Zach Lowe is the best basketball writer on the planet today. Here is what he has to say about Jonas Valanciunas and the Toronto Raptors thus far.
I’ve tried to avoid second-year players here, but I’ll make Valanciunas an exception, since he came via the 2011 draft and carried very high expectations into this season after hitting double figures in 14 of his last 15 games last season, flashing a polished post-up game in the process.
But Valanciunas’s game had stagnated before a ferocious 18-point, 11-rebound effort against Denver on Sunday.1 His minutes are barely up, and Dwane Casey hasn’t consistently trusted Valanciunas to play crunch time — mostly because of Valanciunas’s struggles to execute Toronto’s defensive schemes. He’s using just 17.5 percent of Toronto’s possessions, a below-average number for a high-profile starter, and barely above his rookie-year share.
One reason is simple: This team belongs to Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan, for better or worse. Even sets that don’t start with those guys — a Kyle Lowry–Valanciunas pick-and-roll, for instance — probably will end with one of them isolating, curling around a screen, or taking a dribble handoff before dribbling a bunch and heaving a midrange jumper. Lots of Toronto possessions look great for 12 seconds, before devolving into hero ball for the last eight or 10. “He’s third on the food chain,” Casey says, “and sometimes even fourth. Our offense is built around Rudy and DeMar.” Valanciunas is often left to simply get out of the way and prepare for an offensive rebound.
Read the full article here –> http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10070788/the-young-nba-players-looking-make-leap-greatness
I pretty much 100% agree. People also have to remember, he’s a 2nd year center from Europe that came over very raw, having to adjust to a new style of playing, and was thin. He’s now received eccentric minutes, limited touches, and is still regarded as a top prospect by virtually every GM around the league. I can’t put 100% of the blame on Casey because Val has been out of place on both ends of the court quite often this year. However, it’s a learning process – as Casey loves to say, “Rome wasn’t built overnight”. Give it time, Val will get there. I still believe he’s a core part of this team will all-star written all over him.
