KAUNAS (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - The recently-appointed Lithuania number one Dainius Adomaitis announced the new-look expanded list of candidates for FIBA EuroBasket 2017 from Kaunas on Thursday.

Lithuania preliminary 31-player squad for FIBA EuroBasket 2017
Eimantas Bendzius	Laurynas Birutis	Deividas Dulkys	Deividas Gailius	Martynas Gecevicius
Rokas Giedraitis	Mindaugas Girdziunas	Marius Grigonis	Arturas Gudaitis	Paulius Jankunas
Adas Juskevicius	Evaldas Kairys	Mantas Kalnietis	Antanas Kavaliauskas	Arnoldas Kulboka
Mindaugas Kuzminskas	Lukas Lekavicius	Jonas Maciulis	Gytis Masiulis	Arturas Milaknis
Egidijus Mockevicius	Donatas Motiejunas	Gediminas Orelik	Domantas Sabonis	Martynas Sajus
Tadas Sedekerskis	Renaldas Seibutis	Edgaras Ulanovas	Jonas Valanciunas	Sarunas Vasiliauskas
Arnas Velicka

Once again spearheaded by the imposing Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas, there are no absentees in the team's preliminary 31-player roster, with the likes of Mantas Kalnietis, Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Maciulis also present.

"We thought hard and long how many players to include on the list, but we settled on the number that we currently have," coach Adomaitis said, addressing the press conference.

In spite of his impending NBA free agency looming large, the name of Donatas Motiejunas also appears among the 31 players. The left-handed big man was unable to help the national team last year due to similar circumstances, but the door remains wide open for the player.

"It's difficult to comment anything with certainty regarding Motiejunas. You all know the situation," said Adomaitis, who revealed that the pool will be narrowed down to just 18 players next month after the candidates finish with their club duties.

After making his senior debut for the national side last summer at the Olympic Games in Rio, 23-year-old Marius Grigonis now seems like a rock-solid candidate after a triumphant Basketball Champions League campaign with Iberostar Tenerife, crowned by a gold medal and the Final Four MVP award.

Lithuania may have also found the long-sought answer to the point guard question in Lukas Lekavicius, who has progressed greatly under the watchful eye of former Lithuania great Sarunas Jasikevicius in Zalgiris Kaunas.

Adomaitis does have big shoes to fill in replacing Jonas Kazlauskas at the helm of the ship after two consecutive silver-medal EuroBasket finishes in 2013 and 2015, but Lithuania's new playcaller hasn't shied away from making a distinctive imprint in the selection process.

After not receiving much love from Kazlauskas over the years, the likes of Gediminas Orelik, Martynas Gecevicius and Deividas Dulkys did catch the eye of Adomaitis, who included the sharp-shooting trio in the candidate list among a few other new names.

"Our top priority is the EuroBasket this summer. That's where our focus is, but we must also have a plan for the future," the coach explained. "This list could be very well be expanded [for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019], so I think everyone will be given a chance."

The retirement of former captain Robertas Javtokas may have left a possible vacancy at the center position as well, which now gives Arturas Gudaitis an opportunity to prove his worth and make the team for the first time.

However, perhaps the most surprising thing about the 31-player list of players is the number of youth-level prospects. The country's top young talents Arnoldas Kulboka, Tadas Sedekerskis and Arnas Velicka are just a few of the youngsters who got recognized by coach Adomaitis.

"We are giving a lot of attention to scouting and analyzing the play of our young players, who stand out in their age groups and may be the national team players of the future," the coach commented. 

Lithuania, who will begin their training camp at the end of July, will play the Group Phase of FIBA EuroBasket 2017 in Tel Aviv, forming Group B with the national teams of Georgia, Germany, Israel, Italy and Ukraine.

FIBA