The Jonas Valanciunas Thread

[DarkKnight]

Love the pick. Love all the angst from everyone who hates the pick.

Chew on it, baby.

I spent a year following this kid while you were wasting your time on severely flawed NCAA trash (okay, and a few guys who thought better of entering this draft).

Mark my words. Valanciunas will be one of the two or three best players to emerge from this draft.

And I lvoe the fact that everyone was wrong on BC. He made the ballsy long-term pick, not the short-term move to ensure he wins more games next season.

He's rebuilding the proper way. BPA after BPA after BPA. It would have been easy to sell Walker or Knight, might have sold some tickets for the Teachers' pension plan. But no, he put the franchise first.

I salute you sir!

Well my friend, we are at odds. Perhaps a wager? I'm willing to bet a reasonable sum of money that Val ends up as a bust vs anyone who wants to bet that hes the best player from this draft. Any takers?

[ItsDanger]

Watching more of the video on JV, his style is more of a centre from 20 yrs ago. Not flashy but efficient. Interesting comment on the screening. Most of our guys screen so badly probably because they just want the ball themselves. As most of you should know, the screener is as important as the shooter. NONE of our guys screen well because its the dirty work.

[5DOM]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMH-0yn8nK0[/youtube]

lol

[J.Kim]

Love the pick. Love all the angst from everyone who hates the pick.

Chew on it, baby.

I spent a year following this kid while you were wasting your time on severely flawed NCAA trash (okay, and a few guys who thought better of entering this draft).

Mark my words. Valanciunas will be one of the two or three best players to emerge from this draft.

And I lvoe the fact that everyone was wrong on BC. He made the ballsy long-term pick, not the short-term move to ensure he wins more games next season.

He's rebuilding the proper way. BPA after BPA after BPA. It would have been easy to sell Walker or Knight, might have sold some tickets for the Teachers' pension plan. But no, he put the franchise first.

I salute you sir!

I like how the past 3 BPAs really do fit around each other and there's no mismatches or anything. It makes me hopeful that all these pieces can mesh together real well, especially since the top players in the next draft look like SFs and PGs.

[Kabookalu]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMH-0yn8nK0[/youtube]

We drafted someone who doesn't even know how to speak.

(okay okay I'll cut him some slack here, he probably misunderstood what was being asked of him and thought questions were going to come flying at him immediately).

[Pseudonym]

Love the pick. I thought that the Cavs would take him for sure, so I was set on Biyombo. Knight and Walker aren't going to be that much then a starting Bayless (and Bayless' and Knight' stats in college very similar...but Bayless' were noticably better).

He a 7 foot Amir Johnson, I don't understand the hate.

[disoblige]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMH-0yn8nK0[/youtube]

hahaha

[wfnshow316]

Great pick IMO - Best upside in the draft - rumors that Spurs where trying to trade up for him - that alone eases my mind. I like this tweet from Jonathon Givony of draftEXpress even more:

"Valanciunas' buyout, if he chooses to sign it, leaves his buyout at 2.5 million dollars on the sliding scale at this pick. He can cover it."

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/#ixzz1Q9sD4hqQ
http://www.draftexpress.com

[whoknows]

The usual suspects who hate everything Euro are out in force tonight...big surprise, the only reason you guys are here is your hate agenda.

BC has balls and brains, wish the same for some of you.
No question the best player available.
Luckily for Raps, his contract prevented him from going in top 3.

[prototype]

Poor guy. He seems so disconnected with the questions but I would be too. He's just overwhelmed and nervous.

[K1NG]

Love the pick. Love all the angst from everyone who hates the pick.

Chew on it, baby.

I spent a year following this kid while you were wasting your time on severely flawed NCAA trash (okay, and a few guys who thought better of entering this draft).

Mark my words. Valanciunas will be one of the two or three best players to emerge from this draft.

And I lvoe the fact that everyone was wrong on BC. He made the ballsy long-term pick, not the short-term move to ensure he wins more games next season.

He's rebuilding the proper way. BPA after BPA after BPA. It would have been easy to sell Walker or Knight, might have sold some tickets for the Teachers' pension plan. But no, he put the franchise first.

I salute you sir!

[Schad]

And I lvoe the fact that everyone was wrong on BC. He made the ballsy long-term pick, not the short-term move to ensure he wins more games next season.

He's rebuilding the proper way. BPA after BPA after BPA. It would have been easy to sell Walker or Knight, might have sold some tickets for the Teachers' pension plan. But no, he put the franchise first.

I salute you sir!

Absolutely agree*. I've bashed BC quite a bit, and I have to admit that I am still fairly anxious about whether the rebuild will hold if MLSE gets scared about empty seats. But right now, he is absolutely doing the right thing and should be commended for it...and that holds even if DeRozan and Davis and Valanciunas all failed. If we hold the line for one more year, get a swingman with a high pick in next year's draft, we'll be executing the first real rebuild of the franchise's history, and we'll be executing it well.





*Which probably marks the first time that dagger and I have agreed on anything that wasn't related to the cap in, say, three years.

[ItsDanger]

Do people here recall that Chandler was drafted SECOND overall? So if he is similar to him, its not that bad. I like the fact that this might help us tank again for a deeper '12 draft.

[clockwork]

nbadraft.net

Jonas Valanciunas - NBA Comparison: Spencer Hawes/Primoz Brezic

yikes

DraftExpress:

Jonas Valanciunas
Best Case: Andris Biedrins Meets Joakim Noah
Worst Case: Omer Asik

Since Givony is more in tune to the European game, I'd honestly take his word on the player comparisons.

[Spicy P]

Love the pick. Love all the angst from everyone who hates the pick.

Chew on it, baby.

I spent a year following this kid while you were wasting your time on severely flawed NCAA trash (okay, and a few guys who thought better of entering this draft).

Mark my words. Valanciunas will be one of the two or three best players to emerge from this draft.

And I lvoe the fact that everyone was wrong on BC. He made the ballsy long-term pick, not the short-term move to ensure he wins more games next season.

He's rebuilding the proper way. BPA after BPA after BPA. It would have been easy to sell Walker or Knight, might have sold some tickets for the Teachers' pension plan. But no, he put the franchise first.

I salute you sir!

Well said

[Kabookalu]

Do people here recall that Chandler was drafted SECOND overall? So if he is similar to him, its not that bad. I like the fact that this might help us tank again for a deeper '12 draft.

Chandler was a huge risk back then because he was immensely raw coming straight out of high school and would take years to develop. It took years to develop him as a 10/10/2 type player.

[clockwork]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMH-0yn8nK0[/youtube]

hahaha

Man, if I saw the first paycheck he's going to be receiving, I wouldn't be laughing. I'd crying, out of spite that I'm not a 7 footer.

[dagger]

And I lvoe the fact that everyone was wrong on BC. He made the ballsy long-term pick, not the short-term move to ensure he wins more games next season.

He's rebuilding the proper way. BPA after BPA after BPA. It would have been easy to sell Walker or Knight, might have sold some tickets for the Teachers' pension plan. But no, he put the franchise first.

I salute you sir!

Absolutely agree*. I've bashed BC quite a bit, and I have to admit that I am still fairly anxious about whether the rebuild will hold if MLSE gets scared about empty seats. But right now, he is absolutely doing the right thing and should be commended for it...and that holds even if DeRozan and Davis and Valanciunas all failed. If we hold the line for one more year, get a swingman with a high pick in next year's draft, we'll be executing the first real rebuild of the franchise's history, and we'll be executing it well.





*Which probably marks the first time that dagger and I have agreed on anything that wasn't related to the cap in, say, three years.

And probably the last. But we find some areas of agreement on the Jays' board so long as you agree that Rogers is the demon incarnate.

[Reg00]

He is going to have to work his ass off to prove to me he was worth a top 5 pick for the Raps.

Limited offensive skill set. Get's most of his offense off curls to the basket and tip ins. Sounds a lot like Amir frigging Johnson! The guy BC just gave a good contract too and now just drafted his replacement just over a season later. Guy is thiiiin as a rail. Defensively, he'll get muscled in the post by all the tweener PF/C types in the league. Dudes built like Dejuan Blair love thin PF/C's with "upside" playing the in League cause they know they'll always earn their paycheck against them.

My issue with this pick, and BB for that matter, is that i am more happy with the young core of Ed, Amir, Bargnani then I was with our Point guard/SF rotation. I am not drinking the Bayless Koolaid right now at all. I've also been waiting three years for Jose to regain form. This is a guards league and now I get to watch another young big man develop his game as a Raptor, and also watch the losses build as he starts getting in in year three(maybe).

I know asking too much from this draft was a bad idea, but loading up on a position that BC looked to have filled via draft and Free agency (Ed and Amir respectively) last year, by his own hand mind you, seems to me a redundant act. He BC a man who loses faith in his decisions so easily?

Perimeter defense, ball handling, penetration from the guard spot, and shooting. In that order was I hoping the draft would go.

BPA? BPA is just a platitude. He certainly doesn't have all-star written all over him and those using the BPA defense would be silly to suggest otherwise. You draft a project PC/C at the 5 spot.

But who knows, he's 19. Maybe that hook shot I've read about (never seen in any video of him, and you know it would be in there cause of how good it would make him look) gets going in his second/third year. Maybe that jumper which I also haven't seen is there. And maybe he gets 20 pounds heavier in the year or so of waiting that we'll have until we see him.

but whatever happens, Go Raptors!

[C Court]

There was a thread earlier today which included some mods wondering why Bryan didn't have Val in his wheelhouse, particularly because teams with excellent scouting staffs (like San Antonio) were fighting to get the 5th pick so they could draft Jonas.

Like I said in that thread, Val was on Bryan's short list - but he wasn't sure that he would get past Cleveland at #4. Guess what? Once again Toronto had a solid player fall into their laps.