Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 at 12:13 pm  |  58 responses

Jonas Valanciunas Throws Down Alley-oop Off The Glass (VIDEO)

Lithuanian center shows why he was the No. 5 pick.

It’s been a rough couple of years for the Toronto Raptors, but this year, help may be on the way. No, the Raptors didn’t succeed in bringing Steve Nash back home to Canada, but they do have Jonas Valanciunas, a 20-year-old 7-footer who they took with the fifth pick in the ’11 NBA Draft. Experts say that had Valanciunas been in this year’s Draft, he would have been the No. 2 pick. In Lithuania’s Olympic tune up against Iceland yesterday, he showed why.

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  • http://www.slamonline.com Dagger

    Well this is a stupid argument. First: Bosh and Vince signed extensions. Tmac left because of friction with Vince. Certainly nobody of any consequence has ever left the Raptors because they disliked the city. Toronto is the fifth-largest city in North America, an alpha world city, and the climate isn’t any cooler than that of Chicago or New York. Being in Toronto hardly prevented Vince Carter from being a superstar, and why should it: Toronto is about as American a city as they come. Either way, the idea that being away from New York or LA would have a major impact on your expansion is hopelessly outdated. Try harder.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Toronto is one of the top 5 biggest cities in North America. No one in their right mind, outside of David Simon, would rather live in Baltimore than Toronto–much less North Carolina. If Canada is foreign to you then Utah must be on some extra-terrestrial ish.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4FqOUz-Ia4 Ugh

    Don’t feed trolls, you idiot.

  • R32

    JV is breaking the stereotype of soft Euros. Dude goes hard in the MF paint! Welcome to TDOT!

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    That being said, Balmer is a great city too.

  • J

    I remember in one of your magazines you said he was most likely to be a bust in the nba among all the 2011 draftees. You even put kanter to be better than him! Jonas is going to make you guys look stupid. Maybe not in his rookie season but in a couple years.

  • Mike

    Jonas is the real deal. Has all the tools and mentality to be a top five NBA center. He just needs more weight (now up to 250 with 5% body fat). His body frame should be able to carry 275-280 without a problem once he grows up.

    He is an “alpha” male on the court and don’t take sheet from no one. Plays entirely in the paint and next to Dirk will probably be the best 7′ free throw shooter in the NBA. Shot well over 80% last season in about 60 games so you can’t do the hack a sheet against him.

    Very good defender and could be on par if not better than Anthony Davis on defense.

    Can’t wait to see Jonas and Amir on the court together especially with Lowery. No points in the paint for opponents with those three on the court. You can bet on it.

  • buschfire

    Toronto will be a sleeper team in the East, with the new additions and development of existing players on the team I think we’re gonna put up a fight. With Dwane Casey at the helm, our improved defensive efficiency in last years shortened season and overall change in culture to a defensive hard working team “pounding the rock”, we might be an 8th seed in the 2013 season. Val will be worth the wait but he still needs to prove himself in the NBA. He needs to fill out, grow and adapt. I think he is still actually 19 not 20 so he’s got a lot of ball ahead of him. In his first season he’s definitely going to have to adjust to NBA ball, he’ll prolly rack up a few fouls his first season. This kid, as people have said has the opportunity to be something special. He has his head on right, is humble and only getting better. It’ll be interesting to see how he does starting for Lithuania in the Olympics. I haven’t seen him play so far but in few minutes he has (due to foul trouble) he has been quite productive. What is interesting though, in FIBA ball he has been playing against grown men already so he does have a 1 up on the rest of the rookies entering this league this year. On top of getting him we also picked up Terrance Ross and Quincy Acy in the draft. Both of whom are going to impact the Raptors immediately, both in their own ways…. Quincy Acy like a Reggie Evans, hard nosed, hustle player but has a jump shot and is a beast at the rim! TRoss everyone thinks he was picked high at #8, everyone thought he was more like a 13 or 14th pick. I think he’s going to impress a lot of people this year, I’ll put money on it that he’ll be on the NBA all rookie team. Also with Kyle Lowry being traded from Houston, Landry Fields signing from NYC and John Lucas the III signing from Chi town we’re going to have a pretty solid back court. Of course we can’t forget Jose Calderon, Amir Johnson, Linas Kleiza, Aaron Gray & Ed Davis coming off the bench. We also have DeRozan who is not coming on as nicely as i hoped but still is young and has a long way to go. Finally if Bargnani can play like he did in the few games he was able to (he was out for most of the season with a calf injury) we’ve got a pretty decent team on our hands…

    P.S. Can’t forget the flexibility and cap space we have.

    To me, it looks like things are looking up in T Dot.

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