Official Raptors 2011 NBA Draft Thread, Part 3

Kaizen · Post #541 » by **Kaizen** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 4:40 pm

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings

Read this and say who should be ranked above North Carolina but isn't.

Kaizen · Post #542 » by **Kaizen** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 4:43 pm

Kansas at Missouri is on CBS at 12:00
Michigan at Michigan State is on CBS at 2:00
Villanova at Pittsburgh is on CBS at 4:00.
Duke at North Carolina is on CBS tonight at 8:00.
Texas at Baylor is on The Score at 9:00.

Post #543 » by **5DOM** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 5:07 pm

From karolis1221 on the draft board
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iruI_sTo6y0[/youtube]

Indeed · Post #544 » by **Indeed** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 5:37 pm

5DOM wrote:From karolis1221 on the draft board
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iruI_sTo6y0[/youtube]

He looks raw. Similar to Ajinca with slightly better defense and willingness to play in the paint. But like other big man, his reaction is slightly slower, and it takes few years to develop.

baulderdash77 · Post #545 » by **baulderdash77** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 5:52 pm

Now I see why Valanciunas fouls out in about 20 minutes.

Seriously John Henson is further along than this guy without a doubt.

karolis1221 · Post #546 » by **karolis1221** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:14 pm

baulderdash77 wrote:Now I see why Valanciunas fouls out in about 20 minutes.

Seriously John Henson is further along than this guy without a doubt.

He played 25minutes and had 3fouls is it too much? he is defensive player... im sure he will eat alive bargnani when he grows in to the man :lol:

Post #547 » by **5DOM** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:18 pm

He's playing against grown men. I don't know anything about Caja Laboral but seeing how they play in the Euroleague, it's most likely they are better than almost every team Henson's going to face this season.

BlackIce · Post #548 » by **BlackIce** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:23 pm

Valanciunas looks like a great prospect, and at 19 he has time to refine his offensive game.

dagger · Post #549 » by **dagger** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:26 pm

5DOM wrote:He's playing against grown men. I don't know anything about Caja Laboral but seeing how they play in the Euroleague, it's most likely they are better than almost every team Henson's going to face this season.

Also, Henson is scrawny and his body type looks more like Bosh's, unlikely to develop, whereas Valanciunas has a normal frame that should fill out a bit more. There is no doubt Valanciunas is rebounding and blocking shots against front line players more his size. If he were in college dunking over or rebounding against 6.8" centres, he'd be cleaning up.

And frankly if you are going to play the type of game both of them play, energy around the basket, you better be a decent free throw shooter because NBA teams will force a good offensive rebounder to the line. Henson sucks at the free throw line (49%) while Valanciunas is a 92% FT shooter in Euroleague. Also,

Henson is almost two years older than Valanciunas. Since some people give disproportionate weight to age in assessing a player's pro upside, you'd have to think that when Valanciunas is Henson's current age, he will be that much better a player than he is today.

karolis1221 · Post #550 » by **karolis1221** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:26 pm

5DOM wrote:He's playing against grown men. I don't know anything about Caja Laboral but seeing how they play in the Euroleague, it's most likely they are better than almost every team Henson's going to face this season.

Caja laboral is Ex Tau ceramica where luis scola,calderon,garbajosa,nocioni and many others played they were 2 times euroleague second place winers and many times spanish cup winners.

Post #551 » by **5DOM** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:32 pm

karolis1221 wrote:
5DOM wrote:He's playing against grown men. I don't know anything about Caja Laboral but seeing how they play in the Euroleague, it's most likely they are better than almost every team Henson's going to face this season.

Caja laboral is Ex Tau ceramica where luis scola,calderon,garbajosa,nocioni and many others played they were 2 times euroleague second place winers and many times spanish cup winners.

Damn I guess I should have suspected, but I had no idea Tau Ceramica was a company name.

Mr.Raptorsingh · Post #552 » by **Mr.Raptorsingh** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:43 pm

I'm actually liking Jan Vesely more for the Raps than Valanciunas because I think Vesely has a chance to make an immediate contribution, and impact. For example, I like how he'd become our best post player.

Rapture · Post #553 » by **Rapture** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:43 pm

Valanciunas looks like a good prospect. If we get him or Irving I'd be thrilled. I'm also digging T Jones as consolation pick if we don't have luck in the lottery.

Here you can watch Kentucky vs. UNC and T Jones vs Harrison Barnes though they aren't really matched up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rJok9ZrnYE

This draft is looking quite decent at the moment!

baulderdash77 · Post #554 » by **baulderdash77** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 6:56 pm

I don't like Valanciunas as a prospect at all. I don't see that he's very athletic, combined with a lack of strength it's not a good combination. I know that he's young but he's very raw but he plays out of control and fouls like a madman.

When he plays stronger and more athletic players they're going to be either pushing him behind the net and scoring at will or he's going to just foul out.

Besides being 7 ft tall what's his skill that's going to translate?

fredericklove · Post #555 » by **fredericklove** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 7:10 pm

CZAR85 wrote:Kansas at Missouri is on CBS at 12:00
Michigan at Michigan State is on CBS at 2:00
Villanova at Pittsburgh is on CBS at 4:00.
Duke at North Carolina is on CBS tonight at 8:00.
Texas at Baylor is on The Score at 9:00.

Duke's on CBS...is that on channel 15 or something?

Kaizen · Post #556 » by **Kaizen** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 7:23 pm

16 in North York. They are actually showing the Arizona/Oregon game at the moment.

JN · Post #557 » by JN » Sat Mar 5, 2011 7:28 pm

sunny wrote:I view them as a top 20-25 team (their additional ranking is IMO largely due to the fact that they play on the east coast - are unc - and beat kentucky at home as there only good win).

It's just they have the talent (and had last year) to be truly elite.

I agree that they may underporm in comparison to talent level (largely due to Roy Williams IMO, who is not a good coach of underclassmen). But that does not mean they are not a good team.

KenPom has them at 11 and Sagarin has them at 14 and those soruces are totally unbiased. They are ranked at 13 which seems fair.

I agree with Czar - West Coasters have a bigger bias in assessing East teams, then the other way around. They feel slighted and let it affect their judgment. I will say that they have only ever been slighted perhaps from an exposure perspective but never from a rankings or tourney seed or in/out perspective. Look at bubble teams such as ASU in 08, Stanford in 07 or Zona in 09 in the past five years that got in the tourney. It has been that way since I have posted on NCAA message boards since 2000.

Indeed · Post #558 » by **Indeed** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 10:16 pm

karolis1221 wrote:
baulderdash77 wrote:Now I see why Valanciunas fouls out in about 20 minutes.

Seriously John Henson is further along than this guy without a doubt.

He played 25minutes and had 3fouls is it too much? he is defensive player... im sure he will eat alive bargnani when he grows in to the man

You better watch your words. Valanciunas goes for the steals instead of playing his man, got pushed around, and I don't see he can read opponent for shot blocks (he just out jump people, but not based on reading opponent movement).

Rude Boy 1 · Post #559 » by **Rude Boy 1** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 10:52 pm

5DOM wrote:He's playing against grown men. I don't know anything about Caja Laboral but seeing how they play in the Euroleague, it's most likely they are better than almost every team Henson's going to face this season.

Grown men that suck...

baulderdash77 · Post #560 » by **baulderdash77** » Sat Mar 5, 2011 10:59 pm

I think in general that great players dominate every level they're in. If you're not playing in the NBA and you're not dominating then you're not going to magically become a star in the NBA.

If this guy is getting pushed around and fouling out in Eurompe, he's going to get pushed around and foul out in the NBA but worse.

I know he's productive while he's in the game, but those easy buckes won't be there for him in the NBA and guys will actually compete for the rebounds in the NBA.

Watching the clips (which is all we can do) of him, I don't see a skill or athleticism that's going to translate well into the NBA.