The Jonas Valanciunas Thread

J Dilla · Post #1441 » by **J Dilla** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:00 pm

tecumseh18 wrote:I say this as a fan of the pick, but how tall is Val, really? Judging him against known knowns like BC and Stern, he's not that impressive. More like Ed Davis height.

Measurements are 6'11, I think. Some sites I read he was 7'0

LithuanianOne · Post #1442 » by **LithuanianOne** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:07 pm

Visceral wrote:
karolis1221 wrote:Jonas valanciunas just said on TV in Lithuania : Big V can Play D

Vid please!

lol

There's a video but it's completely in lithuanian language except that one phrase. Someone asked him if he got a nickname already since his name is so hard to pronounce and he answered that it might be Big V and that he already saw some Canadian newspaper that had a headline " Big V can play D". Something like that.

J-Roc wrote:Will our board now get a bunch more Lithuanian fans, or did we already have a bunch from Kleiza?

And, for the Lithuanian guys......is Linas Kleiza considered a good player? Are you more excited about Jonas than you ever were with Linas?

The only reason I time from time checked Raptors boards is because you can provide the lulz. Couldn't care less about Kleiza. Never liked his attitude and character, he usually pisses me off. Atleast he plays for our national team and is starting to play better so I just might change my opinion on him. But the majority of Lithuanian fans like him and they consider him a good player. He actually is a good basketball player I have no idea why he had such a horrible season playing for your team. He's telling that he had nagging injuries so maybe that ?
Anyways because of Valanciunas I'll be visiting your board regularly to give some information about him. I like him way more than Kleiza. Much much more.

mcray · Post #1443 » by **mcray** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:48 pm

J-Roc wrote:Will our board now get a bunch more Lithuanian fans, or did we already have a bunch from Kleiza?

And, for the Lithuanian guys......is Linas Kleiza considered a good player? Are you more excited about Jonas than you ever were with Linas?

Well he wasn't really anything special when he was young which is why he wasn't that popular. He kind of started gaining popularity after he scored 41 points with Denver Nuggets in one game. After he left Denver he had a great season in Euroleague and yea he was just getting more popular with time. I think I seen every game when Linas played for Toronto so I have been following raptors for some time.

xprt · Post #1444 » by **xprt** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:12 pm

mcray wrote:
J-Roc wrote:Will our board now get a bunch more Lithuanian fans, or did we already have a bunch from Kleiza?

And, for the Lithuanian guys......is Linas Kleiza considered a good player? Are you more excited about Jonas than you ever were with Linas?

Well he wasn't really anything special when he was young which is why he wasn't that popular. He kind of started gaining popularity after he scored 41 points with Denver Nuggets in one game. After he left Denver he had a great season in Euroleague and yea he was just getting more popular with time. I think I seen every game when Linas played for Toronto so I have been following raptors for some time.

Are you kidding me, nothing special young and not popular? He was rolling like champ at u19 world championship in 03 averaged something like 29 pts on ~60% and led team to silver...

mcray · Post #1445 » by **mcray** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:14 pm

lol I didn't even new that he was playing there xD

tecumseh18 · Post #1446 » by **tecumseh18** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:40 pm

LithuanianOne wrote:The only reason I time from time checked Raptors boards is because you can provide the lulz. Couldn't care less about Kleiza. Never liked his attitude and character, he usually pisses me off.

I love this post.

rmnts · Post #1447 » by **rmnts** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:42 pm

from my perspective I was exited about Kleiza playing in NBA after world championship. Yes he had great euroleague season but meh... National team is above all that's why majority hates Žydrūnas Ilgauskas 'cause he never played for national team. Jonas and Donatas will be interesting to watch how they adapt to NBA. Raptors and Rockets now have a bunch more fans

Yoga · Post #1448 » by **Yoga** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:57 pm

rmnts wrote:from my perspective I was exited about Kleiza playing in NBA after world championship. Yes he had great euroleague season but meh... National team is above all that's why majority hates Žydrūnas Ilgauskas 'cause he never played for national team. Jonas and Donatas will be interesting to watch how they adapt to NBA. Raptors and Rockets now have a bunch more fans

Lithuania's NT has a pretty decent frontcourt: SF-Kleiza PF-Donatas C-Jonas V

Not bad for your country, considering the population is what 3 or 4 million?

karolis1221 · Post #1449 » by **karolis1221** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:21 pm

Yoga wrote:
rmnts wrote:from my perspective I was exited about Kleiza playing in NBA after world championship. Yes he had great euroleague season but meh... National team is above all that's why majority hates Žydrūnas Ilgauskas 'cause he never played for national team. Jonas and Donatas will be interesting to watch how they adapt to NBA. Raptors and Rockets now have a bunch more fans

Lithuania's NT has a pretty decent frontcourt: SF-Kleiza PF-Donatas C-Jonas V

Not bad for your country, considering the population is what 3 or 4 million?

We are like Uruguay at football

redred9 · Post #1450 » by **redred9** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:56 pm

mcray wrote:
Lithuania vs Australia it's a friendly game nothing special.

woah! I'm down for that. Pls pls post a link when it's time.

Dr Positivity · Post #1451 » by **Dr Positivity** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:00 pm

So who else is Toronto FCing it this summer. Never watched a game of theirs before but summer sports suck so it's a good way to fill the time. Anybody have the link for their biggest message board?

Post #1452 » by **LittleOzzy** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:01 pm

Dr Mufasa wrote:So who else is Toronto FCing it this summer. Never watched a game of theirs before but summer sports suck so it's a good way to fill the time. Anybody have the link for their biggest message board?

viewforum.php?f=266

Come check out the MLS thread.

highness · Post #1453 » by **highness** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:28 pm

Yo from what I heard this kid plays with heart and passion and is pretty much the anti-bargnani. Is that true?

Post #1454 » by **Undefeated** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:30 pm

highness wrote:Yo from what I heard this kid plays with heart and passion and is pretty much the anti-bargnani. Is that true?

Yessir.

ballislife · Post #1455 » by **ballislife** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:46 pm

I hate how people automatically assume that bc he's a Euro, he's going to be soft. He's not soft at all. He's weak right now, but he WILL get stronger.

Jonas Valanciunas will be better than Joakim Noah... book it. He has the same motor, same rebounding potential and better offensive ability (especially hitting a high % of his FT).

highness · Post #1456 » by **highness** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:51 pm

ballislife wrote:I hate how people automatically assume that bc he's a Euro, he's going to be soft. He's not soft at all. He's weak right now, but he WILL get stronger.

Jonas Valanciunas will be better than Joakim Noah... book it. He has the same motor, same rebounding potential and better offensive ability (especially hitting a high % of his FT).

Does he really have the same motor as Noah? That's some high expectations there...

Post #1457 » by **5DOM** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:55 pm

He does have great top speed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYAiv2EOsx8&feature=related[/youtube]

See 6:25. That's a 7 footer folks!

HSOB SIRHC · Post #1458 » by **HSOB SIRHC** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 11:01 pm

Uh oh, our guy is injury prone!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_zprOXjs1E&feature=related[/youtube]

ThemCrookedRefs · Post #1459 » by **ThemCrookedRefs** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 11:16 pm

^^5DOM, that is the best highlight video of Jonas that I've seen so far. Thanks, and yes that part in the video is pretty impressive.

Volcano · Post #1460 » by **Volcano** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 11:22 pm

highness wrote:
ballislife wrote:I hate how people automatically assume that bc he's a Euro, he's going to be soft. He's not soft at all. He's weak right now, but he WILL get stronger.

Jonas Valanciunas will be better than Joakim Noah... book it. He has the same motor, same rebounding potential and better offensive ability (especially hitting a high % of his FT).

Does he really have the same motor as Noah? That's some high expectations there...

From what I've seen, the guy never stops moving. He's either looking to set a screen or trying to get in the paint. I've seen him set ~5 screens in a row in 10 seconds on and off ball on one possession. His screens aren't as effective as I'd like though.

Are you happy with the Raptors selection 5th overall?