New Poll: Everything Valanciunas - 2nd Team All-Rooke Selection.

[blackjitsu]

Pretty interesting stuff. Darko was brought up but I think there are a couple reasons why comparing JV to Darko is flawed.

1/Darko was drafted by a successful team that had no time to develop him, JV will get more coaching, and more game time minutes to figure things out.

2/ Darko may have been a much better player overall at this age but JV's NBA transferable skills are what matter.

3/ I like Detroit a lot, but as someone who immigrated as a young adult, Toronto is a way better place to find home away from home with so many cultural communities. I can't imagine the culture shock of Detroit being your introduction to North America. That had to effect Darko's developing game.

[Miekenstien]

Some other comparisons:
Kanter - 13mpg = 4.2reb, 4.8pts, 0.3blks
Thompson - 23.7mpg = 6.5reb, 8.2pts, 1blk

kanter suffered in minutes behind jefferson and favours. i think he actually had a pretty decent rookie year. not bad production in 13 minutes.

[Miekenstien]

Pretty interesting stuff. Darko was brought up but I think there are a couple reasons why comparing JV to Darko is flawed.

1/Darko was drafted by a successful team that had no time to develop him, JV will get more coaching, and more game time minutes to figure things out.

2/ Darko may have been a much better player overall at this age but JV's NBA transferable skills are what matter.

3/ I like Detroit a lot, but as someone who immigrated as a young adult, Toronto is a way better place to find home away from home with so many cultural communities. I can't imagine the culture shock of Detroit being your introduction to North America. That had to effect Darko's developing game.

i think reason 1 was the biggest factor. sitting on the bench for 3 years was brutal on darkos psyche. turned him jaded and bitter. i also heard *unsubstantiated rumour here* that he was a heavy smoker

[RandomGuy]

Skaloon, some OPTIMISM please don't be a typical lithuanian. I know you don't love JV and that's obvious, but it seems what you saw was only final series of LKL. Rytas wasn't that horrible, though they were horrible with distributing the ball to centers, and JV was almost useless just because he had to make most of the shots by himself. He's not selfish if he sees that others have better opportunity he gives them the ball instead of making risky shot, try to notice these things. 10 minutes in national team? Give me a break

[Ambidextrious]

I don't think he is as much of a project as people are saying. His footwork is great he has an assortment of post moves, baby hook up and under, turn around jump shot. He is fantastic at creating a pocket of space. He may get called in the NBA for hooking, all though he uses his elbows instead of his whole arm. He looks comfortable shooting from 10-15ft, isn't afraid of contact. I think his curve is going to be more about getting stronger and learning the tricks of the NBA game. Alabi is a project...BigV is a contributor in his first year, maybe not 20/10 but I see 10/10 and 2 blocks as doable. Also he is already above 80% from the free throw line which if you are a prolific offensive rebounder is a fantastic combination to have. Get used to hearing Hoop and Harm or AND1 quite a bit.

+1 well said. Jv is going to be a nightmare playing against for a lot of players and coaches.

[omgsomuchpotential]

I don't think he is as much of a project as people are saying. His footwork is great he has an assortment of post moves, baby hook up and under, turn around jump shot. He is fantastic at creating a pocket of space. He may get called in the NBA for hooking, all though he uses his elbows instead of his whole arm. He looks comfortable shooting from 10-15ft, isn't afraid of contact. I think his curve is going to be more about getting stronger and learning the tricks of the NBA game. Alabi is a project...BigV is a contributor in his first year, maybe not 20/10 but I see 10/10 and 2 blocks as doable. Also he is already above 80% from the free throw line which if you are a prolific offensive rebounder is a fantastic combination to have. Get used to hearing Hoop and Harm or AND1 quite a bit.

[RandomGuy]

Do you know that guy JV is in workout with?

[jimmie]

Awesome. Couldn't find a better guy to learn from.

[Fanchie]

For example, Darko Milicic at the same age was a far better player than JV is now. and look where Milicic is now.

Where does that come from ? Milicic was 18 when he started as rookie, Jonas is 2 years older so he's far more developped.

Milicic was playing 20 minutes per game for Hemofarm Vrsac, averaging 9.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots. He was shooting 49% from the field and 68% from the foul-line.

This past season, Jonas played 23 minutes per game, averaging 11.7 points, 7.35 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. He shot 62% from the field and 80% from the foul line.

I know stats are not everything, but at some point, figures do speak for themselves. And if your point is on the "at the same age" thing, I don't see how 2 extra years sitting on Detroit's bench and playing 5 min a game made him a better player.

I'm not saying that Jonas is a sure thing, i'm just saying that you can't say that Milicic was a far better player than JV is now. Hyped, maybe, but better, no.

[The Coach]

Do you know that guy JV is in workout with?

Sabonis and JV are some big dudes... it doesn't hit you till you see "normal" size people standing close by. It looks like they are shooting size 6 balls because of their size. JV looks like he is in great shape.

[NoPropsneeded]

the European big man duo Bargnani and Valanciunas. Best front court in the league right there

[NoPropsneeded]

its awesome that he's working out with one of the greats from his own country. He even played in the nba so thats a bonus

[thead]

shooting the baby hook with both the left and right thats worth at least 4 - 6ppg when mastered

[omgsomuchpotential]

Today JV & Lithuanian national squad is playing their first friendly game before Olympic Qualification. The match is against Macedonia and it will start at 9AM in UTC -6:00 timezone (I believe it's called central time here in America and Canada).

I'm definitely going to watch the match either on the national channel or internet. I'll try to provide a link to stream if possible.

[Bendit]

Today JV & Lithuanian national squad is playing their first friendly game before Olympic Qualification. The match is against Macedonia and it will start at 9AM in UTC -6:00 timezone (I believe it's called central time here in America and Canada).

I'm definitely going to watch the match either on the national channel or internet. I'll try to provide a link to stream if possible.

Thanks. They are in Houston aren't they?

[omgsomuchpotential]

Not yet. They're in Lithuania. To you all canadians the match is actually going to start tomorrow morning (in about 10 hours), and since it's already 6am here in Lithuania I used the word 'Today', so sorry for that. They will be going to Houston, TX on 20th of June where they will play two friendly games against Russia and Great Britain.

[The Coach]

I was following a thread on the Lithuania-Macedonia friendly match and it seemed JV was doing well until he got hurt? The thread ended at that point, they were questioning whether it was his hand or ribs... anybody know anything about this?

Boxscore anywhere?

[omgsomuchpotential]

I was following a thread on the Lithuania-Macedonia friendly match and it seemed JV was doing well until he got hurt? The thread ended at that point, they were questioning whether it was his hand or ribs... anybody know anything about this?

Boxscore anywhere?

I watched the game live, but it didn't look like JV got hurt... Sometime in 2nd quarter (near the end I think) coach just got really mad at JV and benched him.

Anyway, Lithuania lost 74:78. Macedonia was missing 2 main guys, while Lithuania was playing without 5 key players (who should be on the final team come Olympics).

JV got 10 pts and 8 boards.

I can't find a boxscore so it's hard to provide more info.

Today JV & Lithuanian national squad face off against Greece (roughly in about 14 hours). It will be their second and final friendly match here in Lithuania before they go to Houston, TX on 20th of June.

[Miekenstien]

I watched the game live, but it didn't look like JV got hurt... Sometime in 2nd quarter (near the end I think) coach just got really mad at JV and benched him.

Anyway, Lithuania lost 74:78. Macedonia was missing 2 main guys, while Lithuania was playing without 5 key players (who should be on the final team come Olympics).

JV got 10 pts and 8 boards.

I can't find a boxscore so it's hard to provide more info.

Today JV & Lithuanian national squad face off against Greece (roughly in about 14 hours). It will be their second and final friendly match here in Lithuania before they go to Houston, TX on 20th of June.

what kind of mistakes was he making that a coach got angry with 10 and 8 in the first half?

[omgsomuchpotential]

what kind of mistakes was he making that a coach got angry with 10 and 8 in the first half?

Nah you got me wrong. Coach put him back in the game in 3rd quarter after benching him in 2nd. I don't know why he got so mad though.