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feel free to merge this with the everything valanciunas thread.
I just wanted to gage how everyone thinks valanciunas will do when he comes back from injury. These are dark times in raptor land and Im struggling to find ways to be optimistic about this team.
will he have learned to foul less playing defense? has he put on a little extra muscle? better offensive game?
I have no idea, what does everyone think?
Umm...just hope he comes back totally healthy and energetic. He was taking a beating, clearly had a bum ankle for a few games. Didn't want him to miss this much time, but he obviously could have used some time to recuperate in general.
He clearly couldn't have added weight where he needs it with an injured hand. And clearly wouldn't have been able to do any real work on his game. I do hope his D and fouling improve, because that can happen during a season and is actually something that's harder to work on in the offseason. I do expect those will be a problem well into next season, but that's fine for a young big.
As we all know, Jonas will come out with 110% every night, battling for position, trying to out-rebound his guy, banging in the inside, the usual hard-work.
I think, for him, it's better he comes off the bench for the first couple games, but in general, needs to be our starting big man regardless. For him, watching on the side-line might have been a very big plus, just to see the full run and movement of the game. To see how big men position themselves, and it's likely he's not just watching the ball go through the hoop.
I expect a struggle right out of the gate offensively, will be hesitant, and quite frankly will pick up fouls. Although, his foul problems haven't been as bad compared to in Lithuania.
Actually, no reason he couldn't have added several pounds by working on the squat machine or the smith machine. Though if he was doing a lot of treadmill or elliptical to stay in shape it might have been problematical.Quote:
white men can't jump wrote:
I actually just assumed that he wouldn't look to add much weight to his core or lower body. Notice I said "where he needs it". That doesn't seem to be a real problem for him, he's not a stick figure body type like Amir, or Javale McGee, or whatever other lanky C you can think of. I mean he's a rook, so he'll probably look to get a bit stronger all around, but in terms of where he needs it most, it's all upper body.Quote:
Puffer wrote:
If he wants to hold his ground against strong centers like Chandler he needs (a lot of) added lower body strength.Quote:
white men can't jump wrote:
I don't know, in relative terms he's doing quite well for a rookie C when it comes to holding his ground and using his feet. I mean, he needs to gain weight, at least 20-30 lbs (if listed weight of 231 is right), but I'd still say most of that needs to be upper body. Obviously, like any rookie C, he needs stronger legs, but also on that note, I've been impressed with his ability to push from below and hold his position. It doesn't stop him from getting pushed on top, or knocked around in the air, or having his arms hooked, and whatever else. Basically I think more in terms of weight.Quote:
Soft Euro wrote:
-JV absolutely needs to get bigger up top, and so obviously stronger, because fat does no good.
-While JV could and should probably get a bit stronger, I think his base is already solid. He might need to gain some strength, but I don't think it would do him good to get much bigger down low. He's already 231 with a skinny top. So basically what I'm saying is if he comes in next season at 245 or 250, I'd be very disappointed if it was just mostly lower body. And I don't know what other people think, but I also believe (because it's true for me) that you can add a lot of leg strength with little to no weight variation (if you're already athletic, obviously, so your legs are fit).
The dude is only 20 years old. It will be very difficult for him to put on 20 pounds of muscle at this age. I'm sure that many others would agree, that at that age, no matter how much lifting and eating you do, it is VERY hard to pack on mass, especially seeing how much cardio the guy is doing. For myself, it wasn't until almost my mid 20's where I started noticing an increase in size.
When is he coming back?
Worst case Andrew bogut, best case paul gasol.
However I have a feeling he'll most resemble Marc gasol.
Which isn't bad.
If you see Bogut as a worst case I'm going to assume you mean getting injured a lot; don't think they are good comparisons at anything else. A Bogut without the injuries during his career might be even better than Pau Gasol though(?)Quote:
TdotTrizzy wrote:
Let's assume that he's very good opinion about Jonas
No, you're wrong. Sorry. They have totally different body types (on Marc Gasol). The reason Gasol was a 2nd rd pick and seemed to come out of nowhere is he was fat and heavy. Even now, Gasol is listed at 265...there's no way that's true. The dude is clearly hovering around 300 lbsQuote:
TdotTrizzy wrote:
This is all relative dude, and different from person to person. JV doesn't look like a guy who's been skinny his whole life or struggled to add strength. I mean, when I was 19-20, I could easily ad 10-15 lbs of muscle in 2-3 months. And even in my own family, my bro who's older still struggles to put on weight in terms of muscle. So yeah, can be totally different from person to person, and when I look at JV, I don't see an Amir, or Bosh, or whatever skinny dude you can think of, so I think he'll be fine, even if it takes him a couple of offseasons to get there.Quote:
Beaverboi wrote:
Absolutely right. JV doesn't look like a classic ectomorph. Really more like a mesomorph who has been growing faster than his body can keep up with. Not to mention the constant balling all summer with the national team. I suspect it will be entirely possible for JV to put on 5 pounds a year (of muscle) for the next four year, which could equate to a 7-8 pound increase in weight. He now has the advice of Alex, and the cash to handle special diets/nutritionists/whatever.Quote:
white men can't jump wrote:
I expect at least two things surely: fresh legs (even if he's doing a lot of workouts) and more confidence (he already experienced a bit and now had a chance clear his head a little bit). I expect more from him at offensive end as I think he already can do it. However, defence won't be much improved, expect that after another hard working summer and becoming bigger. But JV will need at least another season to become a reliable center at defence. Anyway, I just want him to have a break on through offensive game, to show all Raptors' organisation how madly efficient he can be at offensive end. To sum up, it will take time, take it step by step.