Ryan Wolstat: If Valanciunas can

[Dri3er]

Everyone wants to know why Valanciunas took a seat for the fourth after a dominant third quarter where he played the entire frame, missing only one shot on the way to eight points, five rebounds and two of his blocks. Dwane Casey prefers to play Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson down the stretch of games largely because they are far quicker and more technically sound. He also likes having Patterson’s shooting, since the team basically abandons the inside game in fourth quarters. I get that against many opponents, but Valanciunas consistently dominates the Pistons and wasn’t just doing it with his offence in this one. Detroit players scored on just 7-of-17 attempts at the rim on Valanciunas (41%) which is an excellent mark. They went 4-for-10 against Johnson, 3-for-6 against Patterson and 3-for-3 against Tyler Hansbrough, who had been doing a nice job protecting the rim before this one). Valanciunas had been Toronto’s most efficient scorer and one of its best defenders. Since Greg Monroe was on the floor, the excuse of no big being out there which has been a fine justification for Valanciunas sitting in the past does not apply. Johnson easily could have checked Anthony Tolliver. Not playing Valanciunas down the stretch simply didn’t make sense in this case, especially not if Ross is playing the whole quarter, which negates the need for Patterson’s shooting.

Full article:
http://blogs.canoe.ca/courtside/basketball/signs-of-progress-for-raptors-but-not-there-yet-if-valanciunas-cant-play-in-the-fourth-against-detroit-who-can-he-play-against-keep-moving-the-ball/

Discuss.

[Steelo Green]

[Patman]

You would think JV would get some burn in the 4th when the pace of the game slows down, but no.

[tecumseh18]

Discuss.

Now it begins (I hope). I might add that it's not doing Amir any favours to have him defend the really big guys like Monroe. We need him healthy in the playoffs.

Also, the article mentions that the Raptors become a jump shooting team in the fourth, and can't sustain leads as a result. Against Detroit, we were in the penalty with 9 minutes to go (when GV committed a moronic foul in the offensive zone), whereas Detroit played most of the fourth quarter with 1 team foul.

[Hue Durant]

the idiot who single handedly loses games (brooklyn series, pelicans, bobcats shotclock), says bargnani hell or high water, holds MVP Lowry back in favour of Jose and puts vasquez in for clutch D needs to get fired.

[ATLTimekeeper]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

[dacrusha]

You mean the one who single-handedly carried us to a 29-15 record thus far? ^

[djsunyc]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

publicly at least.

[whysoserious]

I like the line quoted that states he played the entire third, you would think he'd get some quick rest in the fourth but he actually started the fourth and picked up 2 more PF's in the first 45 seconds of the fourth quarter in the Pistons game.

I agree with most that JV should see more minutes and especially in the fourth but it's understandable why he came out at that point and then Casey just has more trust in the more mobile Patterson and Amir to close out games. I think he's going to have to find a balance to start getting JV some time there to finish games.

The team is also playing very tight to close out games and I can see why Casey goes back to the guys he trusts just trying to secure wins at this point.

[whysoserious]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

publicly at least.

Not sure what you mean dj as we'd likely have heard some grumblings if there were issues about touches but the team still seems very tight overall.

[Hue Durant]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

"But we won" is the most tired, pathetic excuse of an argument to defend every stupid decision/play this team makes.

[djsunyc]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

publicly at least.

Not sure what you mean dj as we'd likely have heard some grumblings if there were issues about touches but the team still seems very tight overall.

well we heard about players having agendas.

[MS13]

Casey will stick to his plays even if Valanciunas scores 50 through 3 quarters come hell or high water.

[ATLTimekeeper]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

"But we won" is the most tired, pathetic excuse of an argument to defend every stupid decision/play this team makes.

Nope.

[whysoserious]

well we heard about players having agendas.

Forgot about that but I think that wasn't a reflection of touches and more about lack of commitment to what got them their success and thinking they were better than they are.

[ATLTimekeeper]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

publicly at least.

Where there's no smoke...

[Hue Durant]

You mean the one who single-handedly carried us to a 29-15 record thus far? ^

Hello strawman,

His impact on winshares isn't quantifiable when looking at whether it is coaching, or just the team winning by themselves. Conversely, every single thing I listed is a fact set in stone.


Bye.

[whysoserious]

It might be more discussion-worthy had we lost. It's funny that the players don't seem to have any ego about who plays when and who gets touches on this team, but the media and fans all seem to think these are crucial issues.

"But we won" is the most tired, pathetic excuse of an argument to defend every stupid decision/play this team makes.

And ripping a coach no matter what he does is a pathetic excuse for a preconceived bias. Casey is not perfect but some of you act as though he does nothing wrong and every bad move is magnified 10 times over.

The point is since he's been here we've been a hard working team which is good cause if you were here watching the lazy Bargs years that alone is a positive. Players are developing, we're winning and have slowly gotten better every year. But hey, CASEY SUCKS, FIRE HIM, right?

[whysoserious]

You mean the one who single-handedly carried us to a 29-15 record thus far? ^

Hello strawman,

His impact on winshares isn't quantifiable when looking at whether it is coaching, or just the team winning by themselves. Conversely, every single thing I listed is a fact set in stone.


Bye.

If his impact on wins isn't quantifiable then why are losses attributed to him?

[Hue Durant]

You mean the one who single-handedly carried us to a 29-15 record thus far? ^

Hello strawman,

His impact on winshares isn't quantifiable when looking at whether it is coaching, or just the team winning by themselves. Conversely, every single thing I listed is a fact set in stone.


Bye.

If his impact on wins isn't quantifiable then why are losses attributed to him?

correlation vs causation.

Brooklyn series game 7 - his actual decision making affects the team by putting them on the wrong side of the floor
Pelicans - his decision to put vasquez on the floor and have him guard evans
Bobcats - his decision to not foul the bobcats when they were up 2 with 26 on the clock and 24 on the shotclock led to the team not even getting a tying possession

Those are all fire-able offences.

I did not say anywhere that every loss is his fault, but that he has a track record of losing games due to his idiotic decision making. If I had time to find the data of how his awful timeouts affects the team play I would.