Jonas Valanciunas Summer Discussion Thread (Olympics!)

[UcanUwill]

you should know more.. but situation in Houston is quite difficult.. they have Scola, an other young bigs.. if Donatas doesnt come over to Houston now, i just see them trading the rights to other team.. (I can see Scola being untradeable ala Calderon)

I think tough love, is what Donut needs the most. What happened, is that he always was a cocky kid, and he was hyped as a next big thing early on. He got spoiled in a sec. He and his father thought the best way to improve, is to play and not just sit on the bench (logical). They were obsessed to sign a contract with guaranteed minutes in it, and guess what, they did. What you got, is a youngster, who thinks hes a center of a universe, can do whatever he wants and still stays on the floor. And besides all that he still getting hyped. Absolute disaster, he cant learn, hes just getting more and more spoiled.

What he needs, its a laid back idol to be his mentor, a coach, who will sit him after every stupid shot he attempts and a team, where he earns his minutes, not just gets it. Donut is unlikable guy, but I think he is mentally very strong. If you call him out, and tell him he cant do one thing or another, he will do his best to prove you wrong. He needs a real challenge for once, he is on terrible path right now and he needs to realize it. IF you really are good, prove it for real Donut, thats all I am saying.

Trade Kleiza for Donuts rights imagine Leo Rautins going crazy at 3 7ft's
Btw just found Jonas 3 pointer from all star game

Rautin's head would explode. Just having 2 Lithuanians in Kleiza and Jonas will be a biggest wow in his life, hes a big time Lithuanian homer, i mean for real.

P.S. How about that 7'2 Kupsas (?) guy? Is there a chance he gets drafted? It can be a very fun season, having 3 Lithuanian rookies, oh damn.

[hankscorpioLA]

It's the rough equivalent of me going onto a U2 forum and posting in all their threads about how they are one of the most bizarrely overrated bands of all time (note: This is true).

Why do I feel you know this from personal experience?

[realball]

edit - To the below poster. There is nothing good that can come out of me responding to a bunch of posts. It's the rough equivalent of me going onto a U2 forum and posting in all their threads about how they are one of the most bizarrely overrated bands of all time (note: This is true). If Valanciunas is a future top 10 C you can make fun of me forever. I like this place too much to pull a BorisDK1 and just disappear in shame if I'm wrong. So for now, bye.

This is more comparable to going to a U2 forum and claiming that Nickelback is better.

U2 is awful, but if you're going to post in a U2 forum about why they're awful, you should at least have some explanation for why you think so. If it's just your opinion, that's fine, but if you're going to argue your opinion, you better do it with some logical reasoning. And when someone has a better explanation, you shouldn't be the one telling them that nothing will change their mind.

[ATLTimekeeper]

It's like someone who heard a couple of tracks off Zooropa making those claims about U2.

[Dr Positivity]

Realball I'll respond to your post in the Meyers Leonard thread, since I don't think it's fair to the posters of this thread to put up with a) My anti JV posts, b) The peanut gallery of obnoxious insults that follow anything I write about Valanciunas

[SkywalkerAC]

Joshua Tree is a pretty solid album.

[dballislife]

wut do u think his vert is?

[Shkodran_Plako]

who gives a **** if he can't jump as high as DH honestly. DH is Jordan with defence. I'd rather have the more skilled guy because he will last longer in the league, and who knows, maybe we've landed a Duncan or something

(inb4dahype)

[malachii]

Joshua Tree is a pretty solid album.

That's what I was thinking. One of the best overall albums of that decade. Meh - no accounting for some tastes I guess. By no means am I a U2 fanboy, but 'cmon.

[Courtside]

It's the rough equivalent of me going onto a U2 forum and posting in all their threads about how they are one of the most bizarrely overrated bands of all time (note: This is true).

Why do I feel you know this from personal experience?

The cosmic gods have to allow him to be right some time.

[Anticon]

Wow, this is quite the thread.

All I know is he's a more promising prospect than Brandon Knight and Kemba Walker and it was worth the risk to take him instead of more sure things in Kenneth Faried and Kawhi Leonard.

Honestly, that's all that matters. You can't stake the future of a team on one player. You just make the right picks and try to build from there.

[starvinmarvin17]

dr mufasa probably wants kemba on the team

[Listas]

P.S. How about that 7'2 Kupsas (?) guy? Is there a chance he gets drafted? It can be a very fun season, having 3 Lithuanian rookies, oh damn.

I have a better chance of getting drafted than that stiff.

[arbsn]

Lithuania's single elimination tournament is going to look like this:
Lithuania vs Puerto Rico
and
Lithuania vs Macedonia

I certainly hope for the latter especially for obvious reasons...

[malachii]

Do we know the date of the elimination tournament?

[xprt]

July 2-8

[BalticGiants]

I know one thing. If JV wouldn't be a special player no-one would bark about his seiling so much. People feel it's something special about this kid and can't hesitate making their opinion on the guy. Can't wait to see this beast in green shirts playing with Jasikevičius, Kalnietis and others.

[lobosloboslobos]

wut do u think his vert is?

about 7 inches

[BalticGiants]

BTW, back to athleticism debate.

He scored 14 points against Russia with Mazgov and Kirilenko. And Mazgov said that when JV will add size and power to his quickness he will be a scary player. And Mazgov is a starting center for a strong playoffs team. In other game against Russia, he scored 13 points and 16 rebounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XypNzblBTow

JV scored 18 points against Serbia and Kirstic. With Rytas he had one good game against CSKA (Kirstic) and one bad. He proved he can play against solid NBA body. Here's some highlights of the good game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lTrmnjGxUE

Also he played well against Noah (12 pts, 3 rbs, 2 assists), Gasols brothers (in all three games he scored in double digits 13, 11, 10), Kaman 15 points, 4 rebounds. And a lot of other bigger bodies.

So as far as I know all these players are strong NBA bigs. JV managed to play against them very well being 19yo and some still think he has some issues with athleticism, IQ, whatever?

OK, few important moments:
-He was well fed by Jasikevičius, Kalnietis and others. So it will depend a lot on Raptors point guards.
-NBA has all 5 NBA players and not just one or two that has national teams. Defence will be tougher.
-However, looking at the matchups I don't see how to be sceptical about JV. He must be a success in NBA.

Concerns: not athleticism, not quickness, but how he can handle long season. We saw this season it's two different JVs - fresh and tired. Stamina might be an issue for JV in the first NBA seasons. Another - his size and ability to defend with current body.

Other than that - fresh JV and solid PG means that JV is a hardcore player ready to challenge any player in the world. And I really think NT performance will be a real picture of what JV is at the moment. We all know Rytas' sad story. I expect him being even better than last summer or making the same numbers because attention will also be bigger this time. He's a well know threat this summer.

[LithuanianOne]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbwI2-nJ0Tw[/youtube]