The Jonas Valanciunas Thread

[TorontoRapture]

[Volcano]

I was talking about the people who don't like the pick because of the things that he doesn't bring to the table now/yet, I however, think it's a great pick for our future.

I think most of those guys are just hating blindly (because he's euro or they liked someone else better..etc.) and don't actually know anything about his game.

The way I saw it, it was like:
Jonas - medium risk, high potential
Biyombo - high risk, high potential
Knight - medium risk, low-medium potential
Kemba - low risk, low potential

(didn't mean to berate you before btw, if that's what it sounded like)

[HSOB SIRHC]

Seems like Jose is a fan of JV

@josemcalderon8 jose manuel calderon
Welcome Valenciaunas! New teammate! Great player

@josemcalderon8 jose manuel calderon
Bienvenido Valenciaunas! Nueva adquisicion para el equipo. Buen jugador

@josemcalderon8 jose manuel calderon
Valanciunas!!!!

and then there's these 2

@josemcalderon8 jose manuel calderon
@DeMar_DeRozan @Sonny13 See you guys in a few days!!!! are you ready?

@josemcalderon8 jose manuel calderon
Mañana empieza el Campus de basket en Caceres. Una semana, 250 niños, con @DeMar_DeRozan y con @Sonny13

[S.W.A.N]

and being european doesn't make you a bad player, it's either your a bad player, or your good doesn't matter where your from

I like that idea and think it's a very open-minded attitude. It's just statistically true. A grossly disproportionate percentage of the more dropout players in the NBA are African American and come from the hood. And I'm not saying that this should be someone's only consideration for drafting a guy, that would be racist and stupid. But let's not pretend this isn't the predominant pattern.

fixed for accuracy.

[Undefeated]

For anyone interested, I decided to breakdown Valanciunas' game in the two videos bboyskinnylegs uploaded on youtube. Big ups to bboyskinnylegs for uploading these videos ! Basically, it's the same with what we've been hearing about Val from the experts really, though there are a few tidbits in my breakdown that he showed some signs of what we've been looking at him to improve such as back to the basket game and defensive leadership...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCEK9ekchcM[/youtube]

2:37 to 2:52 - Sets off-ball screen, frees up teammate at the top of the key. Khalid El-Amin (#42) passes off to Milko Bjelica (#11). El-Amin goes through a Valanciunas screen. Good fundamental screen from Valanciunas; wide stance and absorbs the contact as a result El-Amin's man is now chasing him. Again, a good off the ball screen from Val to free his teammate.
Total of 4 screens

2:56 - Runs down the loose ball, manages to keep the ball alive, although ends up in opponent's hand. Regardless, good hustle.

3:11 - Sets screen for El-Amin, but El-Amin waives off the screen. Goes towards the restricted area to set an off-ball screen creating a wrap around for Gecevicius (#13). Teammate misses lay-up and fights for the missed shot attempt though step out of bounds when he got his hands on the basketball. Once again doesn't give up on the play.
Total of 3 screens

5:27 - Gives a screen at the top of the three-point line and immediately rolls. Sees the clear path down the lane, manages to roll quickly before defenders attempt to close out the gap. Late rotation from FCB which results in an easy dunk for Valanciunas. Displays the ability to read the defense and scores easily.

6:28 - Rytas plays a zone defense on this defensive possession. Valanciunas mans the paint beneath the basket. Shifts to the open man on the far left corner taking away the baseline drive/cut. Valanciunas' man gives up the ball who intended to either drive or cut, but Val closes out the lane. Excellent defensive possession for Rytas forcing FCB into a contested three-point shot which misses. Valanciunas ends up with the defensive rebound.

6:48 - Pick-and-Roll again. Made the right decision to roll, and had hands up in the air in case there was a pass. Bjelica resets the play passing off to Jasikevicius. Valanciunas slips the screen a bit too early which result in his teammate being doubled. Of course, his teammates throws up a bad pass that is too low that was intended for Val.

7:09 - Here there is a pick-and-roll play with Fran Vazquez setting a screen. Valanciunas notices that Vazquez is going to set a screen, so he steps out the paint and decides to cut off penetration before it happens. You can also see that he's directing his teammate to pick up the man in the far left corner when he decides to step out showing defensive vocal leadership. Being able to notice that Vazquez sets a screen, FCB isn't able to penetrate because Valanciunas is one step ahead of their offensive play. The drive is cut off thus FCB swings the ball back to the top of the three-point line resulting in a contested three-point shot that misses. Excellent defensive possession for Rytas with Valanciunas being the man directing the defensive play.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARcYLabrJV8[/youtube]

0:33 - In this possession, you'll see a pick-and-roll with Vazquez setting the screen. Vazquez being Valanciunas' man on defense, he'll have to hedge on this play which he does. There looks to be a bit of miscommunication on defense with Jasikevicius who goes under the screen, but doesn't recover back onto his man forcing a breakdown here. Of course there being a mismatch now, Vazquez spins off and receives the entry pass off of Rubio (?). Around 0:35, there's a huge chunk of space that perhaps Vazquez could attack. Luckily, Valanciunas catches up with Vazquez though he couldn't get an arm up to contest the shot, so hands down man down. Good attempted recovery from Val to say the least.

0:58 - Valanciunas receives the entry pass. Teammates clear out, and an isolation is on its way. Catches the ball high which is good so far. Backs down his man with two dribbles and flicks up a sweeping-esque shot. Air balls the shot, though follows up his miss by trying to keep the ball inbound. 24-second shot clock violation. Personally, I'd say that was a good post-up sequence for Val, though it was better defense from his man. Maybe Val could've give a pump fake to give himself some room instead of forcing a well defended shot?

1:26 - Once again, FCB runs a pick-and-roll with Vazquez. Val's teammate goes over the screen resulting Val between the ball-handler (Lakovic) and the screener (Vazquez). Val switches onto the ball carrier and expects someone to cover Vazquez as he rolls. The smart thing for FCB to do is give the pass to Vazquez since no one on Rytas steps up to cut off the lane, and that's exactly what they do. 1:27 you can see a glimpse of Val pointing his teammate to step up which no one does so he takes the initiative to chase Vazquez and contests the shot as best as he could. At this point, I can't really blame Val for giving an easy finger roll to Vazquez because he did the"right" thing initially on the pick-and-roll defense, but none of his teammates stepped outside to close out.

1:39 - Easy deux for Valanciunas off the pick-and-roll.

Conclusion: Overall, Valanciunas seems to be a very smart offensive and defensive player. I think everyone knows at this point that he operates solely on the pick-and-roll as a source of his scoring which he demonstrated numerous times in these two clips. Like Volcano had said earlier, he's ALWAYS moving offensively and setting TONS of on and off the ball screens. Additionally, he showed some defensive leadership by orchestrating where his teammates should be rotating. That right there is the biggest trait the Raptors have lacked the last several years without a vocal defensive anchor. He'll certainly have trouble his first few years with the Raptors being vocal due to the language barrier, but I like what I see from him.

[Satoransky]

5:27 - Gives a screen at the top of the three-point line and immediately rolls. Sees the clear path down the lane, manages to roll quickly before defenders attempt to close out the gap. Late rotation from FCB which results in an easy dunk for Valanciunas. Displays the ability to read the defense and scores easily.

Man, that was foul on offense. This match was beginning of the season and i can say was the worst in the entire season. If you liked that, look this
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iruI_sTo6y0[/youtube]

[karolis1221]

5:27 - Gives a screen at the top of the three-point line and immediately rolls. Sees the clear path down the lane, manages to roll quickly before defenders attempt to close out the gap. Late rotation from FCB which results in an easy dunk for Valanciunas. Displays the ability to read the defense and scores easily.

Man, that was foul on offense. This match was beginning of the season and i can say was the worst in the entire season. If you liked that, look this
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iruI_sTo6y0[/youtube]

Did Pape Sou played for Raptors?

[raps91]

There's a Pape Sow and Pape Sy so I can imagine there being another Pape Sou

[Double Helix]

Just for some frame of reference:

Pau at age 19
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE1iT2qOX4E[/youtube]
Pau at age 20
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCwVkaDR2AA&feature=related[/youtube]

Once they put him on a strength and conditioning program he should be fine.

[Double Helix]

A couple shorts clips of Biedrins around age 20.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D74hlHY6h54[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVEV0p-5C-o&feature=related[/youtube]