Jonas Valanciunas Summer Discussion Thread (Olympics!)

[Courtside]

I am concerned that Jonas will be manhandled in the post when coaches run at him at the NBA level, his frame is too scrawny.

Almost all NBA centers have trouble their first year. You should google rookie pictures of some bigger name centers. You'd be surprised at the size of guys like Olajuwon, Ewing, Duncan, etc... there are very few Shaqs or Odens as far as rookie size, and even Dwight Howard was quite thin (though very wide/long). As it stands, he's coming in around the same size as Duncan did, maybe bigger. He'll get his ass handed to him on occasion, but those are the lumps you take as a rookie.

I'm posting this here: Bargnani has now officially declared he's not playing for Italy in the Euro '13 qualifications

That's interesting. Hopefully it allows him too take on a different, NBA minded training regimen this summer.

[JV4MVP]

From interview of Lithuanian NT head coach regarding Valančiūnas:

Who will be the main center? Valančiūnas or Javtokas?

K.K. They are different. Javtokas is matured, experienced and knows how to defend and how to help the other. Today Javtokas is stronger in the hustle. However in the offense Jonas has longer arsenal of moves. Specially dangerous is his pick and roll with Jasikevičius. Maybe one will start in one game and other in the next. Our starting 5 won't be constant probably.

http://www.lrytas.lt/-13386248491338...ajon%C4%99.htm

Doesn't Lithuanian need a center who is primarily a defender and rebounder? I mean the entire team is comprised of scorers right?

Jonas shouldn't focus on offense... the pick-and-roll with Jasikevicius is just an added bonus for the team.

[hankscorpioLA]

I am concerned that Jonas will be manhandled in the post when coaches run at him at the NBA level, his frame is too scrawny.

Almost all NBA centers have trouble their first year. You should google rookie pictures of some bigger name centers. You'd be surprised at the size of guys like Olajuwon, Ewing, Duncan, etc

Whatever their size was, none of those guys struggled in their rookie seasons:

Hakeem's rookie season - 20.6 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.7 bpg

Ewing: 20 ppg, 9 rpg, 2 bpg

Duncan: 21.1 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.5 bpg


Also...all this talk about Jonas' size...I can't find the original article, but Jonas weighed in at 245 lbs at the Eurocamp last year.

That is perhaps slightly undersized, but certainly not "scrawny" - and that was a year ago.

Here is a pic of Jonas from the U18 championships



Here is a more recent picture



It certainly looks to me like he has filled in quite a big in his upper body at least.

And he still just turned 20 last month.

[xprt]

I agree Jonas weighted 245lbs last year before draft. If you look pictures then and now you can see he is in 250lbs zone which is average for NBA C. His biggest problem defending post will not be his weight against majority of C's but his technique he needs to learn how to use lower body better.
Most recent pictures of him:

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Shaq avged a pretty incredible 23/14/4 as a rookie. Bynum had 23 per at 20 yrs old (though 3rd year in the nba, 2nd he actually really played).

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Webber was another guy who came in and dominated as a skinny guy, playing mostly C as a rookie.

17.5 ppg(55%)/9.1(4.0) rebs/3.6 ast/2.2 blk/1.2 stl

[LithuanianOne]

From interview of Lithuanian NT head coach regarding Valančiūnas:

Who will be the main center? Valančiūnas or Javtokas?

K.K. They are different. Javtokas is matured, experienced and knows how to defend and how to help the other. Today Javtokas is stronger in the hustle. However in the offense Jonas has longer arsenal of moves. Specially dangerous is his pick and roll with Jasikevičius. Maybe one will start in one game and other in the next. Our starting 5 won't be constant probably.

http://www.lrytas.lt/-13386248491338...ajon%C4%99.htm

Doesn't Lithuanian need a center who is primarily a defender and rebounder? I mean the entire team is comprised of scorers right?

Jonas shouldn't focus on offense... the pick-and-roll with Jasikevicius is just an added bonus for the team.

We have that in Javtokas, however, he's miserable when it comes to offense - Jonas is much better offensive player than Javtokas is although he's not as great defensively.
And as coach Kemzura said it all depends on match ups !

[BalticGiants]

Jonas improves his body consistently and obviously. No questions or concerns here. Look at his video where he's playing his very first game for Rytas being late 17 yo, not that far from 18yo. He's thin as hell. Now after 2 and a bit years he looks completely differently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOYrc-SwafE

Concerning his NT role it was just interesting either Kemzura will start him or not. I expect much bigger impact from him than from Javtokas. Specially that last summer it was Jonas who rocked the stage and not Javtokas and now Jonas even stronger. Javtokas will be useful, but Jonas is a beast in offense. I'm saying that very confidently since we're not talking here about bullsh..Rytas' catastrophe this season. Jonas will rock in the NT, I'm pretty sure.

[nahom1319]

I am concerned that Jonas will be manhandled in the post when coaches run at him at the NBA level, his frame is too scrawny.

Almost all NBA centers have trouble their first year. You should google rookie pictures of some bigger name centers. You'd be surprised at the size of guys like Olajuwon, Ewing, Duncan, etc

Whatever their size was, none of those guys struggled in their rookie seasons:

Hakeem's rookie season - 20.6 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.7 bpg

Ewing: 20 ppg, 9 rpg, 2 bpg

Duncan: 21.1 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.5 bpg

Yeah but those guys all came into the league after at least 3 years of college. It gave them more time to fill out and hone their game.


edit2: I got headfaked, its Pat's son's stats on his page....

[nahom1319]

Jonas improves his body consistently and obviously. No questions or concerns here. Look at his video where he's playing his very first game for Rytas being late 17 yo, not that far from 18yo. He's thin as hell. Now after 2 and a bit years he looks completely differently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOYrc-SwafE

Concerning his NT role it was just interesting either Kemzura will start him or not. I expect much bigger impact from him than from Javtokas. Specially that last summer it was Jonas who rocked the stage and not Javtokas and now Jonas even stronger. Javtokas will be useful, but Jonas is a beast in offense. I'm saying that very confidently since we're not talking here about bullsh..Rytas' catastrophe this season. Jonas will rock in the NT, I'm pretty sure.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1RO2P6XCDo[/youtube]
Compare that video with the initial still picture of jonas in this video.... its definitely noticeable. In two more years he will probably be one of the more imposing figures at the centre position.

[SkywalkerAC]

that first dunk off the backboard is so beast.

defense and fouls will be a bit of an issue for young Jonas but I expect extremely high productivity when he's on the court (ie PER should be nice).

anyone know how long we've got until we can see him and the national team in action? any reports on the team's training?

Could he be a top 5 center in London?

[BalticGiants]

Compare that video with the initial still picture of jonas in this video.... its definitely noticeable. In two more years he will probably be one of the more imposing figures at the centre position.

Exactly. IMO, Valančiūnas might have bigger body than Chandler's in the future. The only concern is his next year. After that I doubt he'll let anyone puch him around. On other hand, no-one wants him becoming too big I think

anyone know how long we've got until we can see him and the national team in action? any reports on the team's training?

Could he be a top 5 center in London?

Today there was report Lithuania will have friendly game with Lithuania U20 NT. Probably some highlights will be available. Between 6—14 July I guess. First real friendly game is in July 16 against Macedonia.

[UcanUwill]

He is not even scrawny, stop livin in a past, he looks better than a lot of rookies centers used to look. I really like his body type.
Last time I checked, Cody Zeller was scrawny. Now there is a scrawny guy, Jonas could break him in half. Both of them will struggle against biggest NBA guys for sure, but most people do. Real concerns over here, should be Jonas' post d technique, screens and silly fouling.

[raptor21_85]

so when do qualifiers start?? just wondering if i could catch some games on ESPN Lat..

[Listas]

Here's the schedule

http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe ... edule.html

[Raptor_Claw]

Since some people here have asked about the level of the Lithuanian League that Valanciunas was playing in, the Euroleague just released their new national/domestic league rankings, and this was the result:

1. Spanish League
2. United League (international)
3. Greek League
4. Italian League
5. Turkish League
6. French League
7. German League
8. Lithuanian League
9. Adriatic League (international)
10. Belgian League
11. Czech League
12. Ukrainian League
13. Israeli League
14. Polish League
15. Bulgarian League
16. Dutch League
17. Latvian League

The European leagues Euroleague and Eurocup, are also considered higher level leagues as well.

So, the Lithuanian League is currently considered to be the 10th best league in Europe.

Hopefully that helps give everyone here a better perspective about the leagues he was playing in this year, to better judge it.

Of the three leagues that Valanciunas played in this year, the Eurocup is about the 6th best league in Europe, the Lithuanian League is the 10th best league in Europe, and the VTB United League is the 3rd best league in Europe.

Link?

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... d%3Dimvnsz

[Dri3er]

Lithuania's national basketball team workout
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_NkQaleg7o[/youtube]

[Elastic]

Lithuania's national basketball team workout
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_NkQaleg7o[/youtube]

Honestly, its pathetic to see the players using, what, 5 or 10 kg dumbbells for their lifts. And almost zero true lower body lifts (like deadlifts, squats, olympic lifts). Those quarter squats by Kleiza are a parody of true training. I wish they trained more like college football players.

[Kastas]

Honestly, its pathetic to see the players using, what, 5 or 10 kg dumbbells for their lifts. And almost zero true lower body lifts (like deadlifts, squats, olympic lifts). Those quarter squats by Kleiza are a parody of true training. I wish they trained more like college football players.

It would be pathetic if Lithuanian NT weren't known for being one of the best physically prepared teams in every tournament.

[BalticGiants]

Honestly, its pathetic to see the players using, what, 5 or 10 kg dumbbells for their lifts. And almost zero true lower body lifts (like deadlifts, squats, olympic lifts). Those quarter squats by Kleiza are a parody of true training. I wish they trained more like college football players.

You could make your point about your dream to make basketball players into football players in less idiotic way though. Did you see the whole training? Do you know it's the start of the training camp? Do you know the point of different exercise? There are physical training Doctors if anything.

Probably watching too much adds like the one in the right... No disrespect though.