Toronto Raptors: Let Jonas Valanciunas Loose

The Toronto Raptors want to keep improving. With a new roster built around defense and small ball, it will be interesting to see how Dwane Casey handles Jonas Valanciunas since he’s arguably the only impactful BIG big man they’ve got.

Casey has already shown that he’s got a tight (and short) leash on Val. After his first three seasons in Toronto, the young center hasn’t improved dramatically in any statistical category. Instead, he’s remained consistent in both his good ways and bad.

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This says something perhaps about the developmental staff in Toronto to this point, but Casey has been a massive factor in deciding how Jonas’ potential is guided. Most notably, he’s taken JV out of numerous fourth quarters and kept the big man from playing in many key moments of games.

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His reasoning? He prefers defensive malleability; a lineup that can have a mobile big who is able to rush out to the perimeter and switch onto guards if necessary. Last season, Casey played Patrick Patterson over Valanciunas in most of the games’ dying moments.

It’s things like this that keep Jonas from breaking through to the next level. He has the talent, size and drive to do so. There have been games where he completely obliterates his opponents and looks like a man among boys on the floor. And then suddenly, the very next night, he’ll come out slow and haggard as if his confidence is wavering.

And that very well could be. There have been very few reasons for Val to get excited, what with the trust in him of the staff he plays for looking to be about equal with that of their trust in some guy they grabbed off the street, stuck in a Raptors uniform and said, “Go out and play.”

Because of his inconsistency, Jonas has only put up mediocre numbers that hardly ever get him noticed. Last season he averaged 12.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and shot 57.2 percent from the field and 78.6 percent from the foul line.

Good stats, but nothing sticks out.

His teammates have oddly appeared to be an issue at times as well. For example, there were lots of games last season where Kyle Lowry would feed Jonas the ball on the first few possessions, to get him going, and then, even if he scored on every one, the team would start going away from him.

I could never figure that out. Why go away from the guy who’s scoring at will? Casey doesn’t run any overly complex sets anyways. He’s all about defense and letting the offense grow out of stops.

So the pace would drop a bit, so what? It beats DeMar DeRozan chucking up shots when his aren’t falling or James Johnson attempting to shoot … well, anything. Giving the ball to Valanciunas in the half court is becoming a better and better idea. The kid’s got great instincts down there and a couple of surprisingly good moves.

Valanciunas is no Hakeem Olajuwon, but he’s definitely better than his numbers indicate. He just needs to find that elusive balance and maybe more people around him that believe in him and what he can accomplish.

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