Twitter, I knew it was going to come in handy some day for some thing, just didn’t know it was going to be for this. Yesterday, Patric Young, who guarded Jonas Valanciunas a couple days ago at the U19s, jumped in on a conversation about the Lithuanian and didn’t have flattering things to say. Both about the player or the referees. He said he didn’t think Valanciunas was worth a lottery pick and that the three Lithuanian officials were catering to Valanciunas. Tabloid stuff really but summer is slow so there you go.
RR: What did you think of Jonas Valanciunas?
Patric: I know for a fact he is not a lottery pick. He has potential though and he is still a good player though and a good guy. I think its a good investment but yall cant give him every foul call lol
RR: Is that what you think happened in your game?
Patric: I know thats what happened 3 Lithuanian refs in Lithuanina and their superstar is playing come on lol.
RR’s international basketball expert, Raul, has chimed in on the first day at the U19 tournament. The line for Valanciunas read 19 pts (7/17 FG) 11 rebounds, 5 blocks and 5 Fouls. That right there is a career for Patrick O’Bryant. Lithuania lost to Croatia 88-75. He’ll be providing frequent updates from the tournament so look for those.
There’s a piece by Doug Smith which says change is coming to the Raptors’ front office in the form of Maurizio Gherardini and Jim Kelly moving around. Let’s rewind here, back in the summer of 2008, Gherardini, Kelly and just about everybody were promoted, presumably to celebrate the acquisition of Jermaine O’Neal. Three playoff-less seasons later, Colangelo is apparently rethinking his decisions, and is even considering bringing in a new face who could have the title of General Manager. Maybe he’ll go with Kevin Pritchard , maybe he’ll go with Mark Warkentien, or maybe he’ll install a puppet who he can control. We shall see, but it’s too bad this is happening now and not two weeks ago when this guy was available.
He can take his time, though, because there’s not much GMing to be done since there’s a lockout!
Raptors have the 6th best cap situation in the NBA with $7.47 million available, well behind Sacramento who can afford to sign two max contracts. Too bad Sacramento isn’t located in Miami. Now if the Raptors can only sign minimum contract players to round out the roster, they’ll have enough to sign their own max player next summer. A man can dream, can he not?
