Jonas Valanciunas Is Showing Signs Of Growth

Jonas Valanciunas is quietly averaging 13.9 points, 9.6 points and 1.5 blocks while shooting 60.9% from the field over his past 12 games.

Jonas Valanciunas is quietly averaging 13.9 points, 9.6 points and 1.5 blocks while shooting 60.9% from the field over his past 12 games.

I say that he’s quietly doing it because when I went to the Air Canada Centre for the game against Boston, nobody in the MSM was talking about him. Then, after I picked the brain of Dwane Casey and Valanciunas, The Star and The National Post both wrote about Valanciunas.

A big reason why Valanciunas is getting the ball more is because one of Toronto’s key playmakers, Kyle Lowry, is out of action resting his back so he’s ready for the playoffs. While Lowry is a key component of the team, the reality is Toronto runs a guard-heavy offence which sees Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Lou Williams combine to attempt the majority of Toronto’s field goal attempts via a lot of iso’s.

With Lowry sidelined, it has meant Valanciunas has had the ball in his hands more often.

“With Kyle (Lowry) being out the ball is going to go to him more,” Casey told me before the game against Boston. “We are going to need some more of his scoring punch. With Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan) in, naturally he’s like the third option behind those two. We have to do a better job of getting him the ball. But also, he has to meet us halfway and continue to get deep post position. Guys have been giving it to him in the post once he’s in deep. We have a rule: if he gets pushed out to the logo than we don’t give it to him. It’s a rule of ours, and it makes him work to get in deep and get deep post position.”

Another big reason why Valanciunas has been able to step up his game is that he’s had some favorable matchups. He’s had games recently where he has been guarded by bigs like Brook Lopez, Kelly Olynyk, Justin Hamilton, Joey Dorsey and Tarik Black.

Those are all matchups he should (and did) dominate.

“He has had good match ups and guys are finding him deep in the paint,” Casey explained to me. “I think that’s the most important thing. He’s not getting pushed out to the logo so he’s doing a great job establishing deep post position.”

For his part, Valanciunas is no longer wandering outside of the paint like a nomad. He’s gotten used to planting himself in the low or high post and not wandering too far out of that range when waiting for an entry pass.

“That’s my job, to be inside the paint,” Valanciunas told Eric Koreen.

“I have to be comfortable. That’s my home.”

But, like any player who plays for Casey, Valanciunas knows his playing time is dependent on his defence. Toronto is among the top in the NBA in scoring while languishing on the defensive end, so a player needs to make his mark getting defensive stops in order to carve out minutes.

Casey has noticed an improvement on Valanciunas making reads on the defensive end, which, in turn, has helped Valanciunas secure more playing time recently.

“Defensively he has done a better job of staying up at the level of the screen,” Casey told me this weekend. “He has been handling the pick-and-roll much better. The biggest improvement for me as his coach has been his defensive awareness in the pick-and-roll situation. Every night it’s a different issue; a different challenge. Tonight against Isaiah Thomas and their (Boston’s) guards. He has to be able to get to them while guarding shooting bigs like they have tonight. There’s always an issue he has to deal with, but again, he’s doing a much better job in all areas.”

As for Valanciunas himself, he wasn’t too worried about his individual stats when I approached him about his strong play lately.

Instead, he was more worried about doing what this team needs to secure some much-needed wins.

“I’m okay,” Valanciunas humbly told me after the loss to Boston. “I’m just playing my game. All that matters is to win. I’m not concerned about my individual stats and stuff. It’s all about team stuff. We’ve got to win some games, you know? It’s not about scoring or rebounding; it’s about winning.”

Valanciunas may have taken the humble approach while talking with me, but, as a writer who covers the team closely, it’s clear that for Toronto to succeed they need to diversify from their iso-heavy and guard-centric offence.

That means Toronto needs to continue to feed Valanciunas the rock when he’s in the paint and Casey needs to continue to allow his young big man to play big minutes and learn through his mistakes. It may cost Toronto some wins in the near future, but Valanciunas is a huge part of Toronto’s future and he needs to be given the chance to play bigger minutes, especially when he has stepped up like he has over Toronto’s past 12 games.