Everything Valanciunas

[Maury]

Casey is about D first. His first thought is "how am I going to stop this". If JV keeps making improvements defensively than that wont be an issue.

Well for the most part before we had BB we never had a good option to have on over JV, and we'd end up with a combo of bench level 4s like Psycho T and 2pat who would lose the game anyways because we would get crushed on the glass so badly. Let's hope he can handle late game situations on defence this year.

[Chr1s1anL]

Well for the most part before we had BB we never had a good option to have on over JV, and we'd end up with a combo of bench level 4s like Psycho T and 2pat who would lose the game anyways because we would get crushed on the glass so badly. Let's hope he can handle late game situations on defence this year.

Disagree, Amir back than was a way better option defensively than JV. Tall Money/2pat was always a better option defensively. Especially against small ball.

[DanH]

Both K-Low/Deebo are capable passers but, which are they more comfortable doing?

I don't know the numbers but, did we really go to Scola that much out the PnR? Scola has like a decade of earned respect from his peers.

JV is earning more respect from his peers every year. The guy is 24 no need to rush development. I've said it before winning in this league is not easy. Developing young players and winning is almost impossible.

Scola got about 2 possessions a game from the pick and roll. JV about 1.5.

Not a huge difference, the guards looked off all the bigs. It's not a matter of respect, it's a matter of system priorities.

[Sinbad]

Scola got about 2 possessions a game from the pick and roll. JV about 1.5.

Not a huge difference, the guards looked off all the bigs. It's not a matter of respect, it's a matter of system priorities.

My issue has always been with the system that prioritizes pick-and-pop midrange jumpers out of the PnR instead of bigs diving to the basket. That's why I'm skeptical about Casey's foreshadowing JV's big year. Unless the priorities of his system shift, I don't see how JV's role will increase. If form holds, the PnR touches and touches in general Scola got will go to Sullinger. Then again, JV could become a knock-down shooter from 15+ feet, which would drag him away from the basket, but hurt chances of him getting offensive rebounds and/or picking up fouls on opponents. Either way, I hope the guards looking off the bigs doesn't happen as often going forward.

[hotfuzz]

Casey has been saying the same thing for the past 3 seasons without ever actually coming through with them. Yawn

[ogi]

Casey has been saying the same thing for the past 3 seasons without ever actually coming through with them. Yawn

The one difference being that during the playoffs this year jv was actually used more than ever before and he more or less dominated. That's what makes me hopeful for next season.

[white men can't jump]

The one difference being that during the playoffs this year jv was actually used more than ever before and he more or less dominated. That's what makes me hopeful for next season.

Not really though...his usage and fga were not that much higher than the regular season, he just elevated his play big time. Only in a couple of games did they make a real effort to get him more involved, and yeah when they did it was with great results for the team.

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[ogi]

Not really though...his usage and fga were not that much higher than the regular season, he just elevated his play big time. Only in a couple of games did they make a real effort to get him more involved, and yeah when they did it was with great results for the team.

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I think the only aspect of his game where he performed better than the regular season was offensive rebounding (and rebounding in general). His other numbers were more or less in line with his season numbers except that his usage went up about 2 percent (and by extension his raw numbers as well) May not seem like much and I'd like to see more but there clearly was a more concerted effort in a decent amount of games to get him the ball. More than I've noticed at any other point in during raps tenure.

[Sinbad]

I think the only aspect of his game where he performed better than the regular season was offensive rebounding (and rebounding in general). His other numbers were more or less in line with his season numbers except that his usage went up about 2 percent (and by extension his raw numbers as well) May not seem like much and I'd like to see more but there clearly was a more concerted effort in a decent amount of games to get him the ball. More than I've noticed at any other point in during raps tenure.

This is why I'm skeptical about his role increasing. It took Lowry/DeRozan being mired in historically bad shooting slumps at the same time for them to finally involve Valanciunas, and even then he got most of his production rebounding their bricks.

[ogi]

This is why I'm skeptical about his role increasing. It took Lowry/DeRozan being mired in historically bad shooting slumps at the same time for them to finally involve Valanciunas, and even then he got most of his production rebounding their bricks.

Yeah but both guys continued to shoot and miss even as we were using valanciunas. It's not like we completely went away from our backcourt, we just used them slightly less and it had a positive effect.

I donno I mean we're all just guessing but I just don't see a legitimate reason anymore for why we wouldn't incorporate jv into the offense more. I mean his usage has increased slightly every year but it's time for a little bit of a bigger jump.

[DanH]

The big change in the playoffs was JV just playing more. He averaged about 30 MPG in the first two rounds compared to his usual 26 and that includes the game he got hurt. That change alone is a good step.

[LJ2]

JV was a monster in the playoffs, but I don't know if giving him more touches gets the Raptors to the next level which is getting past Cleveland. It's going to take JV as well as Lowry and DeRozan clicking at the same time to do that. Certainly to challenge whomever they would face in the Finals.

JV did his part in the playoffs, coaches did their part I think to put Lowry and DeRoZan in a good position to succeed, but unfortunately the All Stars didn't deliver.

[Superjudge]

He played with more confidence, he played well, and turned it over less in situations where he didn't need to. Nothing to do with anything but that.

JV's performance is on him.

[McRealistic]

BigVal is really important to this season and his poor performace at Olympic and now is really worriesome.

[yabadabayolo]

JV needs to see a physiatrist or something. there is definatly something going on with him imo

First he shit the bed in the olympics, then his NT coach called him out on his work ethic, then he apparently "took lots of time" off from basketball and came to training camp and tried to get back into game shape, and now he has been playing terrible this preseason.

If he doesnt get back to playoff JV soon, with sully out, our frontcourt is in loads of trouble