Jonas Valanciunas Summer Discussion II

[fatal9]

Physically, while his length is awesome, I've been a disappointed with Jonas' athleticism (not as agile as I thought) and stamina (looked like he was lumbering up the court at times today) after getting to see him play live this summer. He's looked horrible on defense but at least the tools are there to be good. He needs to get the fouling under control because that can kill a player's in game development and confidence.

Hard to see where he is offensively though because of such little playing time and lack of touches (not his fault either, the guards just don't create for the bigs).

[xprt]

Physically, while his length is awesome, I've been a disappointed with Jonas' athleticism (not as agile as I thought) and stamina (looked like he was lumbering up the court at times today) after getting to see him play live this summer. He's looked horrible on defense but at least the tools are there to be good. He needs to get the fouling under control because that can kill a player's in game development and confidence.

Hard to see where he is offensively though because of such little playing time and lack of touches (not his fault either, the guards just don't create for the bigs).

He was injured today....

[niQ]

I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of 8ppg, 8rbg, 1bpg as a rookie for the season. Anything under it's a meh, anything over it's a YES, THIS IS OUR FUTURE CENTRE! lol

[fatal9]

Physically, while his length is awesome, I've been a disappointed with Jonas' athleticism (not as agile as I thought) and stamina (looked like he was lumbering up the court at times today) after getting to see him play live this summer. He's looked horrible on defense but at least the tools are there to be good. He needs to get the fouling under control because that can kill a player's in game development and confidence.

Hard to see where he is offensively though because of such little playing time and lack of touches (not his fault either, the guards just don't create for the bigs).

He was injured today....

This was before his ankle injury.

[Agimat]

Do not underestimate JV's potential contribution in his rookie year. On pick and roll alone, there aren't too many veteran players in the entire NBA who can roll to the basket like he does.

And he does it consistently like it's a habit for him already unlike some other NBA players who only does it intermittenly or when the offense say so. What I also like about JV is that in the PnR situations he rolls hard deep into the paint and knows how to position himself for an easy basket using his length or his teammates use him as a wall for an easy 2(Lowry and Calderon will love to play with this guy). Once he improves his back to the basket and bulks up, Watch out!!!

[BalticGiants]

Do not underestimate JV's potential contribution in his rookie year. On pick and roll alone, there aren't too many veteran players in the entire NBA who can roll to the basket like he does.

And he does it consistently like it's a habit for him already unlike some other NBA players who only does it intermittenly or when the offense say so. What I also like about JV is that in the PnR situations he rolls hard deep into the paint and knows how to position himself for an easy basket using his length or his teammates use him as a wall for an easy 2(Lowry and Calderon will love to play with this guy). Once he improves his back to the basket and bulks up, Watch out!!!

Hey, Fellas, let's agree with one thing - his offense is fine. Even now. And another thing - at the moment he is better in offense than defence.

Defence. Defence. Defence. That's the area where he must improve. And if I'm 100% sure, maybe even more, that he will be a beast if offense, I'm not so sure yet how good he'll be in defence. Surely he has good rebounding skills and can block, but his positioning is really bad at the moment and I don't think he has talent here - probably all will depend on how good of a student he'll be at this point.

[Dr Positivity]

Do not underestimate JV's potential contribution in his rookie year. On pick and roll alone, there aren't too many veteran players in the entire NBA who can roll to the basket like he does.

And he does it consistently like it's a habit for him already unlike some other NBA players who only does it intermittenly or when the offense say so. What I also like about JV is that in the PnR situations he rolls hard deep into the paint and knows how to position himself for an easy basket using his length or his teammates use him as a wall for an easy 2(Lowry and Calderon will love to play with this guy). Once he improves his back to the basket and bulks up, Watch out!!!

Hey, Fellas, let's agree with one thing - his offense is fine. Even now. And another thing - at the moment he is better in offense than defence.

Defence. Defence. Defence. That's the area where he must improve. And if I'm 100% sure, maybe even more, that he will be a beast if offense, I'm not so sure yet how good he'll be in defence. Surely he has good rebounding skills and can block, but his positioning is really bad at the moment and I don't think he has talent here - probably all will depend on how good of a student he'll be at this point.

Really? His offensive game right now looks a lot like Tyson Chandler's to me - not quite beast mode activated there. I think his best chance to stand out offensively is to develop the midrange game and try to turn into Gortat on that end (both ends really)

[DG88]

Hey, Fellas, let's agree with one thing - his offense is fine. Even now. And another thing - at the moment he is better in offense than defence.

Defence. Defence. Defence. That's the area where he must improve. And if I'm 100% sure, maybe even more, that he will be a beast if offense, I'm not so sure yet how good he'll be in defence. Surely he has good rebounding skills and can block, but his positioning is really bad at the moment and I don't think he has talent here - probably all will depend on how good of a student he'll be at this point.

Really? His offensive game right now looks a lot like Tyson Chandler's to me - not quite beast mode activated there. I think his best chance to stand out offensively is to develop the midrange game and try to turn into Gortat on that end (both ends really)

WILL BE means in the future. Jonas has great touch around the basket and he's still developing a post game. Chandler has no post game he's just a catch and finisher nothing more on offense. Jonas is already great as a catch and finisher but working on his back to the basket game will be key into making him into an offensive force in the paint. You add that he's got a nice mid range jumper and a good FT shooter, saying that he will be a beast on offense isn't that far fetched.

[Y0DA]

Hey, Fellas, let's agree with one thing - his offense is fine. Even now. And another thing - at the moment he is better in offense than defence.

Defence. Defence. Defence. That's the area where he must improve. And if I'm 100% sure, maybe even more, that he will be a beast if offense, I'm not so sure yet how good he'll be in defence. Surely he has good rebounding skills and can block, but his positioning is really bad at the moment and I don't think he has talent here - probably all will depend on how good of a student he'll be at this point.

Really? His offensive game right now looks a lot like Tyson Chandler's to me - not quite beast mode activated there. I think his best chance to stand out offensively is to develop the midrange game and try to turn into Gortat on that end (both ends really)

WILL BE means in the future. Jonas has great touch around the basket and he's still developing a post game. Chandler has no post game he's just a catch and finisher nothing more on offense. Jonas is already great as a catch and finisher but working on his back to the basket game will be key into making him into an offensive force in the paint. You add that he's got a nice mid range jumper and a good FT shooter, saying that he will be a beast on offense isn't that far fetched.

Too bad he said he hates playing in the post. Oh well.

[JWiLL02]

He said he prefers to play pick and roll style, not that he "hates playing in the post".

[DG88]

You heard that from where exactly? I'm sure he's not comfortable right now because he just added it to his game this year. He's still turnover prone in the post and does rush his shots.

[Y0DA]

He said he prefers to play pick and roll style, not that he "hates playing in the post".

No, he said

I don’t really like posting

I'd have to read 50 Shades of Gray to find one of those in there. That's a black and white statement to me.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/31/jo ... or-raptors

[DG88]

He said he prefers to play pick and roll style, not that he "hates playing in the post".

No, he said

I don’t really like posting

I'd have to read 50 Shades of Gray to find one of those in there. That's a black and white statement to me.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/31/jo ... or-raptors

Either way it needs to be a dimension in his game if he wants to be dominant. He doesn't specifically have to use his post game on every play. But when the situation calls for it he should have it in his disposal. We've seen in the Olympics where he does use the pnr to seal his man for a post up opportunity so I'm not totally convince he doesn't like it.

[Yoga]

Jonas V is only 20 years old....remember that during his rookie season

[ikosuave]

The casual fans will love this guy more than they have any Raptors outside JYD, but even then, it's questionable.

I mean, the best C we've had in the last decade is Rasho and JV will be on a whole other level. Statistically, he'll be better than Rasho in year 1 and he'll have a flare for the highlight blocks, contesting all kinds of shots, weakside help, hard screens that put people on their asses, and some nasty dunks, and guess what, he looks like he'll bust his hump going after every ball that we've bitched and moaned about Bargnani not getting.

There will be an instant following, probably a near cult following of this 20 year old and we could honestly see him in the All-Star game in year 2 if Dwight leaves our conference. With the Lithuanians loving basketball so much and Jonas being the next big thing, we'll have ALL their votes (granted, it's not China) and add to that the votes he should get from all of the GTA and he could very honestly edge out Hibbert, Chandler and Lopez in the East (if Dwight isn't around)

[MEDIC]

I thought he looked good today. This was the first game where I thought he looked comfortable & felt like he was actually part of the team.

He had purposeful movement today. Didn't see him floating as much.

He was running himself ragged out there at one point with the high screen & roll & hedging defensively. Wasn't a big fan of the way they were using him. Kinda hard to protect the rim when you are constantly running out to the 3 point line.

Gotta be disappointing to be one of the hardest workers on the floor & never receive the ball (even when you establish excellent post position or roll to the basket hard).

I am really looking forward to watching him under Casey's system & working with our players.

He's gonna be a good one. He's not going to be Shaq or Duncan, but he's going to be a solid, solid C for us. It'll be up to him how far he takes it.

From a statistical standpoint, I'm hoping for a Nene type career (with more shot blocking). Anything more & we should consider ourselves very, very lucky.

[bballsparkin]

JV will be fine. We love hard workers. Look at Pops, Keon Clark, Bonner, Reggie Evans. They all busted their ass and the fans loved them. The pressure will be high. But the Raps have other bigs to take the heat for the moment. Plus Ross as a rookie should help too.

[dTox]

I thought he looked good today. This was the first game where I thought he looked comfortable & felt like he was actually part of the team.

He had purposeful movement today. Didn't see him floating as much.

He was running himself ragged out there at one point with the high screen & roll & hedging defensively. Wasn't a big fan of the way they were using him. Kinda hard to protect the rim when you are constantly running out to the 3 point line.

Gotta be disappointing to be one of the hardest workers on the floor & never receive the ball (even when you establish excellent post position or roll to the basket hard).

I am really looking forward to watching him under Casey's system & working with our players.

He's gonna be a good one. He's not going to be Shaq or Duncan, but he's going to be a solid, solid C for us. It'll be up to him how far he takes it.

From a statistical standpoint, I'm hoping for a Nene type career (with more shot blocking). Anything more & we should consider ourselves very, very lucky.

I liked everything about the post except the Nene part, I don't think we'd be lucky nor is it outrageous to be expecting a top 5 lottery pick to produce better than an 11/7 career player. I think a Marc Gasol type career should be the expectation and anything more would be a bonus.

[MEDIC]

I liked everything about the post except the Nene part, I don't think we'd be lucky nor is it outrageous to be expecting a top 5 lottery pick to produce better than an 11/7 career player. I think a Marc Gasol type career should be the expectation and anything more would be a bonus.

The last 5 years Nene has been averaging almost 14 and 8. I'd expect Jonas to be a little better rebounder simply because of his length.

We're essentially talking about the same player. Marc Gasol statistically has slightly higher rebound average in the last 4 years 7.6 vs 8.1, but Gasol has also played 2 more minutes per game. You add 2 MPG to Nene's numbers & he's essentially averaging 8 rpg. Points wise, they were close to the same.

The only reason Nene doesn't have better career averages is because he has been plagued by injuries.

Good comparison/ expectation with Gasol. I agree. I'm hoping Jonas is a legit 10RPG guy though.

[xprt]

Valanciunas reminds me a young more athletic Ilgauskas when his feet there alright. They both great offensive rebounders, solid ft% shooters, shot blockers, have great hands. Ilgauskas become more of pick n pop big because of his lost athletism but it shows how can unathletic big who moves slow and doesnt have shaq body can be in NBA (hard to imagine Mufasa?) and even allstar. If only Jonas masters that sweet baseline turnaround jumper which Z had. ( already seen Jonas taking it should be one of his moves in future in the post).