Valanciunas, the FIBA U19 MVP, now sets his sights on Eurobasket

[enlightenment]

I doubt JV is going to impress (fouls up, turn overs up, less fg %, less fta, less blocks), and that shouldnt take away from how good he will be. Im afraid itll end up similar to when you do something fantastic and incredible for your first valentine date with your girlfriend and no future one compares. The expectations are all there for you to exceed and go beyond, and probably impress even more, and if he doesnt come out MVP 20-10-2 while winning the entire tourney, than im sure people will be disappointed at his performance. Which frankly is terrible pressure on this 19 year old kid. Seeing how moody raptor fans seem lately I dont think its fair we start getting upset and frantic when our draft pick doesnt meet up to the standards that broke all previous expectations.

[RAPresenting]

Yes, Pau Gasol. I was actually making a "who he reminds of" comparison between JV and Pau, i wasnt saying that JV will produce numbers like Pau did right away. I dont think theyll be able to be "stats comparable". Pau came into a struggling team without any legit scorers, rebounders, short saying they needed a franchise player and made Pau into one. JV is expected to be a major piece for the Raps, but not the piece. He'll probably be, at best, a 4th option when he comes in. But with experience, will he ever be as good as Pau? He might, who knows. All signs point to yes, IMO.

Your 100% right Pau's situation was different with the other key players on that team being Williams, Battier, Wright and Swift. BUT he was also a pretty polished offensive player and capable of handling the offensive load (his FG% and reasonable TO rate). JV will definitely be the 4th options if he's on the floor with Dre, Demar and Bayless and rightfully so. This isn't even bringing into account guys like Jose, Barbosa, Amir or even Kleiza who you could argue are more better offensive options.

I think the kids got a great future but at first he's going to be a hustle guy who's long, fairly athletic and has soft hands. This will let him get minutes and have a positive effect on both ends of the court but comparing him in anyway to Gasol offensively doesn't make sense to me. Gasol is arguably the second best offensive big (after Dirk) in the association and has been doing it since day 1 in the league.

[ebrian]

This is something I'd be interested in. It starts in August? I might even follow this..