Edit**
Clarification from Michael Grange
First: Jonas Valanciunas will not be suspended for the any portion of the upcoming NBA playoffs.
Second: The Toronto Raptors centre is officially on his chance No.2 after being charged with impaired driving in Wasaga Beach, Ont., early Monday morning. Hopefully he uses it wisely.
He gets a second chance not because he’s as friendly and approachable a professional athlete as we’ve encountered in Toronto or anyone else.
He gets one not because the Toronto Raptors are finally, tantalizingly and surprisingly close to actually doing something meaningful for a city and fan base that has been stepped on for the better part of the last decade.
And he gets one not because being charged with DUI and allegedly having over 80 mg/100 ml of blood is an insignificant matter. It’s a very significant matter. Don’t drive drunk. No excuses. Don’t be this stupid again.
Most of the team gathered Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre where the Raptors had three suites reserved. DeMar DeRozan threw out the first pitch at the Jays-Yankees game and it’s estimated as many as 70 members of the Raptors extended family were on hand – most players; the coaching staff; members of the front office and friends and family.
One of the few players who didn’t go to the game was Valanciunas, who opted to go with his wife and friends to the Georgian Bay beach community about two hours from Toronto. Wasaga has long been a popular getaway for Toronto’s tightly-knit Lithuanian community – there is an international Lithuanian softball tournament there every summer and a Lithuanian church as well.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/ ... t-raptors/
