Everything Valanciunas

[Jclaw]

Hibbert is often a guy JV is compared to for recent young centres (not just for "verticality"). It's also not a bad comparison because he's played on a team with shooters. So, that said, in his two building years prior to last one, he averaged around 13 and 8 on 10-11 FGA playing about 30 minutes. In his 2nd year (a la JV) he did about 12 and 6 on 10 attempts. JV is trucking on at 7.7 FGA...really just about 7 if you take out the one outlier against Miami where he had 13 attempts. It's early but the tea leaves do look as though a byproduct of a blow up would be the chance to see JV develop. Hope he doesn't pull an MCW

[consmap]

After dropping 19 and 9 today on 8-11 FG how long will it take our entire team and coach to realize that we need to go JV more?
They went to him a lot early which was nice (even got that nice alley-oop off the pick and roll), but then they started to ignore him again as the game went on.
On top of that his defense looked a bit better, especially on help D (aside from getting posterized by Batum). He still needs to learn to set screens that won't get called for fouls, but even Amir and other bigs in the league are having this problem.

[rocwell]

"When he has played, Valanciunas has been excellent. According to NBA.com stats, he is currently plus-31 in the clutch and, when he is on the floor in the fourth, the Raptors’ offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) jumps from 102.3 to 116.9 and their defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) dips from 98.4 to 81.6."

"That shouldn’t be the case. Involving Valanciunas In the pick and roll with Kyle Lowry or Gay in late game situations would open up the floor and lead to easy buckets, as he is an excellent finisher around the rim.

This is a strategy that, again, can only serve to help the Raptors. Valanciunas is a weapon at their disposal and it is about time they start taking advantage of him.
"

[mcHAPPY]

"When he has played, Valanciunas has been excellent. According to NBA.com stats, he is currently plus-31 in the clutch and, when he is on the floor in the fourth, the Raptors’ offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) jumps from 102.3 to 116.9 and their defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) dips from 98.4 to 81.6."

"That shouldn’t be the case. Involving Valanciunas In the pick and roll with Kyle Lowry or Gay in late game situations would open up the floor and lead to easy buckets, as he is an excellent finisher around the rim.

This is a strategy that, again, can only serve to help the Raptors. Valanciunas is a weapon at their disposal and it is about time they start taking advantage of him.
"

No question in my mind this is a stealth tank.

No way Ujiri after clearing the entire front office is this stupid.

No way the Raptors analytic team does not know this information.

Shoot me now.

[RandomGuy]

Some moments from the dressing room, while they were at Philadelphia, brought it up just for laughs

Parts when they talk in English
1:42, 2:50, 4:55, 5:28 He actually says "I love pussy"

[hateslosing]

Why I'm not worried about Jonas Valanciunas and you shouldn't be either.

Jonas is awesome. If you weren't aware or thought he wasn't meeting the expectations the franchise set for him, here are some fun facts.

1. Jonas has the third highest defensive rating on the 9th best defensive team in the league. At 102, he is well below the league average and is 4 points better than last year. Only Acy, who doesn't play much, and Rudy Gay (shockingly) are better. Now defensive rating is not the be all end all of defensive ratings but it is a nice, pace adjusted, stat.

2. Jonas has improved dramatically on offense this year, even if his stats don't show it. While he is still struggling to get deep post position a lot of the time now, moves he is attempting are at a much higher level than the ones he was doing last year and we are actually running plays for him in the post. His %'s may be down, but that's becuase he's being asked to do more than last year on offense.

3. Jonas is averaging 10.6 rbs per 36, which is second best on the team behind Hansbrough (Gray and Daye havn;t played more than 20 min). This is also more than a rebound better per 36 over last years numbers.

For those looking for progress, check out the weaknesses NBAdraft.net listed during his draft class. While many of these are still weak, you can see improvement in several areas.


"Can't create his own offense yet ... Has a budding set of skills in the post, but needs teammates who can set him up ... No real perimeter game ... Almost all offense comes from around the hoop ... Very unselfish but not a talented passer ... Makes a lot of mistakes when trying to pass out of double teams ... Plays very aggressively, which is a good quality, but it gets him in foul trouble quickly ... Needs to learn how to play good defense without fouling ... Hasn't developed the habit of remaining stationary when setting screens ... Struggles guarding stronger players ... Still skinny, though he is showing progress in this area ... Is currently signed with Lietuvos Rytas and the buyout option in his contract is over $3 million dollars, so he may not see the NBA for a few seasons ... Very wet behind the ears. "

Edit: I just reread that and the progress I'm talking about is on the offensive end of the floor. He's now able to make his own shot in the post.

[Chr1s1anL]

I'm joking but it seem like your trying to shows that JV isn't the best at any particular thing on this team


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[consmap]

I think some of us, me at least, are just a bit frustrated by his lack of involvement in the offense. And plus, since a lot of the fans' focus is on JV, I guess it feels like the mistakes and problems he commits are amplified tenfold.
Jonas SHOULD be okay as time progresses, but we can't help but feel upset when things aren't exactly going right for him.

[hateslosing]

I'm joking but it seem like your trying to shows that JV isn't the best at any particular thing on this team


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That actually is kind of what I'm going for. He's not the best, but that's ok. What's important is that he's getting better and adjusting to the NBA game. He's not some super athlete who's going to come in and dominate without having any skills (ahem....Drummand) he's a real basketball player and it's going to take time to work some of the bugs out.

[bobbybutler]

Defensive Impact:Statistics measuring the impact a player has on defense, including blocks, steals and protecting the rim, which measures the opponent's field goal percentage at the rim while it is being defended. Rim protection is defined as the defender being within five feet of the basket and within five feet of the offensive player attempting the shot.

Top 50 sorted by Opponent FGA at rim per game
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingD...&sortOrder=DES

Top 5

(Opp FGA/Opp FG%)
D.Howard-10.9/44.8%
M.Gortat-10.9/50.3%
Mi.Plumlee-10.5/47.8&
R.Hibbert-10.3/36.4%
S.Hawes-10.2/42.9%

15th-E.Kanter-8.3/54.4%
18th-D.Jordan-7.9/61.9%
21st-Jonas- 7.4/50.0%
25th-Drummond-6.9/51.0%
44th-Amir- 6.0/48.7%

-

Rebounding Opportunities: The number of times player was within the vicinity (3.5 ft) of a rebound. Measures the number of rebounds a player recovers compared to the number of rebounding chances available as well as whether or not the rebound was contested by an opponent or deferred to a teammate.

Top 50 sorted by Rebound chances per game
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingR...&sortOrder=DES

Top 5

(Rebound Chances/Rebound %)
K.Love-21.5/64.7%
D.Howard-19.4/66.5%
S.Hawes-18.1/56.9%
D.Jordan-17.8/71.8%
N.Vucevic-17.3/65.3%

10th-Drummond-16.5/71.7%
15th-Hibbert- 15.7/57.0%
30th-Jonas- 14.1/56.3%
33rd-Kanter-14.0/50.0%
41st-Amir-12.5/51.2%

-

Close Touches: All touches that originate within 12 feet of the basket, excluding drives.

Top 50 sorted by close touches per game
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingT...&sortOrder=DES

36th-Jonas-3.8

[drunkmunky]

Who is worrying?

[minks77]

Who is worrying?

For real, worrying about Jonas at this stage is foolish. He's a second year big who is still growing into his body and learning the NBA game. The biggest thing I can see as a problem is he simply needs to chill a bit and let the game come to him. He rushes too much and just needs to adjust his timing. He sets his picks too soon allowing the defender to move around him and rolls too quickly resulting in missed picks and moving screens.

His teammates (Rudy cough DeMar cough) miss him wide open under the basket constantly and the offence is far too ISO based to make much use of a quick, mobile big man. Admittedly he needs to work on his decision making and passing skills but those are solvable problems. He's got so much raw talent that it's nuts to pass any real judgment yet IMO.

I think he's looking tired though. He's had 3 solid years of basketball with little to no down time.

[hateslosing]

Defensive Impact:Statistics measuring the impact a player has on defense, including blocks, steals and protecting the rim, which measures the opponent's field goal percentage at the rim while it is being defended. Rim protection is defined as the defender being within five feet of the basket and within five feet of the offensive player attempting the shot.

Top 50 sorted by Opponent FGA at rim per game
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingD...&sortOrder=DES

Top 5

(Opp FGA/Opp FG%)
D.Howard-10.9/44.8%
M.Gortat-10.9/50.3%
Mi.Plumlee-10.5/47.8&
R.Hibbert-10.3/36.4%
S.Hawes-10.2/42.9%

15th-E.Kanter-8.3/54.4%
18th-D.Jordan-7.9/61.9%
21st-Jonas- 7.4/50.0%
25th-Drummond-6.9/51.0%
44th-Amir- 6.0/48.7%

-

Rebounding Opportunities: The number of times player was within the vicinity (3.5 ft) of a rebound. Measures the number of rebounds a player recovers compared to the number of rebounding chances available as well as whether or not the rebound was contested by an opponent or deferred to a teammate.

Top 50 sorted by Rebound chances per game
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingR...&sortOrder=DES

Top 5

(Rebound Chances/Rebound %)
K.Love-21.5/64.7%
D.Howard-19.4/66.5%
S.Hawes-18.1/56.9%
D.Jordan-17.8/71.8%
N.Vucevic-17.3/65.3%

10th-Drummond-16.5/71.7%
15th-Hibbert- 15.7/57.0%
30th-Jonas- 14.1/56.3%
33rd-Kanter-14.0/50.0%
41st-Amir-12.5/51.2%

-

Close Touches: All touches that originate within 12 feet of the basket, excluding drives.

Top 50 sorted by close touches per game
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingT...&sortOrder=DES

36th-Jonas-3.8

You're awesome!

[p00ka]

Patience. He's taking some time to find his feet in the NBA (such a different game than he grew up with), but he'll be better than Hibbert at both ends.

[rocwell]

"Abruptly, Casey stands up and takes Jonas Valanciunas’ plate away from him. Valanciunas looks up, sad and confused.*

Valanciunas: But Coach…

Casey: C’mon now, Jonas, you know I only feed you in the first half."

Link : http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2013/...-dinner-party/

hahah