Linas Kleiza - The Rising Star

[Lionel Messi]

Apparently, the Raptors have 3 rising stars. This team should win 50 games next year.

Ya I don't understand why the OP is using the word "star" so loosely.

[RocLaFamilia]

Can we get AndreaFan and CalderonFan Married?

Seriously, they both are useless posters being fans of Sucking players!!!

How will their children defend their posts?

[ash_k]

Kleiza has always been a decent player. I don't think tha tit is anything unexpected that he is playing well in the World games.

His upside is probably Wally Sczerbiak with slightly better defense. He won't be the star, but can be a decent 3rd scorer on our team.

You mean that Wally - one-time all-Star 6th pick of the draft - second option behind KG on some very competitive Wolves team.

Sounds very good to me!

P.S he's more powerful and Athletic that Wally, but he is a good comparison I think.

[OlFlashy]

speaking of grit, is there a way we can sign back antioine wright?

he's still young, has shown he can improve his shot and plays the kind of D we need.

locker room leader too. he doesn't get enuff love around here imo

[hyper316]

Can we get AndreaFan and CalderonFan Married?

Seriously, they both are useless posters being fans of Sucking players!!!

How will their children defend their posts?

defense is not in their genes, but i'm sure they can shout insults at you from downtown

[EG73]

I don't know much about Kleiza. While reading the OP, I was thinking about Arroyo at the olympics (great game from Puerto Rico against USA). He looked like an all-star, compared to most of the USA 'dream' team. JMatt12 had the same idea (page 5). So I think it's hard to predict how he will be next year. But some posts are encouraging or realistic (I hope that the words 'realistic' and 'encouraging' are not contradictory)

You should buy some Lego and stop posting for a while. srsly.

(not srsly, of course) What is your problem with Lego ? I'm almost 40, educated (5 years after doctorate), and I bought for almost 20K$ of Lego in the last 2 years, and not only for my kids ! The dildo is not the only toy the adult can use.

[RocLaFamilia]

Can we get AndreaFan and CalderonFan Married?

Seriously, they both are useless posters being fans of Sucking players!!!

How will their children defend their posts?

defense is not in their genes, but i'm sure they can shout insults at you from downtown

well played sir!

[Uncle Hare]

I love how kleiza is playing. His only problem in his NT is that he needs some one to initiate the offense and then let him finish, because usually if he is the first option he struggles a bit, it's like he's not used to have te ball from the beginning, probably because defense has the time to set up against him. He's young and strong, he has the potential to be a perfect complementary player beside a scorer, and I think that's how BC envisioned him. Let's see if both him and bargs can step up, they could work well together.

[pass first]

speaking of grit, is there a way we can sign back antioine wright?

he's still young, has shown he can improve his shot and plays the kind of D we need.

locker room leader too. he doesn't get enuff love around here imo

Twan signed w/ Sac-town.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I haven't watched too consistently, but he seemed to be getting some good looks in the half-court. He was definitely the toughest player on the court yesterday. Rising star seems incredibly hopeful, though. I think he could be a solid starter if he improves his D IQ.

[ontnut]

This was the 1st and last time i replied to any of your idiotic and incoherent posts, now I can see why ppl make fun of you all the time.

please explain how Klieza is" another guy coming to t.o. thinking he has the go ahead to chuck away" or just accept that you constantly type **** out of your arse.

Too be honest anybody who uses the word arse, their opinion is void automatically ..

It's "to" as in "I am going to own you" or "You need to learn grammar", not "too" as in "You have bad grammar and vocabulary too."
Also, try and keep the adverb in front of the verb you are attempting to modify. Furthermore, try not to end sentence fragment with an adverb. Correct usage of the comma would be appreciated as well. Oh, and you should try to match the tenses and plurality. Just some tips, if you don't want your opinion automatically voided.

[Anatomize]

This is typical RealGM Raptors board preseason hype up for our own players.. it's part of the rollercoaster this board is when it comes to jumping on and off the bandwagon.. many of you are going to end up complaining and then taking it back and then complaining again.

Weather your expectations and you'll be much happier with the results. Look at the Eastern conference if you think we have a realistic shot anywhere above the 8th seed this season you're likely fooling yourself.

We have some nice role players now for the first time since our 47 win season. We need Bargnani to become our go-to All-star C in order for these pieces to help us become a legitimate playoff threat every year. Kleiza and Barbosa are what they are, they will refine small parts of their game moving forward and become solid veterans capable of putting up average-above average stats every night.

Not only does Bargnani need to perform at an allstar level, DeRozan and Weems have to become dangerous guard threats and capable defensive stoppers; our ability to shut down opposing perimeter guards has been lackluster for a long while and it opens up the opposing team's three point shooting and offensive rebounds since we're always helping out on penetration.

Furthermore, there is a lot of pressure laying on Amir Johnson/Ed Davis to perform at the PF spot, we're considerably weak there in comparison to the league. I like what both of them bring defensively and their high percentage shots around the bucket are what we need since we don't have a legitimate post player.

Lastly, I just can't fathom how someone is calling Kleiza "rising star" when this was pretty much his game in Denver, and no they weren't prepping him to take over the SF spot some day, they treated him much like Portland treats Rudy Fernandez. Kleiza is not going to suddenly receive the bulk of touches here, he will make his 3's and occassionally slash and score inside, that's his game and it's not going to change. I do not foresee him averaging anything above 11-12 ppg.

[Valard]

If he brings toughness/leadership, a good shooting %, and scores 12ppg... what the hell is wrong with that?

[ontnut]

If he brings toughness/leadership, a good shooting %, and scores 12ppg... what the hell is wrong with that?

I wouldn't even worry so much about Kleiza's PPG. What he brings to the table in terms of intangibles such as leadership and grittiness is worth the salary alone. We have plenty of offensive weapons, we need someone who will set a screen hard enough to knock down whomever is chasing Weems/DD around the court. Giving those guys room to operate will be more beneficial than purposefully looking to get Kleiza offensive touches.

[Anatomize]

"Rising Star"

[ziplockfresh]

Another guy coming to t.o. thinking he has the go ahead to chuck away, god dammit , the offense has to go through andrea if this team even tastes success.

You should buy some Lego and stop posting for a while. srsly.

Agreed. But CalderonFan? You should take your own advice.

[Vorticity]

Another guy coming to t.o. thinking he has the go ahead to chuck away, god dammit , the offense has to go through andrea if this team even tastes success.

You should buy some Lego and stop posting for a while. srsly.

Agreed. But CalderonFan? You should take your own advice.

-Warned via PM, itbobby007.

[itbobby007]

Everyone chill the F out in this thread. Public warning for any derailing, name calling or other violation of the TOS.....Going forward.

[roundhead0]

Linas Kleiza IS an average defender. There's nothing that supports that Kleiza is at least a big liability on the defensive end as you're suggesting.

Do you have any quotes that showed Linas was a poor defender in the 2008-2009 Playoffs thus resulting to him sitting on the bench? Because through 14 games of the '08-'09 post-season, Linas had a +/- of -6.8 per 100 possessions indicating he was no where near being a liability on defense.

30 seconds on Google is all you need. Here's a little snippet about Kleiza not getting PT in the playoffs because of his defense.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_1 ... source=pkg

And in the Nuggets pre-season previews for 2008-09, you can see analysis where it came down between Kleiza and JR Smith about who was actually willing to play more defense in order to get more playing time, clearly signalling that their defense had been a problem.

Look, Kleiza's offensive game is easily good enough to be an NBA starter at SF. His defense is the issue, and makes him a borderline starter. As a flawed player he would make a tremendous backup SF being able to provide a lot of scoring when needed off the bench, but going up against opposing starting SF's or sometimes PF's is going to be an issue.

If you want to look at it a certain way, he's sort of a Forward-version of Calderon: good offensively, bad defensively, and as a flawed player maybe better coming off the bench than starting. He's tougher though, and there is still some hope he can improve defensively.

[ontnut]

Anyhow, I think Kleiza, by season's end, will have proven that he is our team's best SF without a doubt. And by best, I don't necessarily mean highest scoring or most efficient, just that he will be the player we can trust the most to play an all around game and bring leadership/toughness and that he quite possibly will be the one finishing games (despite his so-called potential lack of defensive skill). Jack/Weems/Kleiza/Amir/Bargnani is not so soft a lineup...they have size, girth and intensity for the most part and look like a lineup who could successfully play "team D".