Official Raptors 2011 NBA Draft Thread, Part 7

[pspot]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvko4VUYuKQ#t=00m32s[/youtube]

Skip to the 32 second mark

Skip to 1:42, if he measures around 6' 8" count him out of contention

[Hassassin]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvko4VUYuKQ#t=00m32s[/youtube]

Skip to the 32 second mark

Skip to 1:42, if he measures around 6' 8" count him out of contention

Definitely.

[TheRealDeal]

T-Jones is almost 6'9" and Kanter has at least 2 inches on him in that video.

[Truthrising]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvko4VUYuKQ#t=00m32s[/youtube]

Skip to the 32 second mark

Skip to 1:42, if he measures around 6' 8" count him out of contention

http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-bas ... l-mtt.html



I'm pretty positive he's at least 6'11, take a look a Eloy Vargas who's measured at 6'11 and Josh Harrelson at 6'10 and he looks taller than both of these players

[pspot]

I'm pretty positive he's at least 6'11, take a look a Eloy Vargas who's measured at 6'11 and Josh Harrelson at 6'10 and he looks taller than both of these players

Jones 6' 8, Vargas 6' 9, Kanter 6' 10

I wouldn't be surprised if Kanter ends up being a 6'9' wo shoes 6 10.5 with type measurements

[God Squad]

To be honest, any true center rotating with Amir/Ed would be good at this point. This team really lacks interior presence. Ajinca and Alabi would have looked decent if they had regular playing time. That's how bad it is.

The only way to make those two look good is with sliders way up.

LOL 2k!!!

[Truthrising]

I'm pretty positive he's at least 6'11, take a look a Eloy Vargas who's measured at 6'11 and Josh Harrelson at 6'10 and he looks taller than both of these players

Jones 6' 8, Vargas 6' 9, Kanter 6' 10

I wouldn't be surprised if Kanter ends up being a 6'9' wo shoes 6 10.5 with type measurements

I've said this before in the Kanter thread, he was last measured at 6'11 and no one really pays attention to measurements w/o shoes.

[xprt]

Valanciunas just had 23 pts ( 9/10 fg) 8 rebs ( 6 off) in 22 mins at his national league semifinals.

[dagger]

NBAdraft.net isn't as bad as some of think but they do do some wierd things at times. Like moving Valanciunas last week to the 2012 mock draft, only to have him enter the 2011 draft officially a few days later. Clearly, they weren't very plugged in. I accept the criticism that DraftExpress sometimes goes overboard on certain players they "discovered" first, before Chad Ford or other draft sites, but Jonathan gets a lot of the small stuff right, mainly because he goes overseas and makes contacts. For NBAdraft, it's not very credible to move a top 10 pick into another draft just days before he declares for this one.

I'd like to know which ill-informed general manager or scout misled them on that one. It wasn't Val's agent, because he had been telling "LithuaniaBasketball.com" for weeks that he'd like enter his client this year. And no excuses, NBAdraft, Lithuaniabasketball.com is an English site (and a very good one).

[Blazing_royale]

Valanciunas just had 23 pts ( 9/10 fg) 8 rebs ( 6 off) in 22 mins at his national league semifinals.

some bargnani-esque rebounding there

[Alfred]

Valanciunas just had 23 pts ( 9/10 fg) 8 rebs ( 6 off) in 22 mins at his national league semifinals.

some bargnani-esque rebounding there

Haha, I hope you're being facetious here. That's like 11 rebounds per 36 minutes.

[Alfred]

NBAdraft.net isn't as bad as some of think but they do do some wierd things at times. Like moving Valanciunas last week to the 2012 mock draft, only to have him enter the 2011 draft officially a few days later. Clearly, they weren't very plugged in. I accept the criticism that DraftExpress sometimes goes overboard on certain players they "discovered" first, before Chad Ford or other draft sites, but Jonathan gets a lot of the small stuff right, mainly because he goes overseas and makes contacts. For NBAdraft, it's not very credible to move a top 10 pick into another draft just days before he declares for this one.

I'd like to know which ill-informed general manager or scout misled them on that one. It wasn't Val's agent, because he had been telling "LithuaniaBasketball.com" for weeks that he'd like enter his client this year. And no excuses, NBAdraft, Lithuaniabasketball.com is an English site (and a very good one).

I've always been suspicious of NBADraft.net's reports. The whole rankings out of 10 thing they do always seems flawed in retrospect, and they always have some very bizarre rankings afterwards. Draftexpress always seems to have a finger on the pulse of what scouts are thinking, and they do a lot of the footwork themselves.

[TheRealDeal]

NBAdraft.net isn't as bad as some of think but they do do some wierd things at times. Like moving Valanciunas last week to the 2012 mock draft, only to have him enter the 2011 draft officially a few days later. Clearly, they weren't very plugged in. I accept the criticism that DraftExpress sometimes goes overboard on certain players they "discovered" first, before Chad Ford or other draft sites, but Jonathan gets a lot of the small stuff right, mainly because he goes overseas and makes contacts. For NBAdraft, it's not very credible to move a top 10 pick into another draft just days before he declares for this one.

I'd like to know which ill-informed general manager or scout misled them on that one. It wasn't Val's agent, because he had been telling "LithuaniaBasketball.com" for weeks that he'd like enter his client this year. And no excuses, NBAdraft, Lithuaniabasketball.com is an English site (and a very good one).

Is there any reason Val wouldn't declare this year? It's not like he has the NCAA to worry about. His stock remains high and this is an incredibly weak draft. Is NBADraft.net is getting lazy? They haven't seemed sure on where to place him all year so maybe they took him out to avoid looking bad until they figure him out. Val is pretty much a consensus top-10, likely top-5 at this point. Yet it doesn't seem like NBADraft.net is aware.

[bboyskinnylegs]

^^ he'll certainly declare, the question is whether he comes over now or not.

[dagger]

Is there any reason Val wouldn't declare this year? It's not like he has the NCAA to worry about. His stock remains high and this is an incredibly weak draft. Is NBADraft.net is getting lazy? They haven't seemed sure on where to place him all year so maybe they took him out to avoid looking bad until they figure him out. Val is pretty much a consensus top-10, likely top-5 at this point. Yet it doesn't seem like NBADraft.net is aware.

I can't speak for them. Chad Ford has him listed #4 behind Irving, Williams and Kanter in his top 100 list, just updated today. DX has him third in its mock. Everyone pretty much knows he would likely stay at least one more year in Europe. So I don't know what the issue is. He's an elite prospect. Whether he's right for us at #3 or #4 versus someone else, I can't say, but he belongs in the elite conversation. NBA execs keep streaming overseas to watch him. Shareef Abdur-rahim of the Kings was there today. He's not building a rep based on one game like Bismack, but on a significant body of work.

Like today.

http://www.lithuaniabasketball.com/news ... dupis.html

And now his team, Rytas, goes up against Zalgiris for the Lithuanian League title. Both are Euroleague teams, so this is a pretty good test for Jonas. Again, a chance to play more quality games in a high pressure situation. These two teams are arch rivals. The buildings will be as loud/nasty as anything you can get over here. There should be a lot of NBA brass over there for the finals. Hopeful, Guy Silvestri lets one of our execs spend the money to go there for one final look (I presume we have seen Valanciunas many times).

[dagger]

^^ he'll certainly declare, the question is whether he comes over now or not.

He won't come this year. And NBA teams know this and will factor it into their decision making for the draft. But his heart is set on the NBA, so I expect he will make it over for 2012-13 for whomever drafts him in June. A Lithuanian team isn't going to throw silly money at him like Fran Vasquez got to stay in Spain. If he's BPA when our number comes up, I'd take him and be happy to leave him overseas for a year. However, BC and Co. do have to do their due diligence on his buyout situation.

[SkywalkerAC]

looks like Val's body is starting to fill out. still needs to hit the weight room but he's not the stick we see in some of the videos.

[Econgrad]

Valanciunas just had 23 pts ( 9/10 fg) 8 rebs ( 6 off) in 22 mins at his national league semifinals.

some bargnani-esque rebounding there

Green font? 8 rebs in 22 minutes is pretty freakin impressive.

[God Squad]

I'm still not sure why people are hating on Val. When I see his numbers.. I see a very good player. Add the fact that he's young and has elite length. Seems perfect. Can't wait until the lottery. Then we can finally figure out were we draft.

[TheRealDeal]

^^ he'll certainly declare, the question is whether he comes over now or not.

As Dagger has mentioned multiple times, I'd be happy with Val sticking around in Europe for a year or two. He wouldn't get much PT here behind Andrea, Amir, Ed and w/e vet big that we'll likely bring in. Jonas can spend him formative (pro) years at home in Lithuania where he'll gain confidence and learn how to dominate. We also don't have to pay him for a year or two and he won't help us win any games during a 2012 tanking season. Jonas would still be on his rookie contract during the beginning of DeMar & Ed's prime years.

Lithuanian big men have a good track record (Sabonis, Ilgauskas) and the country is obsessed with basketball. They work very hard (former USSR) and take pride in their basketball. Andrea didn't have to do much to become the best big man in Italian history but Jonas will have to work his ass off to come close to Sabonis. I watched a documentary on Lithuanian bball that was pretty incredible. It's pretty amazing to see how big of a role sports can play on social issues. Here's the trailer:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mc-USW5BSc[/youtube]

Throw in the huge Lithuanian population in Toronto and Jonny Valentine seems like a good fit. JV would be happy here while guys like Kemba Walker would likely bolt the first chance they get.