Time for Michael Grange to do more than accept Casey huddle interview talking points as fact.
First off, no question JV is struggling. The reason is quite apparent: a) he is injured, and b) he looks like he needs to call 1-800-668-6868.
JV is, unfortunately, not able to control his minutes. That is the coach.
But why is JV lower on the food chain? When looking at his:
1) offensive rating - 113 - 3rd among starters (KL: 122, Amir: 126, DD: 104, TR: 111)
2) True Shooting %: a respectable 57.6% and 4th among starters (KL: .581, Amir: .600, TR: .585, DD: .501)
3) Effective Shooting %: 48.1% which is not good but good for 4th among starters (KL: 52.2%, Amir: 58.8%, TR: 56%, DD: 40%)
Again, why? Lowry, OK, I get and the numbers back it up, along with the eye test. But DD? The guy with a 104 ORtg, 50.15 TS, and 40% eFG%?
Also, why is he 7th in FGA per game? DeRozan (16.7), Lowry (12.9), Ross (9.3), Vasquez (8.8), Amir (8.5), Lou (7.6), and then JV (6.8).
True. But look beyond the numbers, Michael. Do you see a confident young man? Why not? This is a very highly accomplished 22 year old player player.
Bold 1: Why? Why doesn't Casey play to his strengths and make other teams adapt to him? It is not like JV doesn't contribute more than points. His DRtg is 3rd best on the team and his TRB% leads the team at a solid 18.5%.
Bold 2: If the coaches have lost confidence in a 22 year old going through a rough patch, find new coaches.
Bold 3: JV is still young enough to be a draft pick. He might not dominate like Shaq but no reason to suggest he is not going to be able to be an upper tier C in the league.
And there is the biggest propaganda Casey is selling. You see you can't have it both ways. You can't, in one breath say, it is an 82 game schedule, it is a long grind, there will be ups and downs, etc. etc. but in the next say there is no room for development. BS. The only problem with JVs development is the philosophy of the coach and the penchant to play favourites with an obvious bias to the perimeter. If you don't develop JV now, if you don't work through his struggles - as we see so many undeserving players get the benefit of under Casey - then you can forget about ever taking the next step with the team as constructed as currently is.
First half score: 53-45 Toronto
Second half score: 55-40 Chicago
A tale of two halves indeed.
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First off, no question JV is struggling. The reason is quite apparent: a) he is injured, and b) he looks like he needs to call 1-800-668-6868.
During the first two weeks of the Raptors’ season, Valanciunas’s numbers are down across the board compared to 2013-14—especially his minutes, which are headed in entirely the wrong direction.
For many players, the third season is the one in which their game starts coming together, and after Valanciunas spent the summer adding muscle and dominating against international competition while starring for Lithuania at the FIBA World Championships in Spain, expectations for the Raptors’ budding star couldn’t have been higher. In Spain, he led Lithuania at 14.4 points per game on an absurd 69.6 percent shooting from the field to go with 8.4 rebounds per.
In the NBA, however, he’s (understandably) lower on the food chain. And while that’s not an excuse for Valanciunas’s early struggles, it does help explain his difficulty finding his rhythm so far.
In the NBA, however, he’s (understandably) lower on the food chain. And while that’s not an excuse for Valanciunas’s early struggles, it does help explain his difficulty finding his rhythm so far.
1) offensive rating - 113 - 3rd among starters (KL: 122, Amir: 126, DD: 104, TR: 111)
2) True Shooting %: a respectable 57.6% and 4th among starters (KL: .581, Amir: .600, TR: .585, DD: .501)
3) Effective Shooting %: 48.1% which is not good but good for 4th among starters (KL: 52.2%, Amir: 58.8%, TR: 56%, DD: 40%)
Likewise, in Toronto Valanciunas is forced to take a sizeable backseat offensively to Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, who initiate the Raptors offence and have combined for 114 shots thus far (Valanciunas has put up 26).
Also, why is he 7th in FGA per game? DeRozan (16.7), Lowry (12.9), Ross (9.3), Vasquez (8.8), Amir (8.5), Lou (7.6), and then JV (6.8).
While it’s true that on Dwane Casey’s club Valanciunas is hardly the offensive centrepiece he plays for the Lithuanian team, he’s also had a hard time finishing gimmes near the hoop, and is shooting below 50 percent for the first time in his career.
That’s likely a big part of why he’s also seeing the floor less than ever, as Casey favours a situational lineup with minutes distributed more evenly across all his bigs—Valanciunas, Amir Johnson, Patrick Patterson and Tyler Hansbrough. That strategy has been effective thus far, and the versatility of the front court as a whole is a big part of the Raptors’ success. But you can’t help but wonder whether this was the plan all along, or whether Valanciunas is already losing the trust of his coaches.
His minutes over the last three games: 23:01, 20:27, 22:59.
Valanciunas was drafted fifth overall with the hopes that he’d develop into a true franchise-calibre centre, a rarity these days. Hell, for a while there last season in the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 14 and 14 over the first three games of the series, he looked like he already was that player.
His minutes over the last three games: 23:01, 20:27, 22:59.
Valanciunas was drafted fifth overall with the hopes that he’d develop into a true franchise-calibre centre, a rarity these days. Hell, for a while there last season in the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 14 and 14 over the first three games of the series, he looked like he already was that player.
Bold 2: If the coaches have lost confidence in a 22 year old going through a rough patch, find new coaches.
Bold 3: JV is still young enough to be a draft pick. He might not dominate like Shaq but no reason to suggest he is not going to be able to be an upper tier C in the league.
But as we’ve seen early in this campaign, the 22-year-old is still a work in progress. If this were a Raptors team that didn’t have a whole lot to play for in terms of playoff positioning, then Casey could comfortably leave Valanciunas on the floor and play through any lapses. But this season, on a club with its sights set on a spot in the conference finals, sacrificing for the sake of the big man’s development is a luxury the Raptors just don’t have.
And so, as the Chicago Bulls stepped on the throats of the Raptors during the second half last night and reminded us all of the current pecking order in the East, Valanciunas watched from the bench. After logging more than 18 minutes in the first half, he saw just four in the second.
Second half score: 55-40 Chicago
A tale of two halves indeed.
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