Valanciunas - 18 minutes - 14pts 7 rebs vs Russia

[Darien]

Thank you Cleveland! The curse is alive and well but then again, Dan Gilbert got greedy especially with Toad Stern handing him everything. Now BC just needs to get rid of his biggest mistake and then I'll say this team is really rebuilding.

[Puffer]

What I like is that he seems to have good hands. Doesn't bobble the ball when he receives the pass on a pick and roll, doesn't need to give the ball a bounce after picking up a rebound, is always conscious of where he is in relation to the ball. Of course, I am only going from highlights and a few game clips, but there is a sureness to his ball handling that is a little surprising in someone who put on so much height so quickly.

[Gman]

What was the reasoning there again?

The reason is simple...we didn't get the player he wanted so he's going to be hypercritical until he magically blocks a Lebron dunk and then in two steps is all the way down the court where he slams it home with both hands with the Chris Bosh around his neck.

[DG88]

This was from a Lithuanian poster on RealGM

blocked---interesting - Russians are going over the top to compliment Valanciunas, they even gave him a gift (for being the best player in Lithuanian team) to make sure he makes into the NT, I guess.
Kirilenko says that Valanciunas is strong enough to play at this level, but lacks experience. Of course, he commented that he was not as muscular as Mozgov, but acknowledged that he is/will be a great player. Mozgov also suggested that after Valanciunas spends some time in a gym he will be nearly impossible to play against, and pointed at Jonas' speed and coordination.
One of the best Russian coaches said it bluntly that he considers Valanciunas to be one of the future top centers in the world.

[mcHAPPY]

This was from a Lithuanian poster on RealGM

You made my day. Thanks for posting.

[Bendit]

What I also like is that he is currently playing at the best available level of basketball albeit as a backup. Nothing but positive can come of it while all his fellow draftees play street ball and probably picking up bad habits. This guy is going to be a leader on the Raps....just by the way he plays...until he gets the language under his belt and then....

[Soft Euro]

What I also like is that he is currently playing at the best available level of basketball albeit as a backup. Nothing but positive can come of it while all his fellow draftees play street ball and probably picking up bad habits. This guy is going to be a leader on the Raps....just by the way he plays...until he gets the language under his belt and then....

His English isn't too bad.

[Soft Euro]

The only negative I've read about him was (if I remember correctly) a coach on a Lithuanian website who was complaining about the way Valanciunas was being developed by his trainers/coaches. According to him they should have spend more time on develop his skills, e.g. his postskills which weren't being developed at all (according to this commentator).

[slaw]

The only negative I've read about him was (if I remember correctly) a coach on a Lithuanian website who was complaining about the way Valanciunas was being developed by his trainers/coaches. According to him they should have spend more time on develop his skills, e.g. his postskills which weren't being developed at all (according to this commentator).

Sadly, this makes sense. His current team wants to win and will emphasis what he does well right now in order to have on court success. They know he won't be there for the long run, so there is nothing in it for them to develop a part of his game that may be 2 or 3 years away from being effective.

It's one of the reasons why I would rather see him over here sooner rather than later (as long as he is good enough not to get destroyed). If he can survive in the NBA, then the Raptors can let him learn the game and develop him with a long-term approach in mind which will be better for Val and the team.

[Soft Euro]

Sadly, this makes sense. His current team wants to win and will emphasis what he does well right now in order to have on court success. They know he won't be there for the long run, so there is nothing in it for them to develop a part of his game that may be 2 or 3 years away from being effective.

It's one of the reasons why I would rather see him over here sooner rather than later (as long as he is good enough not to get destroyed). If he can survive in the NBA, then the Raptors can let him learn the game and develop him with a long-term approach in mind which will be better for Val and the team.

A big advantage of Europe for the development of young talent is that the players usually join a club at a young age in a youth team. That way teams can put less emphasis on winning and more on talent development. Unfortunately this is not always what happens; recently there has been heavy debate at Ajax (our most famous football club) in which an important point of discussion was that according to some there was too much emphasis on winning in the youth teams instead of on development. In the NBA it might be a primary reason why especially many big young players have so few skills; they were taught to use their size as the way to win by coaches who want to win, instead of being taught by developing their skills to become better players in the future..

[ezz_bee]

I'm betting that this was why his minutes were cut back.

Just finished watching the entire game, Jonas's minutes weren't really cut back. He didn't play at all in the 2nd quarter despite having a stellar first quarter. He played a good chunk in the 3rd had a quick break and then played the last minute of the 3rd until the 4:50 mark in the fourth. Also it seems to me, based on the box score, and what I watched. Jonas only had 4 fouls 2-3 of which weren't committed until the 4th quarter. I don't think fouls played any role in his minutes. He did not re enter the game after he was subbed out @ 4:50 to go.

The Box Score has JV listed w/ a -3 on +/- but I've got him at -1. (It could be they are counting a play were a Russian got fouled, JV subbed out and then the Russian player hit both foul shots and they counted those pts against him and I might not have)
Shifts when Jonas wasn't on the floor:
Russia +7
Russia +4
Russia +7
Luthuania + 4 (Last five minutes of the game)

When JV was on the floor
Russia +2
Russia +/-0
Lithuania +1

Despite Russia being up 20 near the end of the 3rd quarter (never got closer than 15 after that) the game was competitive the whole way through. So the fact that Lithuania was -14 with Jonas on the bench and -1 with him on the floor is a pretty telling stat imo, that does reflect the impact that he had on both ends of the floor.

It could be that I was wearing my Jonas glasses, but to me the only player that outshone JV was AK47.

His per36 stats would be

27.5 pts 13.7 rebs but 7.9 fouls. Obviously the foul rate looks like a problem but this is not something that has been a problem in other games that I've watched and isn't particularly a problem.

3 Things that stand out as being big pluses moving forward:

How active and engaged he is on both ends on the floor
1) Defense: It nice watching the amount of space he covers and how quickly he is able to slide from one player to the next. He needs to get smarter about when and where to move, but his instincts are pretty good and he is quick and decisive.

2) Offense: His ability to cut, receive a pass on the move and go straight to the rim with the ball without dribbling it or bringing the ball down below his shoulders. This type of basket seems like a "gimmie" bucket or "easy" bucket, but Jonas seems to be able to slide in and get 3-4 of these a game and yet nobody else seems to be able to replicate it.

3) Foul shooting: The guy went 8-8 last game and 4-4 this game. He is a lock at the foul line and I'll be surprised if doesn't avg. at least 80% from the free throw line over his career. For a guy that looks like he could be our defensive anchor its great that in late game situations he won't be an offensive burden that teams can put on the line. Combine that with his great shot selection and efficiency (he's something like 14-16 from the field) and hasn't shot outside of the paint, even if he doesn't improve his offensive game he won't be a liability in crunch time on offense.

However, the other reason why I love his FT% is that he has a consistent release that is fairly fluid and quick. To me this suggests that he should be able to become a threat to hit an elbow jumper and hopefully a baseline one as well. Added these to shots to his game seem pretty easy based on the fact that he already has good mechanics.


He obviously needs to work on his post game, but from what I've seen It looks at the very least we are going to get a player who is a ++defender and a guy who can anchor a defense, who also will be a neutral or slightly positive offensive player (especially when you factor in his offensive rebounds/tap outs for extra possessions.)

If you are still on the fence about JV you should watch the entire games that are on youtube (both Czech and Russia) and I'd be surprised if you don't get excited about this kid.

[Soft Euro]

Only about 14 months to go before we can see him in a Raptors uniform (sigh).

[Paradigm Shift]

This is the second time I have seen him shooting what seems to be a technical foul (no one along the foul line).

Man, that's their 19 yr rookie centre shooting those free throws. He'll never truly become Duncanesque if he keeps that up!

[Hassan]

anti-bargs at it again

[ezz_bee]

This is the second time I have seen him shooting what seems to be a technical foul (no one along the foul line).

Man, that's their 19 yr rookie centre shooting those free throws. He'll never truly become Duncanesque if he keeps that up!

It wasn't a technical. He was fouled on the way to he basket by Mozgov. Not sure why no one is there to rebound, the only think I can think of is that it was a flagrant foul. It didn't look particularly bad, but Mozgov kind of wrapped his arms are JV as JV was going past him to the bucket so it could have been an intentional foul. Although Lithuania didn't get the ball after the made free throws so I was a bit confused by the whole sequence.