Man on Fire!! Jonas Valanciunas with 29 points and 7 of 7 from 3 at the half.

[RaptorPride]

not arguing whether or not raps would've won with/without JV.. but they got a championship out of the trade for gasol, hard to argue about that. gasol was vital in defense of embiid and giannis. i'd take a championship over having JV today.

Fair enough, also fair to say he wasn't developed properly there. It's the same thing happening with Boucher.

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That was on Dwayne Casey, he hated JV, JV would be playing amazing and he would be inexplicably benched. As flawed as Stewart is, his development will probably take a hit because of Casey, just like JV did. But as others have said, to get Gasol, we needed to give up something, and Gasol's team and man defense was a billion times better than JVs, the difference was immediate. As good as JVs offense is, he will never reach Gasol's level of defense. I had actually hoped JV would come back and Gasol teach him how to be an anchor on D. Happy for JV though, will always be a Raptor for me, he even attended the championship run games after he was traded.

JV will always be loved in Toronto. The man is hilarious.

Watch on YouTube

Jonas Valanciunas' hilarious Borat impression [3:22]

Watch on YouTube

Casey would force him to be a garbage man. Force him to clean up the boards and score. Rarely did he run plays for JV which he should have done more.
Some throwback memes from those times.

[RaptorPride]

Dude has become the best 3 point shooter in the league. It's super bizarre.

Singe-handedly saving David Griffin's career.

He was always a great shooter with a good looking shot. Always been a great free throw shooter and a had great mid range game since his rookie year. He just never shot threes since he entered the league right before the three point revolution. The Raptors also decided to develop him as a post up big. His post up hook shot was fire since day 1. He used to go crazy with pump fakes. He used to cook opposing big men like Drummond, AD, Kat, Embiid back in his raptor days.

Watch on YouTube

[Tomazan]

Man, I really think JV would be a great fit for the Bucks. And people forget that Jonas is on a very team friendly contract (14M/Y). He would be a better version of Brook for the Bucks.

[JujitsuFlip]

I forgot, why did the Grizzlies trade Jonas for Steven Adams?

Griff had to clear the Bledsoe contract plus the difference in the Adams to Valanciunas contracts and the difference in pick 10 to 17 to make room for the spectacular trio of Graham, Sato, and Temple lol

[MKWB]

Man, I really think JV would be a great fit for the Bucks. And people forget that Jonas is on a very team friendly contract (14M/Y). He would be a better version of Brook for the Bucks.

"Here Bucks, take our all-star caliber Center leading the league is double doubles and 3pt. %, and a leader on a great contract.

Even though you wont trade us better players in return, and we already own all your future picks... So we're also further incentivized to prevent you Bucks from improving your roster (so we'll get your higher picks). "

Yea, I don't see that happening.

[Johnny Bball]

Jonas would be perfect on current Raps team. They have no size or true big man ATM

No. Not again. And his defence would undo everything they are trying to do as we gets killed in the pnr.

As for the clippers…I have no idea why each play in that fourth quarter wasn’t a 1/5 or 3/5 pick and roll, but maybe their superstar coach can tell you why he rarely ran it.

[naabzor]

This guy is at least as good as Vucevic if not better and one got max money, 28 millions, the other is fighting to get on teams and find minutes his entire career. The Raptors properly destroyed this guy career.

[Pachinko_]

If the Bucks can play Lopez 30 minutes all the way to a ring I'm sure someone can play JV too.

[Got Nuffin]

Fair enough, also fair to say he wasn't developed properly there. It's the same thing happening with Boucher.

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That may be partially true because Dwayne Casey was a pretty awful coach at utilising him overall, but the JV that Toronto had is not the same guy. Some big guys develop late and looks like JV is one of them. Even last season for Memphis he was dominant in a way that I could only wish he was for Toronto - maybe DRR and Lowry don't get wrecked by the Cavs every year if he was

Not sure what you mean about Boucher though, that guy is stinking it up missing open shots every time he gets minutes this season and is already 28 years old. I'm not sure he would even be in the league anymore if Toronto hadn't sent him a lifeline a couple of seasons ago. He played well last year in our tank season, shame for him it wasn't a contract year.

[RaptorPride]

This guy is at least as good as Vucevic if not better and one got max money, 28 millions, the other is fighting to get on teams and find minutes his entire career. The Raptors properly destroyed this guy career.

We made him gain too much weight early on in his career so he could be a dominant low post big. But just as we were doing that the three point revolution happened. And Casey would always use him as garbage man to clean up the boards instead of running plays for him. Trust me Raptor fans were so hyped about JV.

Vuc was blessed to play in Orlando so he could be the first option on a team. JV has never really had that opportunity but he would always destroy other big men when he had the chance. Especially Drummond, JV was/is his father.

Gobert

Watch on YouTube

Drummond

Watch on YouTube

Embiid

Watch on YouTube

[God Squad]

If the Bucks can play Lopez 30 minutes all the way to a ring I'm sure someone can play JV too.

Those teams don't have Giannis to cover for blown coverage's. JV on Milwaukee would be legit though.

[Pachinko_]

If the Bucks can play Lopez 30 minutes all the way to a ring I'm sure someone can play JV too.

Those teams don't have Giannis to cover for blown coverage's. JV on Milwaukee would be legit though.

Nah... it's never a P&R defended by Giannis/Lopez, it's usually someone like Trae Young switching on Lopez and torching him with Giannis being on the opposite side of the defence and nothing he can do about it. But that's ok, you lose something you win somewhere else, it's just a matter of making the balance work for you. Big men are not dead in basketball. As long as they're actually good at being big men.

[Ballerhogger]

I’ll give you THT and nunn and dj for him

[UcanUwill]

This guy is at least as good as Vucevic if not better and one got max money, 28 millions, the other is fighting to get on teams and find minutes his entire career. The Raptors properly destroyed this guy career.

I told you for years he was better than Vooch, you didnt listen to me, cause Vooch had pretier looking jumper and more minutes per game. Check their per minute production, Jonas was always scoring the same amount of points per minute on far better efficiency. The difference one was on good teams and the other played 36 minutes every night in Orlando. Now Jonas got his own terrible team at least for a year and he is just being hilarious Jonas.

[UcanUwill]

This guy is at least as good as Vucevic if not better and one got max money, 28 millions, the other is fighting to get on teams and find minutes his entire career. The Raptors properly destroyed this guy career.

We made him gain too much weight early on in his career so he could be a dominant low post big. But just as we were doing that the three point revolution happened. And Casey would always use him as garbage man to clean up the boards instead of running plays for him. Trust me Raptor fans were so hyped about JV.

Vuc was blessed to play in Orlando so he could be the first option on a team. JV has never really had that opportunity but he would always destroy other big men when he had the chance. Especially Drummond, JV was/is his father.

Gobert

Watch on YouTube

Drummond

Watch on YouTube

Embiid

Watch on YouTube

Casey said they develop him based on Roy Hibbert footprint. Yeah, thats all you need to know about Casey and how well Jonas was developed.

[KGtabake]

Love the Lopez comparison because I never really thought about it.
Lopez is an elite rim protector, the best big in box outs, with a great post game and decent shooting. He can't switch on small and pacey guards but when a team has great help defense, it isn't a problem.
Valanciunas can become better since he's younger and he has the motor. On the right team he can become a top3-5 big.
If Zion or Ingram can replicate what Giannis is doing in Milwaukee in terms of help defense, the Pelicans will be that team.

[kwajo]

I always loved JV, was my favourite Raptor for years. Then with Memphis I got excited about Ja and JV being together for a while, but honestly I always thought Toronto should have traded him to the Spurs. I feel like Pop is one of the few coaches in the league who could have developed his big man game properly and he could have learned alongside Duncan too.

Oh and while he is still an awesome guy, he needs a new agent, he’s been accepting low value contracts his entire career.

[DroseReturnChi]

JV getting disrespected despite putting up prime KL stats. stupid trade where hes tossed around lmao.
this guys a late bloomer he can get all star all nba 3rd. sky is the limit.

[DroseReturnChi]

Dude has become the best 3 point shooter in the league. It's super bizarre.

Singe-handedly saving David Griffin's career.

whats funny the guys a gym rat he clearly adds something every yr unlike others who go to vacation and become complacent.
griffin is a great gm in some of these trades but hes a horrible managing them. personally i rate him over nikola vucevic hes already surpassed him.

[bbalnation]

This guy is at least as good as Vucevic if not better and one got max money, 28 millions, the other is fighting to get on teams and find minutes his entire career. The Raptors properly destroyed this guy career.

We made him gain too much weight early on in his career so he could be a dominant low post big. But just as we were doing that the three point revolution happened. And Casey would always use him as garbage man to clean up the boards instead of running plays for him.

The BC days man. He was always fantastic at recognizing talent, him and his collar. It was just what he did afterwards that was questionable. In this case, it impacted JV's medium and long term health, and career.

The extra weight gain caused a lot of strain, and he got injured a lot because of it. He was really mobile when he was drafted, but the organization (led by Bryan Colangelo in 2011) wanted him to be like Roy Hibbert, thus the weight gain.

It makes me happy to see how much he's been able to adjust his game to the modern NBA. His bodys still a lil slower but damn, he's an automatic bucket. Hes also so intentionally awkward on camera at times you can't help but laugh.