Toronto Raptors: Much Bigger Role Coming For Jonas Valanciunas

Returning for his sophomore season with the Toronto Raptors, Jonas Valanciunas and the rest of the team have big expectations for himself in mind.

After a busy summer in Las Vegas and in Europe, Valanciunas is looking at the 2014 season as one to break out. Coach Dwane Casey said he has changed up the offense in order to feature the 21-year-old as a bigger option than last year.

"“That’s part of the offense that will change quite a bit because he has developed into the type of player that we can go to on a consistent basis far more than we did last year,” Casey said."

As Toronto has focused on improving the outside shooting game with Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan and acquiring Steve Novak, it’s important to have a low post presence in order to give the shooters the space they need to operate. If Valanciunas can provide more of that this season, the Raptors may have a shot at the playoffs.

For a player as raw as he is, Valanciunas turned out doing rather well in his rookie season. For the year he averaged 8.94 points, six rebounds and 1.26 blocks per game in 23.9 minutes. His success earned him a spot on the All-Rookie Second Team.

Is Jonas Valanciunas a future All-Star? (Photo by Matthew Addie/Flickr.com)

Valanciunas’ first opportunity at improvement came in the Las Vegas Summer League, where he was named MVP and averaged a double-double of 18.75 points and 10 rebounds per game on 56.1 percent shooting. He struggled with turnovers though, averaging five per game.

Valanciunas had his pump fake down in the summer league, consistently finding an opening by getting his defender to fall for the fake. After getting a “man among boys” reception in Vegas, Raptors coach Dwane Casey called him an All-Star in the making.

However, Eurobasket 2013 proved to be quite an obstacle for Valanciunas. Though he helped Lithuania win the silver medal in the tournament, it wasn’t by a lot.

For the tournament, Valanciunas averaged 6.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Though his strength is something that many have noticed as a positive change, it seems though he still unsure of how to use it. He was expected to be a huge part of the Lithuanian national team, yet consistently got in foul trouble and averaged only 16.5 minutes per game because of it.

So far in training camp, the Raptors have made it very clear that they’re still relying on Valanciunas to come through for the team this upcoming season, making him an X-factor to their success. Monday night in the first preseason game against the Boston Celtics, Valanciunas posted 10 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes before fouling out of the 97-89 win.

There’s not a lot of competition for the starting center spot behind Valanciunas. The opportunity to become an All-Star is in front of him and Toronto feels he’s ready to take it.

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