Jonas Valanciunas: A Positive Eurobasket Performance

By Joshua Howe | Sep 21, 2015

Apr 11, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas (17) reacts after fouling out of the game during the second half against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

Ah, it’s that time of year again. Can you smell it in the air? Hear it on the breeze? Training camp is coming, and everywhere the prototypical method of hyping up NBA players is beginning to pop up as it does every year.

You’ll get to hear about how your favourite player put on “x” amount of pounds (and how much of it is muscle), how they improved “x” amount of skills over the summer (and which ones are actually applicable to their game) and how, inevitably, they’ve been shooting “x” amount of three-pointers every single day since last season ended.

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At least if you’re a Toronto Raptors fan, there’s a little more substance for that sort of hype than there is for some other teams. The Raps had a couple players active and in the spotlight this summer, with Jonas Valanciunas bringing the most to the table.

Toronto’s center must be pretty pleased after signing that big deal with the team, because he sure seemed like he was having fun when he was out there balling for Lithuania in the EuroBasket 2015 tournament. If nothing else, fans can wipe their brows with relief because it sure doesn’t look like Valanciunas is planning on coasting despite being locked into a comfy new contract.

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But after watching Jonas in the tourney, there’s a lot more than just non-coasting to be excited about.

Here’s the first thing: JV led Lithuania in points, rebounds and blocks for the entire tournament (nine games), championing his squad all the way to the final matchup against Spain (which they lost to Pau Gasol and company). He averaged 16 points, 8.4 boards and 1.4 blocks per game, shooting a healthy 59.1 percent from the floor as well as 85.7 percent from the free throw line.

And the second thing: it was the way that Valanciunas accumulated those stats that’s impressive. If you have been watching the young big man through his NBA career so far, one of the major knocks on him is that he can’t seem to stay consistent with his output on the floor. He often looks like he gets winded quickly running up and down the court, and oftentimes on offense he uses the same one-note approach: pump-fake and try to get to the hole.

NBA defenses figure players out pretty fast, and JV was no exception last season. His same move over and over when he was 10 feet out or farther started yielding nothing. Adding on to that, he was partially so ineffective from there because he was tentative in taking jumpers, and would often shoot them too late or not take the shot at all.

JV only took about six percent of his shots last season from the 10-16 foot range, but when he did shoot from there he made just 39 percent of his attempts.

Letting him work on the block, though, is a different story. Jonas has shown the world many times that he’s actually got a nice array of post moves hidden up his sleeveless jersey. His hook shot is especially potent, since that shot is already nearly impossible to block and when you factor in his length, it’s game over so long as he’s in the zone.

But the same problems that bothered Valanciunas from a little ways outside the paint managed to insidiously work their way into his post game at times too. At times he would be too tentative, taking a dribble here and there when he didn’t need to or bringing the ball down so that opponents could swipe it away rather than keeping it up high and finishing that way.

He also had a habit of catching the ball in the post and then hesitating just a moment too long. Instead of trying to figure out what to do once he had caught the ball, it of course would have been much better if he had already known what he was going to do next once he’d caught it.

Still, improvements concerning those sorts of things come with time. JV is still young, and there have been many instances where he’s shown flashes of dominance. Usually that meant that he would stop thinking so much and just ball.

So now we get to the summer improvements. In the best game he played during the course of the tournament, Jonas did exactly what we all desperately want him to. He stopped thinking so much and just went out there and brought the pain.

The result? The decimation of Italy’s EuroBasket title hopes:

Raptors fans should find that video especially satisfying, since JV spends a lot of that game tearing Andrea Bargnani a new one. It doesn’t quite erase the damage done by those Primo Pasta commercials, but it’s a start.

Sure, that was just one game (I hear you, people screaming: “Small sample size!!!”). But for the majority of the tourney, JV played closer to this level than not, with his second-worst contest (that Georgia game was weird) coming against Spain in the final, where he put up 10 points and nine rebounds.

The point to focus on (and get excited about) is this: the hesitation on jump shots and in the post, the over-thinking, the fatigued movement, none of it seemed to be there. Against Italy, Valanciunas showcased to us what he can do when he’s figured it out and when he’s having fun.

If this keeps up, it’ll sure be a lot of fun for Raptors fans too. So as we inch closer and closer to training camp, you can tell your friend who tries to explain the inevitability of Carmelo Anthony shooting over 50 percent this year that you actually have some tangible evidence that Valanciunas is improving, and that he’s getting ready to take the league by storm.

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