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Jonas Valanciunas 2011-2012 Season Thread


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Today he has 17 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks on 5-8 shooting and 7-10 from the free throw line in 32 minutes.

 

Oh yeah, he also got ejected for throwing an elbow at a guy. :lol:

 

Colangelo and Stefanski were both in attendance to watch this game.

 

Him getting 32 minutes is good. Is there a reason Colangelo and Stefanski were at the game or was it just a random game they chose to go to?

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Him getting 32 minutes is good. Is there a reason Colangelo and Stefanski were at the game or was it just a random game they chose to go to?

 

Sorry for not responding earlier. I just noticed your question.

 

There wasn't any particular reason why they were there. They were probably doing some scouting or something and popped in to watch him play.

 

They have both went over to Lithuania to watch him before and I'm sure will be there to watch him again at least a few more times before the season is over.

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On Firday he had:

 

12 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in 21 minutes (game was a blowout for Rytas)

 

Some posters over at Real GM who watched the game said that he had 2 more blocks that he wasn't given credit for, so if they are correct, he actually had 4 blocks and not 2. 4 blocks in 21 minutes is pretty impressive.

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Nothing really noteworthy, but Colangelo's comments from his scouting trip. There is a bit more in the link.

 

Colangelo and executive vice-president of basketball operations Ed Stefanski watched Valanciunas put up a strong outing against Bennetton Treviso (17 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks by his count) and saw him go through a spirited practice, despite being tired.

 

“He had a spectacular game when we were there and also a very solid practice. They had just come in from playing a game in the Czech Republic,” he said.

 

Getting face time with Valanciunas — a dinner, a chance to discuss what needs to be worked on and what to expect as the summer approaches — made for “an extremely positive trip.”

 

Colangelo said Valanciunas, selected fifth overall by the club, has “gotten a little bit bigger physically” and “a little more fluid inside.”

 

No longer just a screen and roll player, the Lithuanian centre is starting to expand his game, though the GM cautioned there is still work to be done.

 

This summer, Lithuania will be playing in a last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela. If the team qualifies for London, Valanciunas will not be able to attend NBA summer league, alongside whoever Toronto selects in the 2012 draft.

 

The tournament goes from July 2-9, while summer league should start about a week later.

 

“It’s safe to say, if they qualify, he’s going right back into training at the Olympics. If they don’t qualify, he’ll be in a better position to join us,” Colangelo said.

 

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/01/raptors-check-out-big-v

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12 points, 9 rebounds (would've been 11 by NBA scoring standards), 2 assists and 3 blocks in 26 minutes today.

 

Jonas remains one of the most efficient Eurocup top 16 players.

 

 

While playing only 24:25 minutes per game in the top 16, he is averaging 11.3 points, leading entire league in rebounds (9.8) and blocks (2) per game, and is top 10 in True Shooting % (65.2 TS%).

 

 

His per 36 numbers are insane : 16.7 pp36. 14.5 rp36

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Valanciunas played today and I'm not exactly sure what he finished with. I know he had 16 points (5/6 shooting and 6/6 from the line), 4 rebounds and 4 blocks in 19 minutes after the 3rd quarter. From what I read on RealGM he made some poor mistakes in the 4th and the coach decided to go small, so I doubt his final stats were much more than what I posted above.

 

As for how he is doing, well...

 

1st. in efficiency (23.3)

1st. in points per game (15.8)

2nd. in FG% (71.1%)

4th. in fouls drawn (4.8)

6th. in FT% (85.25%)

6th. in rebounds per game (7.4)

2nd. in Off. rebounds per game (2.9)

1st. in blocks per game (2)

 

(numbers are Lithuanian League games)

 

The best part of all this? He is doing this all in 23 minutes a game, which is 47th in the league.

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Couple of things today.

 

First, he played today against Prokom, which has Donatas Motiejunas, a 1st round pick of the Rockets last season on it and put up:

 

13 points, 14 rebounds (6 offensive) and 4 blocks on 4/10 FG and 5/8 FT in 30 minutes.

 

Not his usual efficiency as he shot just 40% opposed to his typical 65%+ but he did a great job on the glass.

 

Most impressively is that he held Motiejunas to 10 points, 9 boards, 2 steals, 2/9 FG (2/2 3PT) and 4/4 FT.

 

Motiejunas was 0/7 at one point, but hit two threes late. They weren't guarding each other the whole game, but there were times when they were on each other.

 

Some highlights.

 

 

Jonas specific highlights were:

 

Jumper at 35 seconds

Spin at 1:40

Block at 1:55

Up and under at 2:53

 

 

 

Second, he was named FIBA Europe's Young Men's Player of the Year today:

 

Jeff Zillgitt @usat_jzillgitt

Lithuania's Jonas Valanciunas, TOR's No. 5 pick in 2011 draft & still in Europe, named FIBA Europe's Young Men's Player of the Year today.

 

Rubio won this award three times, Rudy Fernzandez won it and last season Jan Vesely won it, although many thought Valanciunas should've won it last year as well, but Partozan (Vesely's team) had a really good year so I guess Vesely got it, even though Jonas was better.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been a long time since I last updated this thread, but there has been some news of late.

 

I'll start off with his LKL All-Star game numbers.

 

He had 25 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assist and 1 block on 11/16 shooting from 2 PT and 1/1 from 3 PT in 23 minutes.

 

(For those who are interested, Sonny Weems had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks in 18 minutes and he also won the dunk contest)

 

 

 

Secondly, here are some updates on his game logs (from all three of the leagues he plays in):

 

Feb 13th: 13 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks

Feb 21st: 17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks

Feb 25th: 15 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks

Feb 28th: 17 points, 7 rebounds

March 2nd: 18 points, 7 rebounds

 

 

Thirdly, he was named MVP of the VTB United League for February.

 

 

Finally, in Chad Ford's draft chat earlier this week, he said that Valanciunas would be hands down the 2nd pick in this years draft, behind Anthony Davis.

 

Thomas (Toronto)

 

Valanciunas has been performing at a very high level this year in Europe. If he was in the 2012 NBA draft, where would he be picked?

 

Chad Ford (1:43 PM)

 

I think he'd be the No. 2 pick hands down. Looks like the Raptors got a steal at No. 5 last year.

 

 

Hope this makes up for my slacking in this thread over the last 3 weeks or so.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Since the last update:

 

Mar 7th: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks in 28 minutes

Mar 9th: 6 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block in 16 minutes

Mar 13th: 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block in 28 minutes

Mar 16th: 17 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks in 27 minutes

Mar 20th: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks (not sure how many minutes)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Been almost a month since the last update, so I figured I'd post some more.

 

Mar 23: 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists on 6-10 FG in 27 minutes

Mar 27: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block on 6-6 FG in 25 minutes

Mar 30: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks on 4-5 FG in 20 minutes

Mar 31: 6 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks on 3-7 FG in 25 minutes

Apr 2: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block on 6-9 FG in 29 minutes

Apr 8: 6 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks on 2-6 FG in 25 minutes

Apr 10: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals on 3-5 FG in 20 minutes

Apr 14: 4 points, 1 assist on 1-2 FG in 8 minutes

Apr 15: 10 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks on 4-7 FG in 26 minutes

Apr 18: 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks on 3-6 FG in 28 minutes

 

 

He also was named 2011-12 Eurocup Rising Star:

 

Jonas Valanciunas has been named the 2011-12 Eurocup Rising Star Trophy winner.

 

Valanciunas raned second in index (16.9) and rebounding &.9) and fourth in blocks (1.6).

 

Donatas Motiejunas, Victor Claver and Milan Macvan have won the award in the previous three seasons.

 

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/220259/Valanciunas_Named_11_12_Eurocup_Rising_Star_Trophy_Winner#ixzz1sYKjHv9g

 

He finished 2nd in MVP voting for one of the leagues he plays in, although I can't remember exactly which league it was.

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I wish he was playing in the summer league. I know he will be playing better ball, but still, I wanna see him dominate in the summer league. Really anxious for this kid, but I think it is going to be important for all fans to be patient... if Davis is any sort of indication, Casey will probably be bringing him along slowly, very slowly.

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I wish he was playing in the summer league. I know he will be playing better ball, but still, I wanna see him dominate in the summer league. Really anxious for this kid, but I think it is going to be important for all fans to be patient... if Davis is any sort of indication, Casey will probably be bringing him along slowly, very slowly.

Is he going to be in the Olympics?

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Is he going to be in the Olympics?

 

Yeah, he should, assuming nothing happens between now and then.

 

I'm not sure how much he will play as his minutes were sporadic in last summer's European Championship, but they did increase as the tournament went on and it was also just his first time playing for the senior mens team. With another year of development and more experience to draw on, he might even be the starter, but who knows.

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I wish he was playing in the summer league. I know he will be playing better ball, but still, I wanna see him dominate in the summer league.

 

You may actually get your wish.

 

Eric Koreen ‏ @ekoreen

DC said that if Lithuania fails to qualify for olympics, he expects Valanciunas will be in summer league.

 

I would be fairly surprised if Lithuania doesn't qualify for the Olympics, especially with Kleiza being back on the team and another year of Valanciunas development, but it is a possibility.

 

I doubt he plays in the U-20's since we saw how much better he is than everybody else when he dominated the U-19's last year. I would imagine he would play in the Summer League over that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think Valanciunas grew a couple inches this past year. He was measured at 6'11 prior to the draft last year, but...

 

http://i45.tinypic.com/a25ic5.jpg

 

216cm would be just over 7'1.

 

David Aldridge made a comment about him being 7'2 now and if this picture is accurate, that statement isn't far off.

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Played his last game for Rytas today and will now have the next 2.5 weeks off before Lithanian National Team camp starts at the end of the month. That is probably the most rest he has had since the draft last year. He sure has played a lot of ball over the past year.

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