Everything Valanciunas

[Mack North]

Would love to hear from them folks that thought JV can't be the next Marc Gasol. 3 point game on point!

[Jclaw]

JV gets some love (only some...hey..it's JV) in Lowe's 10 things column this week

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...pick-rolls-nba

[3inthekeon]

Can't understand why no one commented on this.

5. Jonas Valanciunas, killing it

Valanciunas -- once alleged trade bait, crunch-time bystander, Toronto's literal NBA dinosaur -- is fighting to reclaim his spot in the league, and just wrapped up the best month of his career.

Valanciunas touches the ball more in Toronto's revamped offense, and the increased involvement has reinvigorated him. He's confident as a passer, and he's even dabbling with a 3-pointer -- much to the delight of Toronto's raucous crowd, which roars encouragement as Valanciunas starts his slow windup. He's moving around with more oomph on defense.

Most important: He's mauling fools in the paint. Valanciunas is shooting 57 percent on post-ups, third-best among 66 guys who have finished at least 50 such plays, per NBA.com. (Ahead of him: Taj Gibson and Regional Manager Mike Scott.) He's inhaling rebounds, and finishing with touch on the pick-and-roll.

Valanciunas and Jakob Poeltl have been so good, Toronto can barely get to the lineup that might be its endgame in some playoff matchups: Ibaka at center, with O.G. Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, or someone else at power forward. (Anunoby's recent collision with the rookie wall hasn't helped.)

The Raptors need that lineup in the bag; Valanciunas can evolve only so much. He's big and slow. He gets uncomfortable outside the paint on defense -- a problem against teams with a ton of shooting. He can't switch. Those things aren't changing. He still makes sense as a salary-dump candidate if and when the Raptors cut payroll.

But credit Valanciunas for battling against the NBA's tides.

[KHD]

Can't understand why no one commented on this.

5. Jonas Valanciunas, killing it

I strongly disagree (unsurprising to many here, i'm sure) with "he still makes sense as a salary dump"

Where would we be record-wise without him for the last month?

[Shaolin Fantastic]

I strongly disagree (unsurprising to many here, i'm sure) with "he still makes sense as a salary dump"

Where would we be record-wise without him for the last month?

Around the same.

[Jclaw]

Couldn't figure out why there was no link to an article about JV...then I realized it was about another big man.

pic.twitter.com/ovSzJkwZm9

— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) February 2, 2018

[JawsGT]

Couldn't figure out why there was no link to an article about JV...then I realized it was about another big man.

pic.twitter.com/ovSzJkwZm9

— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) February 2, 2018

is that muresan?

[S.R.]

Jonas is also finally comfortable against smaller opponents. Those situations always used to chase him off the floor. Now he stands under the basket one on three and one-arms rebounds because he's so often just the biggest body out there by quite a bit. Awesome to see.

[Jclaw]

yup

[SkywalkerAC]

Playing like our third star now.

[Mack North]

Jonas is also finally comfortable against smaller opponents. Those situations always used to chase him off the floor. Now he stands under the basket one on three and one-arms rebounds because he's so often just the biggest body out there by quite a bit. Awesome to see.

Helps a lot when at least one of the team stars believes in you. JV ALLSTAR 2019

[Maury]

If he played this way earlier he would have been an all star. Getting 18 10 2 and 1.5 blocks with 1-2 threes a game on great percentages WHILE playing great defence? He’s been an integral part of this team for the last 5 or so years but he’s finally having the kind of tangible impact that a lot of us believed he could have and it’s great for the team.

[Abbas]

Playing like our third star now.

dont want to jinx it but he honestly is. I'm shocked he is still yet to average a double-double

[Abbas]

If he played this way earlier he would have been an all star. Getting 18 10 2 and 1.5 blocks with 1-2 threes a game on great percentages WHILE playing great defence? He’s been an integral part of this team for the last 5 or so years but he’s finally having the kind of tangible impact that a lot of us believed he could have and it’s great for the team.

If he played this way eariler he would have been the best big men in the East other than Love and Embiid

[Mitch P]

So what was Houston's record when Clint Capela went down? He doesn't LOOK anything like JV and plays a less physical game but he isn't a shooter, rebounds like crazy and dunks lobs. He's hardly a "new age" NBA big yet I don't think he's going to be trade bait or a salary dump. The demise of the traditional big seems greatly overrated to me. If the second coming of Shaq arrived I think he'd still get 30 and 20 and be extremely valuable. I wonder if Embiid just worked the post and didn't hang out at the perimeter so much if he wouldn't actually be better. Being a "contrarian" works in a lot of situations in life. That's why I'd love to see more JV usage late in the game in the paint. Unlikely to happen though.