We picked a scrawny kid instead of a potentially great pg. I'm more then willing to give Jonas a chance, but I really would of rather had Knight. Colangelo took one massive risk here, as he could be out of a job before Valancuinas ever plays an NBA game.
Listening to ESPN over the week, couple guys think Knight will be a bust (of course they can be wrong).
Now, Jonas is likely not coming over this year. Let him develop overseas and try to get another high pick and hopefully draft a good pg next year. Of course they have to move Andrea as well.
But with the future won't be too bad...
PG next year
DeRozen
????/Johnson
Davis/Amir
Jonas
Amir Johnson loves Toronto and hes really good buddy of DeRozen so this core might stick around for awhile. One can hope...With the current roster top pick in not out of the question.
At first I disagreed with the pick, but I really really like it now. The problem with Knight and Walker is they're not primary ball distributors. Haven't we already seen TJ Ford? Our guy has solid size, the video's appear he has solid mechanics, smarts, and he looks like he has energy. Getting a big like that to have energy to me is huge, and I'm glad the Raps took him. Moving up to be Kanter would be been something I'd have wished, but I guess Utah was intent on getting him anyway.
Is anyone else absolutely shocked that Cleveland got Thompson? At 4 how do you not take a guy like Valanciunas or trade down where you'd likely get Thompson anyway (or a very good consolation prize)? I don't get it, but anyway, I do like what the Raps did, and I'm sure the guy has a very good chance to reach his potential, so that's nice.
Is anyone else absolutely shocked that Cleveland got Thompson? At 4 how do you not take a guy like Valanciunas or trade down where you'd likely get Thompson anyway (or a very good consolation prize)? I don't get it, but anyway, I do like what the Raps did, and I'm sure the guy has a very good chance to reach his potential, so that's nice.
It seemed like it was a perfect fit for Cleveland as they could selll the drafting of Irving for immediate results for fans and take the gamble on Valanciunas coming through in the future. Not sure that taking a guy that will have a real hard time scoring in the top 5 is a great pick.
Knight didn't seem like a good fit, especially with Derozen on the team already. That is two athletic, dumb players with selfish streaks. To me that doesn't seem like a recipe for success, but really any combination of Derozen and player X is going to be a bad backcourt.
Once again the Raptors were in a tough spot in the draft with there really being no good fit for them as there wasn't a true PG, wasn't a scoring wing and wasn't a tough Center to help them out. It seemed like most of the guys available were a lot of what they already had.
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if they were going to pick a C i would've much rather they moved down for biyombo somehow. i've warmed up a little bit to j val, but the guy is not very athletic as most scouts claim (at least not from the highlights i've seen). just a high motor. not a great shotblocker. pretty much biyombo offense right now, except he's great on the pick and roll (looks like he'll get nailed with lots of moving picks too).
It seemed like it was a perfect fit for Cleveland as they could selll the drafting of Irving for immediate results for fans and take the gamble on Valanciunas coming through in the future. Not sure that taking a guy that will have a real hard time scoring in the top 5 is a great pick.
Knight didn't seem like a good fit, especially with Derozen on the team already. That is two athletic, dumb players with selfish streaks. To me that doesn't seem like a recipe for success, but really any combination of Derozen and player X is going to be a bad backcourt.
Once again the Raptors were in a tough spot in the draft with there really being no good fit for them as there wasn't a true PG, wasn't a scoring wing and wasn't a tough Center to help them out. It seemed like most of the guys available were a lot of what they already had.
Yeah, it's really perplexing that Cleveland passed on him. There were rumours that they had a trade in the works (possibly with Charlotte involving Thompson and the #7 pick). Irving is a great pick-and-roll PG. Valanciunas is a great P&R center. That could have been a really deadly combination.
On that note, I think one of the best things Bayless can do is really work on developing his pick-and-roll game, and convince management that he can mesh perfectly with Valanciunas. He's definitely got the finishing ability, but his passing, court-vision and decision-making aren't there yet.
I think the Raptors made the right choice. This guy was a top 4 pick but his contract problems were a factor. But the Raptors aren't going anywhere fast anyhow and there maybe no NBA next year. So the big guy plays another year in Europe, does not count against the salary cap and they grab a Free agent stopgap center in the meantime.
Casey said they were after some vet center. Meaning they can move AB to the four and see if he works with a defensive stopper at the 5.
This year will be all about Casey getting them to play defense --that chore should easily take all season.
So Valanciunas' buyout has been been arranged, he's staying in Europe for 2011-12, and then moving to Toronto for the start of the 2012 season. If the NBA season is cancelled, it's great, otherwise it's sort of meh... but at least it's not going to be a Rubio situation where he spends several years over there. There are also rumours that the deal is structured in such a way that the Raptors will have input into his usage and development next year.
As for the Raptors next year, I agree they're going to get a high lotto pick, but there's a lot of other questions they need to answer: are they going to keep Bargnani, Davis or both? I hope they end up building around Davis, Valanciunas and DeRozan, trade Bargs for a capable young PG, and draft an elite SF next year (possibly Barnes, McAdoo, Jones, or Miller, or someone else currently not on the radar).
I don't know very much about basketball but my impression of the Raptor's draft is that they are going for the #1 overall pick next year.
They were going for the number 1 pick next year regardless of what happened at the draft and with the bunch of crap that they have on the roster they likely will be picking high for awhile.
he looks like a poor man's version of young shaq with old shaq's vertical.....uses his length too much, hopefully he will learn to use strength when he gets stronger
If anyone is interested in watching Valanciunas live, the FIBA U19 tournament will be streamed from the FIBA site starting with the quarterfinals early next week.
Right now the group round is going on, and while it would be fun to watch it live as well, the level of competition makes it difficult to evaluate. Against Korea Valanciunas just had a first quarter where he shot 7/7 from the field, 3/3 from the line, for 17 points and 11 rebounds in 10 minutes. At least he's merciless, but that's about all you can get out of today's game.
Tomorrow Lithuania plays Canada, and I'm curious to see how Canadian 7'4" Center Sim Bhullar does against him. I'm guessing Bhullar (and team Canada) gets destroyed, but I'm hoping he at least has some moments of success. Canada's in tough in this tournament without their top three guys in the age class (Kabongo, Birch, Wiltjer), but I'd be happy with them finishing somewhere in the 5-8 group.
Still a very slow summer in Raptors news, but Valanciunas made the senior national team as the third-string center, and after some injuries to other players, he's now played 3 games as the backup center in the European Olympic Qualifying tournament. In those 3 games, he's averaging 13 points, 1.3 steals, 1.3 blocks, 4.7 rebounds in 21 minutes, and is shooting an impressive 75% from the field. Good news that he keeps measuring up against increasingly tough levels of competition. Next up he'll be going up against France's NBA-calibre big men, Noah and Diaw. I think France will win the tournament with Spain second, but Lithuania have themselves in great position to qualify for the Olympics.
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Another Valanciunas update: Just had one of the most impressive shifts I've seen in his young career. With Lithuania playing a game that they need to win to qualify for the next round, they put Valanciunas in with about six minutes to go and the game tied. Up to that point, Valanciunas had struggled with just 6 points and 0 rebounds, as Nowitzki and Kaman had played pretty much the whole game for Germany and for the most part dominated the paint.
Over the next five minutes, Jonas goes off for 9 pts, 4 rebounds (3 offensive), a block on Nowitzki, a key foul drawn on Kaman, and leaves the game with Lithuania holding a 7 point lead with 40 seconds left. Pretty much got everything he wanted and won the game against a couple excellent NBA big men. Granted they were exhausted and he was very fresh playing less than 20 minutes, but still impressive.
Last edited by octothorp; 09-11-2011 at 04:53 PM.
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I've watched quite a few highlights of this guy from this tournament and he definitely looks solid. Actually, I think he looks great. The only concern I have about his game, is his vertical leap. He's a tall guy, but he has the equivalent leap of Yao. He tries had to get height, but his legs don't get that high off the ground, even when he goes up for the dunk. Of course dunking is the most overrated part of the game, but my concern is that in the NBA if he doesn't get a little more height, he'll be blocked even on his jump shots. Aside from that, boy that looks like a good pick. Finally a Euro with calculated aggressiveness in the paint!
based on those highlights he looks like he has good basketball instincts and is willing to defend. He'd have been called for a few more fouls in the NBA on some of those defensive plays though.
He'll have to add another 25 or 30 pounds though.
Any word on Bargniani this offseason?
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"OOOOOOHHHHHHH those Russians" - Boney M
^ Bargnani's trimmed down quite a bit, and he's actually been quite aggressive in his play. The enigma that is Bargnani will continue to be wondered about once the season begins.
Bargnani has had a good tournament as well. Ranks second in ppg, seventh in rebounds and third in blocks. But Italy sucks and they didn't make the second round.
I've watched quite a few highlights of this guy from this tournament and he definitely looks solid. Actually, I think he looks great. The only concern I have about his game, is his vertical leap. He's a tall guy, but he has the equivalent leap of Yao. He tries had to get height, but his legs don't get that high off the ground, even when he goes up for the dunk. Of course dunking is the most overrated part of the game, but my concern is that in the NBA if he doesn't get a little more height, he'll be blocked even on his jump shots. Aside from that, boy that looks like a good pick. Finally a Euro with calculated aggressiveness in the paint!
I think that's pretty-much spot-on to what I see with him. On the offensive end he seems to have a lot of good paint moves and can usually create good separation from his defender, but if he's put in a situation where help defense is keying on him, that lack of explosive leaping might hurt more. Another good habit he has is when he's working from beside the basket and can't dunk, he puts it off the glass quickly, which makes it much tougher to block than if he just tries to put it directly in.
His current jump-shot usage is basically only when he's wide open as a way to keep defenders honest, and I really hope he sticks to that pattern, even if his jump shot is pretty good. If he tweaks it and makes his release point a little higher, he's only going to get blocked if a guy is flying at him, or right in his face, and in that situation his mobility should give him the advantage if he puts the ball on the floor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by killer_carlson
based on those highlights he looks like he has good basketball instincts and is willing to defend. He'd have been called for a few more fouls in the NBA on some of those defensive plays though.
Yeah, there's going to be a bit of an adjustment period. He needs to bulk up to a similar body that Noah has... Noah was pretty skinny (like 220) when he came in, but built the perfect body for the sort of high-energy game he plays.
And defensive fouls will definitely be a problem at first. Also, he'd be called for a lot of moving screens in the NBA, which is a big part of his game. And the differences in the offensive goaltending rules might take some time for him to adapt to, as he gets a lot of put-backs that would be 'in the cylinder' in the NBA.
edit: It's also worth noting with Bargnani, that Italy used him off the bench for most of the tournament, and he did great in that role. Hopefully Casey takes a good look at whether that approach would work in Toronto.
Last edited by octothorp; 09-12-2011 at 03:21 PM.
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The Toronto Raptors named Ed Stefanski as the team's executive vice-president of basketball operations Wednesday.
Stefanski previously worked in the front office for both the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets.
Quote:
"Ed Stefanski embodies everything I was hoping to attain when the search began for a top level basketball executive to join our staff," Colangelo said in a release. "Ed brings to the table experience, smarts and a great feel for the game and of people."
Bah, been rumoured for so long, but I had really hoped that Stefanski would fall through and we'd end up with Lindsay. Still, another voice will be good for Colangelo, and good that they got this resolved before the lockout ends (about a year before the lockout ends, in my opinion).
