Jonas Valanciunas: 7-footer has the makings of a star

[Johnny Firpo]

Yes, so far they rarely pass him the ball when he's in good position, but i guess that's normal, since he's a rookie.

[HotRocks34]

Yes, so far they rarely pass him the ball when he's in good position, but i guess that's normal, since he's a rookie.

Probably true. He does need to keep working on his post moves, but he has a good natural feel for scoring (smooth moves, even if they are not polished) and is so aggressive that he seems to be able to make things work on offense that don't look very promising.

[Kabookalu]

One person that we need to give more credit to is Dwane Casey. Man this guy's a magician when it comes into turning players into better defenders. Calderon was abysmal but now he's just bad (magic can only do so much ). Bargnani was clueless but he's pretty good now; I mean he'll miss assignments still but he's not nearly the liability, and at least he's not the anchor no longer. I've had a good discussion (well it was mostly the other guy talking) about Jonas with another poster who watched him a lot overseas, and he said that Jonas suffered defensively because of the FIBA style that promotes switching. You would think that he would struggle the same way in the NBA but Casey has done such a great job of incorporating his defensive principles in such a short span. He had the same effect on Bargnani and Calderon.

There was all those arguments about Dallas still being a great defensive team without Casey and Chandler, but I wonder if it's because Casey was able to implant in them his philosophies that will stick with them for their entire career.

[HotRocks34]

One person that we need to give more credit to is Dwane Casey. Man this guy's a magician when it comes into turning players into better defenders. Calderon was abysmal but now he's just bad (magic can only do so much ). Bargnani was clueless but he's pretty good now; I mean he'll miss assignments still but he's not nearly the liability, and at least he's not the anchor no longer. I've had a good discussion (well it was mostly the other guy talking) about Jonas with another poster who watched him a lot overseas, and he said that Jonas suffered defensively because of the FIBA style that promotes switching. You would think that he would struggle the same way in the NBA but Casey has done such a great job of incorporating his defensive principles in such a short span. He had the same effect on Bargnani and Calderon.

There was all those arguments about Dallas still being a great defensive team without Casey and Chandler, but I wonder if it's because Casey was able to implant in them his philosophies that will stick with them for their entire career.

Good post.

When I watched the Valanciunas documentary ("Centered", I think it was called) from TSN or wherever it was, I was impressed with Casey.

[daschysta]

He has game, but what I love about him is that he has a very high floor, he's almost a sure thing to be a very good role player at worst, because of his athelticism, high IQ and extremely good motor.

Worst case scenario you've got a bigger Kenneth Faried.

Now, i'm not sure about his potential as a "star", he has a few moves, but he's still not very polished there at all, his ability to hit free throws is huge though, and he'll get to the line quite a bit just by being more active than his opponent. His ability to be an all-star level player comes down to him developing into a legitimate post option you can run an offense through, that's more valuable that almost anything else offensively for a big, and way more valuable than just accumulating stats. He'll be a good defender and rebounder regardless imo.

Next year I could see him posting 7-10 ppg 7.5-9 rpg 1.5 apg 1.5 bpg on 50% He's going to run into foul trouble at first though, and it may take a season to adjust.

In his prime I have him pegged as a 12-14 ppg 10-11 rpg 2 apg 2 bpg kind of guy. Borderline All-Star, elite energy player type of guy. Which is definitely a fringe top 5 Center. He'll have great intangibles too, energy coming from the biggest guy on the floor tends to be contageous. I don't think he'll ever be a 18+ scorer at the center spot, but how many guys are these days?

I like Toronto's core for the future if they can get a starrish wing, or if Demar DeRozan can become one (though I have much less faith in Demar than Jonas)

Lowry/ Calderon
DeRozan
Fields
Bargnani
Val

Isn't bad at all if they could replace Fields with a Rudy Gay/ Danny Granger level player that can get 18-20 points per night, and could challenge for homecourt in a few years. They should have taken Lamb instead of Ross though. They need to strengthen the bench outside of Calderon too.

I'll be following them as my secondary team this season largely due to Val, I like them to get the 8th spot over Detroit, Cleveland, Washington etc...

They really need to NOT overpay Bargs when he's up for extension though. He's a good player, but you aren't going to have the flexibility to put together a really, really good team if he's making MAX money. You don't pay max for perimeter bigs unless their name is Dirk Nowitski, LaMarcus Aldridge, or Kevin Love, and those guys all bring more rebounding to the table than Bargs anyhow. If they can get him for 9-10 million though it wouldn't be so bad.

[thesneakysneak]

Star of the raptors, if that means anything. Lol.

[Kabookalu]

I don't think money will be a problem with Bargnani. When he first signed his contract he stated "I don't know what to do with all of this money", so if he really wanted to stay in the city I don't think he would mind taking a paycut, although then again it's the agent that's negotiating all of this.

[hazy_01]

Star of the raptors, if that means anything. Lol.

I don't get this in the past Raptors had players like T-Mac, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh, its not like Raptors never had an allstar before so I'm not sure where you're getting at?

[Uncle Jeff]

Star of the raptors, if that means anything. Lol.

I don't get this in the past Raptors had players like T-Mac, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh, its not like Raptors never had an allstar before so I'm not sure where you're getting at?

He might be the Bobcats' star, if that means anything lol

[daschysta]

I don't think money will be a problem with Bargnani. When he first signed his contract he stated "I don't know what to do with all of this money", so if he really wanted to stay in the city I don't think he would mind taking a paycut, although then again it's the agent that's negotiating all of this.

That's good, though most of the time when it comes down to it i've found that no matter how great the guy, he'll "let his agent deal with it" and put pressure on the team anyhow. I don't blame them, though I was hopeful that Roy Hibbert would take a slightly less than the Max offer if we threw in the fifth year. No luck, but business is business. Hopefully Bargs follows through, because he isn't the guy to max, Val in a few years? Yeah, a centers influence outweighs stats, but Bargs money would be better off put into a real perimeter star if he demands that much.

Star of the raptors, if that means anything. Lol.

I don't get this in the past Raptors had players like T-Mac, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh, its not like Raptors never had an allstar before so I'm not sure where you're getting at?

He might be the Bobcats' star, if that means anything lol

It makes sense in regards to the bobcats though lol, given their all time franchise great team is pretty much Raymond Felton/ Stephen Jackson/ Gerald Wallace/ Emeka Okafor/ Tyson Chandler... A team that would probably be maybe 6th-8th in the East if it were in the league today, and that's all-time Bobcats players...

The Raptors have had real star power in the past, Vince was a bigger star than many franchises have ever had from a marketing/ mindshare perspective, and Bosh is still big today.

Though it's still a jackass thing to say.

[Yoga]

Jonas V is the only reason that I will take time out of my busy schedule to watch some games this season

[Apollo64]

Not very impressive right now but he can certainly help the Raps. Need to wait 2-3 more years to see how he pans out.

[Miilkbone]

Star of the raptors, if that means anything. Lol.

Actually it does, if you havnt noticed yet there are a lot of Raptors fans and not just in Canada. But since you guys like comparing, it means more than if he was on the Lolcats. Its all good though, your future looks bright with superstar Byron Mullins leading the way.

[Part-time Lover]

He might be the Bobcats' star, if that means anything lol

[/quote]

It makes sense in regards to the bobcats though lol, given their all time franchise great team is pretty much Raymond Felton/ Stephen Jackson/ Gerald Wallace/ Emeka Okafor/ Tyson Chandler... A team that would probably be maybe 6th-8th in the East if it were in the league today, and that's all-time Bobcats players...

The Raptors have had real star power in the past, Vince was a bigger star than many franchises have ever had from a marketing/ mindshare perspective, and Bosh is still big today.

Though it's still a jackass thing to say.[/quote]

Actually it's Felton/Jax/Crash/Diaw/Okafor

Chandler only played one season with them and he was injury-riddled at the time.

I love Val's fundamentals on defense. It's really refreshing to see a legit 7 footer who knows some fundamentals on defense.

[oikosnomos]

He's a more athletic Pau with a very similar offensive repertoire. His defense is on par with Noah's and he has a motor like Faried. He is going to get huge and put on weight guaranteed. He is predicted to average 20 points a game and be top 5 center.

Wow, this kid is like HOF bound already!

[Dr Positivity]

double post

[Dr Positivity]

BC is a master of getting the media on his side, by wearing a good suit and interviewing well. He's the ultimate politician in that way, he can cover up being crap at his job just by spinning it well. OTOH Brian Burke, despite doing a way better job for the Leafs than BC has with the Raptors, justs annihilated by the media hype machine just because he's a huge dick to them

Way to deal with the actual article and avoid talking about someone (Jonas) that you've repeatedly gone out out of your way to label a bust. Can you admit the fact that Jonas is playing well?

Do you still feel that Scott Machado and Meyers Leonard are far better prospects?

You're on a roll, first you give a poster the most undeserved banning I've ever seen (and warned others for nothing), then you attack a poster with completely off topic jabs that have nothing to do with his post. Aren't mods supposed to hold a higher standard? How can you with a straight face warn or ban posters for derailing a thread, then go ahead and totally sidetrack a thread by personally trying to bait and attack a poster such as in the above post? I'm reporting you and sending a PM to the admins as well for the pathetic/clown job you're doing, you just proved yourself as a massive hypocrite bro

Derailing, abusing the report function, back-seat moderating and personal attacks are not the way to sell your case to the admin staff... - tsherkin

[LAKESHOW]

THE KID IS WACK!

[tdotrep2]

He's a more athletic Pau with a very similar offensive repertoire. His defense is on par with Noah's and he has a motor like Faried. He is going to get huge and put on weight guaranteed. He is predicted to average 20 points a game and be top 5 center.

Wow, this kid is like HOF bound already!

I agree with the faried statement, with noah he is similar in the sense that he is involved in a lot of the plays in the paint, but hes got better length and could be better at altering shots in the future. And jonas does have some nice moves on offence but he still doesn't know the right time to use them, handle the double team, and just seems to not be able to pace him self in the post. Gasol at this moment in time is head and shoulders above jval but in 4 years time I could see val have a dominant lp game

[Inflymous]

...

reported for trying to derail thread with stuff that could've easily been discussed over pm

Jonas' updated stats
7ppg 7rpg 2bpg .500fg% .765ft%