized kid for much of his life until he shot up five inches when he was in the fifth grade.

It was probably a coincidence that it was also the same time Poderis came to the United States from Lithuania with his parents and little sister, though he hasn't really stopped growing since.

The junior forward stands at 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds and is impossible to miss when Ridgewood's boys basketball team takes the court.
Opponents can't possibly ignore him and scouts haven't been able to either.

But where he is now isn't close to where he could be with some more development. He knows it and so does his coach, Gary Anders.

"I still don't think the light has gone on in his head yet," Anders said. "If and when he realizes what he's capable of doing all the time and does it, if that happens, he's going to be a great, great player. He's a very good player now.

"He's a big kid. His presence on the court, that's what affects the game. You have a 6-foot-8, 230-pound kid out there and he doesn't have to lead his team in everything, his presence just helps us."

He has the best numbers on the team but as far as the Rams are concerned, he doesn't need to. He attracts so much attention, that him just being there even if he's not scoring 30 points a game and grabbing 20 rebounds, he's still one of the most important parts of the team.

The fact that he still has 19.2 points and 11.3 rebounds a game in spite of getting swarmed by defenders has been a tremendous bonus.

Poderis has been garnering notice from state publications as long as he has been in high school and from colleges within the last few months.

Poderis is ranked as the No. 41 junior in the state by Breakdown Magazine and the No. 67 uncommitted player in the Class of 2009 by floridahoops.com. In the spring, he was selected by Rivals.com as one of 10 underclassmen to watch.

His mailbox began filling up this summer with letters from Division II schools to Florida State.

It doesn't mean he can't be that player and that's what Anders hopes to see from Poderis before he graduates.

"I want to see him develop for his sake, not for my sake," Anders said. "But he's got some growing to do. I think he's gotta become more mobile, defensively, offensively, everything. He's gotta play every possession."

Poderis had only been playing basketball for about a year in Lithuania before he moved to Florida so the drop-dead fundamentals that are associated with foreign players aren't drilled into his game the way they would have been had he played in Europe longer, though Anders said his natural shot is considerably above average.

Shortly after he came to Florida, Poderis began playing AAU ball and felt he was working uphill from the start.

"I was all right but I had to work really hard because everyone was a year older," Poderis said.

Poderis stuck with travel ball and made the 16-and-under Florida Elite team, where he had about 14 points and eight rebounds a game.

"I'm encouraging him to get in another high-level AAU summer and not necessarily with us, but with a travel team," Anders said. "I still think he's an untapped commodity."

Poderis also realizes that he has a lot of room to improve and is intent on doing all he can to reach his full potential.

"I just want to get better everyday, work hard and get stronger," Poderis said.

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