Jonas Valanciunas 11/12 Season Thread III

[raptor21_85]

Jonas 20 pt 9 rebs 2 assists 2 blocks 3 to's in 27 minutes

thanks!! Grande Jonas!

[lothy]

isn't khimki supposed to be the better team?

Without Planicic they aren't.

Event without him they are far better team than Rytas. But got to give Jonas team major props - they played almost a perfect game and definitely deserved the win.

Last time I checked Rytas advanced to semifinals while Chimki didn't.

[SkywalkerAC]

ladies and gentleman, I think we may have a true freak on our hands.

[Mefisto]

Mufasa, 10.4.

[LithuanianOne]

/quote]
Without Planicic they aren't.

Event without him they are far better team than Rytas. But got to give Jonas team major props - they played almost a perfect game and definitely deserved the win.

Last time I checked Rytas advanced to semifinals while Chimki didn't.

Hey the Cavaliers beat the Knicks yesterday.

[DG88]

He pulled that stat line in just 27 minutes. Man I can't wait to see him produce for the Raptors next year.

[Los Manos]

So onto CSKA Moscow in the semis.

[Laure]

Definetely more than 9 rebounds.

[xprt]

To bad they got to play CSKA before finals no chance to win.

[dagger]

So onto CSKA Moscow in the semis.

That's not going to be as pretty.

[DG88]

So onto CSKA Moscow in the semis.

Ya I doubt they beat CSKA might be a sweep

[dagger]

He pulled that stat line in just 27 minutes. Man I can't wait to see him produce for the Raptors next year.

He's still going to be a rookie, and rookies need to learn. A lot depends on who plays PG for us next year, because if they can't run a good pick and roll or are afraid of making entry passes into the post, or are just plain chuckers, we will spend an entire year complaining about underusing Jonas.

That's the key to next season - maximizing his usage, especially in terms of guards setting him up. That's the one reason Jose, to a lot of people's chagrin, might be the starter here next season. Alternatively, someone like Andrea who can set up cutters very nicely might find himself playing point forward at times to set up JV.

[Regulio]

Jonas made huge progress this year. let me spell it for you: H-U-G-E

[dagger]

Jonas made huge progress this year. let me spell it for you: H-U-G-E

It's not so much his numbers as to what he has added over the course of the season: post moves left and right, mid-range shooting, even a short-range fadeaway... These are not things he makes a lot of use of, but you have to believe that if he can do them, these are all attributes more suited to the NBA game where big men with a semblance of offence are encouraged to post up, spread the court with shooting, etc.

[DG88]

He pulled that stat line in just 27 minutes. Man I can't wait to see him produce for the Raptors next year.

He's still going to be a rookie, and rookies need to learn. A lot depends on who plays PG for us next year, because if they can't run a good pick and roll or are afraid of making entry passes into the post, or are just plain chuckers, we will spend an entire year complaining about underusing Jonas.

That's the key to next season - maximizing his usage, especially in terms of guards setting him up. That's the one reason Jose, to a lot of people's chagrin, might be the starter here next season. Alternatively, someone like Andrea who can set up cutters very nicely might find himself playing point forward at times to set up JV.

I know he's going to be a rookie and will have an adjustment period in the NBA that's completely understandable. I'm not looking at him putting up 20/10 numbers to start his NBA career, but something around the lines of 9-12ppg 7reb 1 assist 1 block would be pretty good for a rookie centre. You're right in saying that we might keep Jose since he can maximize the usage of the pick and roll, which is Jonas's biggest strength, unless we do find a PG who can use the pick and roll well. We do have options in that regard. BC is still looking for a PG of the future, he might find it in the draft (Lillard, Marshall) or in free agency (Nash, Dragic). We'll see what happens this offseason.

[dagger]

He pulled that stat line in just 27 minutes. Man I can't wait to see him produce for the Raptors next year.

He's still going to be a rookie, and rookies need to learn. A lot depends on who plays PG for us next year, because if they can't run a good pick and roll or are afraid of making entry passes into the post, or are just plain chuckers, we will spend an entire year complaining about underusing Jonas.

That's the key to next season - maximizing his usage, especially in terms of guards setting him up. That's the one reason Jose, to a lot of people's chagrin, might be the starter here next season. Alternatively, someone like Andrea who can set up cutters very nicely might find himself playing point forward at times to set up JV.

BC is still looking for a PG of the future, he might find it in the draft (Lillard, Marshall) or in free agency (Nash, Dragic). We'll see what happens this offseason.

That's one reason I'm not pulling my hair out like some here about the precise number of lottery balls we have because a couple of the guys we might get drafting 7-9, like Marshall or Lillard, have the potential to fit well with the kind of frontcourt we are going to have. At this point, I hope for three more losses to end the season, but I am not going to sweat the outcome.

[Regulio]

It's not so much his numbers as to what he has added over the course of the season: post moves left and right, mid-range shooting, even a short-range fadeaway... These are not things he makes a lot of use of, but you have to believe that if he can do them, these are all attributes more suited to the NBA game where big men with a semblance of offence are encouraged to post up, spread the court with shooting, etc.

Exactly. Last year he was very raw, even at Eurobasket. The experience he gained is very valuable, he doesn't foul like mad anymore, has developed quite good post game for a 19-year old. Personally I didn't expect him to progress that much this year, he surprised me. He is much more confident in his abilities on court now. Will be very interesting to follow him @ Olympics, if LTU qualifies there. I expect a much larger role for him in NT than last year.

As for rookie season, I think something like 8-9ppg/6-7rpg per 20-25min would be awesome. Dunno how you Raptors guys would view such performance though.

[DG88]

That's one reason I'm not pulling my hair out like some here about the precise number of lottery balls we have because a couple of the guys we might get drafting 7-9, like Marshall or Lillard, have the potential to fit well with the kind of frontcourt we are going to have. At this point, I hope for three more losses to end the season, but I am not going to sweat the outcome.

Same here, we have a lot of options if we fall in the lottery standing. Luckily for us this is a deep draft, so falling back isn't as terrible as it seems.

[dagger]

As for rookie season, I think something like 8-9ppg/6-7rpg per 20-25min would be awesome. Dunno how you Raptors guys would view such performance though.

It's hard to say. It depends on how he gets those statistics. If a big man can stay on the court for 25 minutes, with decent defence, 8-9 points is maybe too low. We have guys like Ed Davis who can't make many jump shots and make only half their free throws. Ed is averaging 6.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in 22 minutes. Offensively, Jonas has much more skill and better free throw shooting than Ed, so getting to 9-10 points per game should be within his potential as a rookie. While he plays, Ed averages five free throw attempts per game and makes only about half of them, so that's another 1.5 points per game right there for an 80 percent free throw shooter. Jonas also has more potential to get to the free throw line.

My thought is that Jonas can play 25-30 minutes if he can stay out of early foul trouble most night, and average 11-12 points per game. On rebounds, based on his European production, I'd say 7 rebounds per game is reasonable. So 12 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, would be good rookie production for him. Anything better will drive the yokels here crazy. He will be annointed Saviour if he reaches 14/8.

[Young_Buc]

As for rookie season, I think something like 8-9ppg/6-7rpg per 20-25min would be awesome. Dunno how you Raptors guys would view such performance though.

It's hard to say. It depends on how he gets those statistics. If a big man can stay on the court for 25 minutes, with decent defence, 8-9 points is maybe too low. We have guys like Ed Davis who can't make many jump shots and make only half their free throws. Ed is averaging 6.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in 22 minutes. Offensively, Jonas has much more skill and better free throw shooting than Ed, so getting to 9-10 points per game should be within his potential as a rookie. While he plays, Ed averages five free throw attempts per game and makes only about half of them, so that's another 1.5 points per game right there for an 80 percent free throw shooter. Jonas also has more potential to get to the free throw line.

My thought is that Jonas can play 25-30 minutes if he can stay out of early foul trouble most night, and average 11-12 points per game. On rebounds, based on his European production, I'd say 7 rebounds per game is reasonable. So 12 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, would be good rookie production for him. Anything better will drive the yokels here crazy. He will be annointed Saviour if he reaches 14/8.

And with good reason!