No wrong way to build a team

[stretch]

I'd bet he would shoot them at a better clip than our SG

That pump fake would be even more annoying from the three point line.

[Mindlessness]

What about my entire post about 10-18 ft shots? I would agree with you if he was a dominant inside presence.....But he's not. He's a +75 percent free throw shooter. He should take the wide open shots that he gets. That's the difference between the other guys I mentioned and JV. He just doesn't seem to feel comfortable taking those open shots. That's on him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, I didn't mention those on purpose. But if you do want me to mention them, then yeah, Val does need to take some of those shots.

What I really want him to become is just ridiculously versatile offensively. His post moves aren't Hakeem-esque in anyway, but they're damn efficient, develop him on the PnR and PnP, open him up for midrange jumpers, have him work from the elbow, and develop his passing, and you've got a very offensively versatile centre.

[consmap]

I want to see him take a 3 pointer. Has he ever done that?

He took one during the Rookie-Sophomore game if I remember. It missed

I agree with JV taking a few more jumpshots from about free throw range. It would make his pumpfakes less frustrating to watch if he could take and make more shots from there.

[MixxAOR]

yeah Raps fucked up JV's development. Made him slow, lost his jumper, his post moves are not even that good. I mean look at D-Mo. He didn't have this type of footwork early in his career

[DanH]

JV is a tremendous post player. Only thing preventing him from being dominant inside is not getting the ball often enough (quite possibly anyway, no way to know for sure until it is tried). And he'll only get better as he develops more polished moves and better comfort there (which goes hand in hand with passing out of it).

That said, I'm confident the coaching staff tells him not to take those jumpers (and frankly I have no issue with that). Isn't there a rule for the team that they aren't even supposed to pass him the ball unless he has one foot in the paint? Even if he is not told directly not to take jumpers, you have to think a directive like that will affect a player's confidence.

Plus, towards the end of the year he was stepping out for those jumpers more often, which was a good sign confidence wise.

[Mess]

Even JV's teammates are sick of the pumpfakes and want him to shoot the ball. There were a bunch of times when a guard drove the lane and passed it to him when he was along the baseline but just outside of the key. And he wouldn't shoot it. And Kyle and GV would get visibly mad at him (well, Kyle is always that way with him).

I imagine it's cause the Raptors have ingrained it in him to take it strong towards the rim and attack the defense. It's clear he doesn't have a tremendous feel for the game so they likely tried to keep things simple for him. But those are good shots that he never, ever takes. If he becomes fairly automatic with them then his pump fake will be more of a weapon - not like it is now where everyone laughs if a player actually falls for it - usually on the 2nd or 3rd consecutive fake.

But I still wouldn't want him to start taking 3s. Hopefully his game continues to grow (slowly, but still) more versatile and he can add some more skills and make smarter reads. Hopefully he can learn to get a little deeper position too. There were times where he just took a few extra steps away from the basket and called for the ball without any pressure from the defense. (probably worried about the pass getting poked away from behind but even that is avoidable).

Slow but steady.

(but maybe too slow and not steady enough)

[McRealistic]

JV is a tremendous post player. Only thing preventing him from being dominant inside is not getting the ball often enough (quite possibly anyway, no way to know for sure until it is tried).

LOL, Oh, DanH, I think you and only handful of people here + Big Val and his agent can make these claims, ignore everything that happened during the season, ignore his shortcomings on defence, especially on help defence with straight face

For anyone else interested on more balance and unbiased assessment of where BigVal and his game is, listen to the podcast:

http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/...that-wasnt-us/

[white men can't jump]

LOL, Oh, DanH, I think you and only handful of people here + Big Val and his agent can make these claims, ignore everything that happened during the season, ignore his shortcomings on defence, especially on help defence with straight face

For anyone else interested on more balance and unbiased assessment of where BigVal and his game is, listen to the podcast:

http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/...that-wasnt-us/

IS that the one from last week? Where the guest talking about Val clearly had no clue what he was talking about and had to be corrected at times? Yeah...really unbiased....(ignorance bias is still bias)

[consmap]

LOL, Oh, DanH, I think you and only handful of people here + Big Val and his agent can make these claims, ignore everything that happened during the season, ignore his shortcomings on defence, especially on help defence with straight face

For anyone else interested on more balance and unbiased assessment of where BigVal and his game is, listen to the podcast:

http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/...that-wasnt-us/

His defense certainly isn't anything to really brag about, but we've seen glimpses of his potential as a really good rim protector. I'm sure that will come in a few years. Guys like Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, and Noah took a few years to develop their defensive instincts.

However, he's still a great rebounder and his offensive game is good. He was second in FG% for the season and basically matched his point production from the previous season despite playing less minutes. We've crapped really hard on JV for missing a lot of easy bunnies, but the thing is he's still very efficient. A player like that needs to be integrated into the offense more. Consistent 4th quarter minutes would be nice too.

[McRealistic]

IS that the one from last week? Where the guest talking about Val clearly had no clue what he was talking about and had to be corrected at times? Yeah...really unbiased....(ignorance bias is still bias)

Yes the one from last week but I think you choose to not listen to it carefully. There was no guests but 2 of the guys who are writers for this site and I think probably have watched over 95% of every game that Val has played. There was no correction during the podcast and I think both guys made very unbiased and valid points.

Bottom line is that as of now, Big Val has shown potential to be a reliable C in this league and 3rd best option in a good team. There has not been any flashes of him being a franchise player like Davis, Curry, Cousins and ... and not even flashes of being an all star player like Gasol brothers.

However, he is a solid player than Raptors should include in their future plans.

[phdmac]

Yes the one from last week but I think you choose to not listen to it carefully. There was no guests but 2 of the guys who are writers for this site and I think probably have watched over 95% of every game that Val has played. There was no correction during the podcast and I think both guys made very unbiased and valid points.

Bottom line is that as of now, Big Val has shown potential to be a reliable C in this league and 3rd best option in a good team. There has not been any flashes of him being a franchise player like Davis, Curry, Cousins and ... and not even flashes of being an all star player like Gasol brothers.

However, he is a solid player than Raptors should include in their future plans.

You mean the writers that said this Re: Jama Mahlalela "I don't know who he is. He is Probably fired" ya that was the comment that made me bail 10 mins into the podcast. Sorry if you watched less than 95% of the games you should know who he is. Especially if you're writing for this site

[Mess]

Shit, I've watched at least 70% of their games and even I had to google his name. And I didn't even recognize his face. He must sit in the back, ha.

Even in this poll they didn't feel the need to put a pic of him in there lol

http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/forum...ead-Coach-Poll

[white men can't jump]

Yes the one from last week but I think you choose to not listen to it carefully. There was no guests but 2 of the guys who are writers for this site and I think probably have watched over 95% of every game that Val has played. There was no correction during the podcast and I think both guys made very unbiased and valid points.

Bottom line is that as of now, Big Val has shown potential to be a reliable C in this league and 3rd best option in a good team. There has not been any flashes of him being a franchise player like Davis, Curry, Cousins and ... and not even flashes of being an all star player like Gasol brothers.

However, he is a solid player than Raptors should include in their future plans.

The guy with Zarar was some guy named Will...Who is that exactly? Which writer for this site? Is it William Lou? I don't think so. And even if it was, Lou's a good writer, but having read pretty much every piece he's written, has a very "casual" level of basketball knowledge.

And yeah, he did not sound like he was really trying to make a very good analysis, so I stopped listening. He said something that was very obviously wrong, like "he can't shoot". He certainly "can" shoot. Could he shoot better? Sure, but his shot is actually already decent for a C and shows no signs of being "broken" or something you can't get elite at his position (obviously not expecting him to shoot 3s, but he could be one of the best mid-range shooters at C fairly easily). It was a lazy breakdown. And these are RR writers. They are no more qualified to discuss anything than many of the posters on these forums. The guy also called Jonas an "average rebounder"...which is also absurd.

No one ever expected Jonas to be a franchise player. Maybe would've had a shot if everything had gone perfectly with his development, but that ship's already sailed. Can he anchor the inside on both ends? Yeah, probably. Of course, for D especially, that's gotta include a scheme meant to keep him used inside. I thought it was hilarious as posters here all praised Gortat's D, and how they wish Jonas could do that...but Gortat was basically able to stay within 10 ft almost all the time and just wait for guys to come right into him.

*And shit, he talks about not "paying for talent", and compares the situation to Jimmy Butler, who (paraphrasing) "proved over his rookie deal is a star", for a guy who didn't become a complete player and star until last year. And talks about JV deal being maybe 13-14M and is he going to be worth that...but that's going to be a huge bargain for a solid C under the new cap. I'm sorry, but this guy Will sounds like he rolled out of bed and just said whatever random crap popped into his head on this podcast.

[Doc]

The guy with Zarar was some guy named Will...Who is that exactly? Which writer for this site? Is it William Lou? I don't think so. And even if it was, Lou's a good writer, but having read pretty much every piece he's written, has a very "casual" level of basketball knowledge.

It wasn't William Lou. Not sure who the Will guy that did that podcast with Z, but as he stated at the beginning he was born in the 60's, so it most definitely wasn't Lou.

[OldSkoolCool]

sounds like he rolled out of bed and just said whatever random crap popped into his head on this podcast.

This is very common with the podcasts