# Raptors sign 2011 1st rd pick Jonas Valančiūnas



## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

Excited to see him.




> Marc J. Spears ‏@SpearsNBAYahoo
> 
> Raptors sign 2011 first round pick Jonas Valanciunas. Make sure you check out Lithuanian in Olympics. Scouts say he will be special in NBA.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Very exciting rookie, and we've got the Olympics to enjoy to really get a feel for his game.


Sent from my iPhone using VerticalSports


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Anybody catch his game yesterday at the Olympics? I missed it, but looks like the coach kept him out of the game for large parts again. 

Box score shows he was 3/4 FG, 3 drb, 2 orb. It was probably his 3 personal fouls that kept him sat, but LTU got blown out, so you think he would have got some more burn.


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## JonMatrix (Apr 8, 2003)

I watched the first half. When he was in there, his teammates ignored him on offense. Lithuania's perimeter defense was awful yesterday...Manu got into the paint at will and Delfino was hitting every shot he took from the outside. Scola had a great game. Prigoni and Manu controlled the tempo.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

This LTU team is notorious in its 'senior' player bias. 

Smh. 

Thanks for the quick recap.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Val really hasn't got much to any burn in this Olympic tournament. I was looking forward to seeing him.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Just watched LTU v Russia in the QF game. The coach went with Val in crunch time and he gave a good showing. He set hard picks, he rolled to the basket very well, hit his FTs and hustled for offensive rebounds. On the defensive end his pick and roll defense was exposed a couple of times but he was active and went hard on the glass.

We should all be very excited.


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## c_dog (Sep 15, 2002)

i said it at the time of the draft and i'll say it again, but we should have gone with kemba walker...


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## R-Star (Jun 13, 2002)

c_dog said:


> i said it at the time of the draft and i'll say it again, but we should have gone with kemba walker...


Not going to wait for him to play even 1 NBA game?


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

c-dog is a basically a Raptors centric troll.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

Wasn't all that impressed with this guy in London, but I'll give you Kemba for him no questions asked.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Did you watch the QF game?


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## c_dog (Sep 15, 2002)

Porn Player said:


> c-dog is a basically a Raptors centric troll.


troll? i'm just the only raptor fan who has perspective. something most raptor fans lack. porn is also a ridiculously hard BC jockrider. Remember when you said hedo turkoglu was going to make the raps a playoff team and how Kleiza was a bargain and how he was going to be a huge part of the raptors future? Not to mention you thought bargnani was a franchise player(though you finally seemed to have stopped believing that the last year). The fact that you think jonas is going to be anything more than an average player does not make wasting a first rounder on him any better.

i would love for the raptors to make good basketball decisions so i don't have to criticize them on forums. you think if the raps drafted austin rivers this year or kemba walker last year that i would still act like a "troll"?


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## -James- (Apr 27, 2004)

I honestly mean no disrespect by this, but especially when it comes to rookies and the draft, it really doesn't matter what you think. What happens if Jonas or Ross pan out or Kemba or Rivers flop? Let's not pretend like you're some master scout or that franchise players are this easy to pick out. So let's cut this "good basketball decisions" nonsense, please. If you don't like a certain player on this team or if you'd have rather had another, than whatever, but let's not act like these franchise-saving moves were obvious ones.

edit: and please save this "perspective" stuff, if you walk up any Toronto street and ask around, most people really do not think much of this team.


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## -James- (Apr 27, 2004)

For the record, I hated the Bargnani, Davis and Jonas picks, as well as the Kleiza signing and most notably the Marion trade. I believe I even went as far as to say that I preferred Babs to Colangelo at one point.


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## seifer0406 (Jun 8, 2003)

c_dog said:


> troll? i'm just the only raptor fan who has perspective. something most raptor fans lack. porn is also a ridiculously hard BC jockrider. Remember when you said hedo turkoglu was going to make the raps a playoff team and how Kleiza was a bargain and how he was going to be a huge part of the raptors future? Not to mention you thought bargnani was a franchise player(though you finally seemed to have stopped believing that the last year). The fact that you think jonas is going to be anything more than an average player does not make wasting a first rounder on him any better.
> 
> i would love for the raptors to make good basketball decisions so i don't have to criticize them on forums. you think if the raps drafted austin rivers this year or kemba walker last year that i would still act like a "troll"?


remember that time when we argued who should be part of our young core, Kleiza or Sonny Weems?

btw, Kemba Walker is decent but he's not a great player. Jonas might not pan out but it's not like we missed out on some perennial allstar.


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## c_dog (Sep 15, 2002)

seifer0406 said:


> remember that time when we argued who should be part of our young core, Kleiza or Sonny Weems?
> 
> btw, Kemba Walker is decent but he's not a great player. Jonas might not pan out but it's not like we missed out on some perennial allstar.


i think it's safe to say weems outplayed kleiza despite kleiza getting the nod to start the season. kleiza played like garbage for us. and his contract... ridiculous. weems became expandable when the team acquired guys like james johnson and now terrence.

and walker is likely closer to making the all star game than jonas. iguodala isn't a perennial all-star either and it still hurts to see him play against the raptors. walker likely won't be anywhere as good as iguodala but a better player is a better player.


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## seifer0406 (Jun 8, 2003)

c_dog said:


> i think it's safe to say weems outplayed kleiza despite kleiza getting the nod to start the season. kleiza played like garbage for us. and his contract... ridiculous. weems became expandable when the team acquired guys like james johnson and now terrence.
> 
> and walker is likely closer to making the all star game than jonas. iguodala isn't a perennial all-star either and it still hurts to see him play against the raptors. walker likely won't be anywhere as good as iguodala but a better player is a better player.


I don't think Weems outplayed Kleiza but let's assume he did. So what? They both suck, we were both wrong.

You're on your high horse trying to knock other fans for their previous statements, the fact is you've made the same if not more bad calls in the past than any one of us.

Of course Walker is closer than making an all star game than Jonas, Jonas haven't played in the league yet.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

c_dog said:


> troll? i'm just the only raptor fan who has perspective. something most raptor fans lack. porn is also a ridiculously hard BC jockrider. Remember when you said hedo turkoglu was going to make the raps a playoff team and how Kleiza was a bargain and how he was going to be a huge part of the raptors future? Not to mention you thought bargnani was a franchise player(though you finally seemed to have stopped believing that the last year). The fact that you think jonas is going to be anything more than an average player does not make wasting a first rounder on him any better.
> 
> i would love for the raptors to make good basketball decisions so i don't have to criticize them on forums. you think if the raps drafted austin rivers this year or kemba walker last year that i would still act like a "troll"?


Huh? 

Now you're straight lying, that's not cool. 

I just pulled these straight from the Linas signing thread.



Porn Player said:


> 20 Million? **** YOU BC.





c_dog said:


> i don't see the point to this. he's a SF and this team needs a bigman, especially a 5. i'm quite content with weems and derozan taking all the minutes at the 2 and 3 and i don't want to see a mediocre journeyman added to the rotation. linas aint no scrub, but he ain't anything special either. 5mil per is a pretty generous contract for him actually, if you look at what some other guys like maurice evans, matt barnes have been making.


You wanted Weems to stick around as a starter. :laugh: 

Oh and Bargnani is our franchise player.


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## c_dog (Sep 15, 2002)

Porn Player said:


> Huh?
> 
> Now you're straight lying, that's not cool.
> 
> ...


barbnani is not a franchise player. raptors are just an unfortunate team to have to pay him like he is one.

and yes, i wanted weems to stick around as there was clearly no better option at the time. he was as good if not better than kleiza and there was no point in ever signing kleiza to that ridiculous contract. tell me with a straight face that raptors are not wasting their cap space on that bum. by comparison raptors were paying weems like 700,000 for the season... not that weems blew our minds away or anything either other than occasional good games before he started having back problems.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

No apology for your original lie? 

Bargnani is our Franchise player. And $10m a year, it's not even paying him like one. He doesn't deserve more money, he's getting paid about right. 

Weems is not good enough. Neither is Kleiza.


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## Junkyard Dog13 (Aug 9, 2003)

Kemba is just going to be a average PG, Val has potential to be a good starting hard nosed C, who will gain recognition from players and opposing coaches as to how he plays D. I see him as a mix of Biedrins and M.Gasol, we could of had Biedrins but babs took hoffa wwhich was the worst pick in franchise history.


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## c_dog (Sep 15, 2002)

Porn Player said:


> No apology for your original lie?
> 
> Bargnani is our Franchise player. And $10m a year, it's not even paying him like one. He doesn't deserve more money, he's getting paid about right.
> 
> Weems is not good enough. Neither is Kleiza.


which thread is that **** BC quote from? is that a comment of Kleiza? i just remembered you were one of the posters who liked Kleiza. I thought i had remembered that you were okay with his contract. if you disagreed with his contract as well and i remembered it wrong then i do apologize. one of my main points with the kleiza signing was that he was too expensive while not being better than weems and that has turned out true. and now he is just eating up salary while contributing next to nothing.

I don't think Bargnani is a franchise player, but he is our best player(how sad is that). He is not good enough and is not popular enough to be a franchise player. Raptors ticket sale would be the same even if you deal away bargnani for nothing. and his contract was always a mistake, though with the other bad contracts on this team his contract seems almost reasonable. calderone at 10.5mil, kleiza close to 5mil, and amir johnson at 6-7mil are close to untradeable. at least calderon has value as a expiring contract. i'm not sure if there are teams that would have wanted to pay bargnani 10-12million per.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

That '**** you BC' quote was the 3rd reply in the 'Raptors sign Kleiza' thread. It's all good though, I was just shocked when I saw what you had put.


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## southeasy (Jun 11, 2003)

good to see you're all still kicking.

haven't been looking forward to a season like this in years.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Great article to be found here



> “I am ready for this,” he says. “My life will change … I think that really, I am ready.”
> 
> Valanciunas could have waited a while to go to Toronto with the training camp not tipping off until 1 October, but he needs to find a place to live and get his bearings in the NBA’s only Canadian city and left Lithuania over the weekend for North America.
> 
> “I want to handle matters,” he says. “It’s necessary to get acclimatized, and find a home. I want a clear head start when it’s time to prepare for the season.”


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Another really good article. This one is a little more about Jonas and how he is adapting to the team, contains some funny stuff. 

Ball Don't Lie



> "For me basketball is about victories," he said. "If you're playing basketball you have to want to win. For me, from the young days, I want to win. I want to be in the first place. Everything is about competing."


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