Jonas Valanciunas Summer Discussion II

[Los Manos]

Has there been discussion of (non illegal streaming) options for watching the Lithuania games in the Olympics? Not many are likely to get shown here on the CTV consortium, or US coverage, right?

I'm assuming there are geographic restrictions but the BBC iplayer is having up to 24 different streams at the same time so that every single Olympics event is covered live. If there are restrictions then I'm sure a quick and legal method to hide your ip should work just fine.

[Alfred]

Lol, the coach is putting the pressure on Val regarding his fouls and crazy overachiever moves in the paint. And then he suggests Songaila is faster than Val, and Val needs to grow up... Not a single comment on how the team is unwilling to use Val for scoring, and forcing Val to overdo everything just to get noticed. Good thing Motiejunas did not want to live through this "seniority" crap. The national team with average talent and very awful chemistry. I hope Raptors do not get stuck on similar mentality when Val gets here.

No chance. Lithuanian wonderboy will get full support from casey and colangelo to do as well as possible and look as good as possible, and may MLSE bless their souls.

Absolutely, there is no way that Valanciunas does not get every opportunity while he is here in Toronto.

[DG88]

Thanks Alfred. Getting the story behind it is a good reminder about what the rules are.

To anyone who is interested, JamesNaismith was not banned by the Raptors mods, he was banned by the General board mods for trolling and baiting apparently. If you would like any other feedback, please feel free to ask on the feedback board, or you can personal message me.

Hmm interesting didn't see that coming from JamesNaismith thanks for the info Alfred.

[JWiLL02]

I watched the game and it is almost the same with every Lithuanian NT game. They live and die by the three. It is a shame because JV sets multiple picks for them and when he roles or presents himself he gets ignored. If they diversified their offense a bit them would give up such long rebounds which would reduce the number of transition buckets on long outlet passes. It seems like every miss leads to an easy score. If they missed in some post-ups with Klieza, and some pick and roll with JV they's be much more dangerous.

It's pretty baffling how often they completely ignore or look off Jonas. It's not like he's hard to find either, just a 7 footer with massive arms jumping up and down waving. Constantly ignored on seal offs, pin downs and flash cuts. Very frustrating.

Thanks Alfred. Getting the story behind it is a good reminder about what the rules are.

To anyone who is interested, JamesNaismith was not banned by the Raptors mods, he was banned by the General board mods for trolling and baiting apparently. If you would like any other feedback, please feel free to ask on the feedback board, or you can personal message me.

Hmm interesting didn't see that coming from JamesNaismith thanks for the info Alfred.

Yeah I was going to guess it's for his "work" on the general board. He's just a stream of sarcasm on there, some of which could be considered baiting, it's quite different than his Raptors board persona.

[lobosloboslobos]

Thanks Alfred. Getting the story behind it is a good reminder about what the rules are.

+1

[Laowai]

Likely from NYKs board they are a bunch of bad wieners.
In my time i had one 24 hour ban for basically saying Chandler was a bad signing that they will regret because it lost them a decent PG and screwed up the cap. Both of which are true.

[Kenyon009]

Likely from NYKs board they are a bunch of bad wieners.
In my time i had one 24 hour ban for basically saying Chandler was a bad signing that they will regret because it lost them a decent PG and screwed up the cap. Both of which are true.

Are you talking about the defensive player of the year who got 4 million more than McGee and helped catalyze a cultural change? Fields is a worse contract than Chandler I'm pretty sure 100% of the league would rather have TC. That four million dollar gap also included a cultural change in NY. Culture is an important part of basketball, Casey took the Raptors from the worst to middle of the pack with a crappy roster. Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd are decent enough to run the point position and Jeremy Lin is going to be a major flop his success was due to the weak teams he faced and the fact they were playing SSOL.

[sisibilio]

I didn't think they would even make the final four without Valanciunas, yet alone winning it all. Heck of a generation this one, great chemistry.

The level of the tournament was really low though, too many absences.

[carl_english]

When is the iceland game that's on the 24th, and is that in the GMT timezone (e.g. can I assume it's tomorrow morning, EST)?

Thanks!

It's at 19:00 EEST.

The correct time is 12:10 EST.

[GM_MX]

How would you guys rate VALS defence at the moment??? Will be dominated inside as a rookie???


Roy Hilbert of Pacers been hyped last season. How does Jonas compare to him. It wont be hard to match his numbers if Val will be given the minues. Hilbert did 12/9 50% last season. He was regarded as the third best center in the NBA behind Howard and Bryum.

[Kenyon009]

I think Val's PER 36 could be better than 12/9 50% shooting easy. I doubt he'll get many touches though.

[nelabai]

Still lacks 10pounds and some strength to bang inside, but his biggest challenge will be learning to defend pick&roll, which he struggles to defend for now. Casey will help him with this.

His role probably will be coming of the bench and running lot of pick&rolls wil Lowry/Calderon, while Kleiza/Ross will be standing in the corners waiting for 3pt look.

I can tell he will be foul machine on both ends of the court and I would say he could be a 12/6 24mpg. 50-60% off the bench guy if they feed him the ball of those pick&rolls.

[JWiLL02]

I thought defending the pick and roll was one of his strengths defensively? He's extremely mobile and hedges aggressively while being able to recover thanks to his mobility.

I see him getting lost a lot in the Lithuanian NT games, but I'm not exactly sure how great their communication defensively is. He's frequently helping only to have no help given on his man.

He'll struggle with fouls early, but it won't be anything close to Hoffa level bad.

[cbosh4mvp]

this is not a comparison between Anthony Davis and Jonas. However, i do feel that we can discuss their defensive abilities. I mean when i watch Anthony Davis play i feel like hes an anchor on D and defense is his strongest attribute. I been thinking a lot of how far Val is from AD or how I can compare the defensive abilities between the two. Do we have a similar type of prospect in terms of defensive potential? All the hype AD gets is from his BBIQ and his D for the most part so why isn't Val getting the hype? Im not trying to argue that Val is more advanced or even close to AD on D but i want to know what the general consensus is about this topic.

[Raps in 4]

I think Val's PER could be 36

[AbC?]

Val is not nearly the defensive prospect AD is, not even close.

[Los Manos]

this is not a comparison between Anthony Davis and Jonas. However, i do feel that we can discuss their defensive abilities. I mean when i watch Anthony Davis play i feel like hes an anchor on D and defense is his strongest attribute. I been thinking a lot of how far Val is from AD or how I can compare the defensive abilities between the two. Do we have a similar type of prospect in terms of defensive potential? All the hype AD gets is from his BBIQ and his D for the most part so why isn't Val getting the hype? Im not trying to argue that Val is more advanced or even close to AD on D but i want to know what the general consensus is about this topic.

Anthony Davis not only has high bball iq but his athletic qualities as a defender are amazing. His timing and reflexes are so good and the precision with which he tracks the ball and blocks shots is remarkable. Valanciunas on the other hand is a work in progress defensively, with most of the work still ahead of him. Eventually I can see him become a true defensive anchor but it won't be for several years to come until he can be relied upon in that way. And even then he won't ever be a shotblocker on the level of an Anthony Davis, he will have to rely on good positioning, footspeed and using his length straight up to alter shots. Defensively Davis is going to be one of the best weakside shotblockers in the league from day 1 but I'm not sure he will ever anchor the defense in the same way you would project Valanciunas to as they play two different positions and will be developed accordingly.

[Los Manos]

I thought defending the pick and roll was one of his strengths defensively? He's extremely mobile and hedges aggressively while being able to recover thanks to his mobility.

I see him getting lost a lot in the Lithuanian NT games, but I'm not exactly sure how great their communication defensively is. He's frequently helping only to have no help given on his man.

He'll struggle with fouls early, but it won't be anything close to Hoffa level bad.

Valanciunas too often gets caught flat footed when hedging off pick and roll action and either doesn't retreat quickly enough resulting in a foul or if he gets switched onto a perimeter player he is too inclined to use his hands when trying to slow down a perimeter player driving to the basket. They are both correctable mistakes but he makes then a lot and often and need to be cleaned up quickly if he wants to get solid minutes in his rookie year. More than anything he needs to trust that the defense is going to rotate and protect his mistakes rather than automatically trying to make up for them himself.

[dballislife]

hes near 7'1 with 7'4 wingspan with well above avg speed for 7 footer, he also works hard with endless energy...this all adds up to good defense, though he will likely struggle early on as expected...imo hes already a better defender than gray minus back down defense

[C_Money]

Man, its so easy to get waived here. Some places you need to get banned like 20 times before they even consider it.