Valanciunas' team believes that Rockets would select him if he can't reach a buyout

For a guy with that upside, 2 years and a #14 pick is nothing.
In all honesty, don't see him being available at #14 regardless of his contract situation.

 

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/38910

 

props cory.

 

Valanciunas is the best Big in this draft. His upside is Howardesque. No joke! Watch this guy, he's only 19 years old.

 

Just to set the record straight here. The first vid includes a lot of highlights from LKL games (non Zalgiris opponents)............

The LKL other than Zalgiris and Rytas (Valanciunas' team) is full of low level basketball teams. Overall, even with the two Euroleague clubs Zalgiris and Rytas, that league is something like the 12th-15th best league in Europe.

Some of the teams he is playing against there are amateur level almost. There are also a bunch of highlights from international high school competitions.

This is the same way that Americans looked at Rubio videos all those years and thought he was playing against Euroleague competition, which he hardly ever was. That first video is almost pointless considering the level of competition in most the clips.

The second vid is against Rytas' rival Zalgiris. Zalgiris is somewhere betweeb a mid-level to low-level Euroleague club. They are about 2 levels below the top Euroleague clubs.

So that is a better level of competition to judge by in the second vid, but it still is not a good team he is playing there. It's a very mediocre Euroleague team he is playing against there.

And in Euroleague, the team you play on, determines the level of basketball more so than the league itself.

Just to keep some proper perspective here, because I assure everyone in this forum, no way in hell does Valanciunas look like that in normal Euroleague competition.

This is the problem Americans always have with these overseas highlights videos, especially the ones from Europe. The problem of not being able to distinguish the level, and thinking everything is "Euroleague".

In all honesty, even the vid against Zalgiris is pretty useless as they play each other so many times during the season. I wouldn't take much of anything from those vids.

 

OHMSSS instead of talking crap about the NBA and every European who wants to play in the NBA why don't you embed vids showing what you're talking about?

For example, if Valanciunas really looks like a noob against "real" eurolevel competition why you post vids showing him laying a poop on the court instead of just posting something oppposite of what vids show?

 

Every ohmss post should be taken with a huge dose of salt. Does he have a base of Euro-ball knowledge? Yes. Does he give objective assessments? Hell no.

 

Highlight videos of a guy dunking aren't very informative either.

 

True. but he does run well, which is important.

 

Why do people keep saying we want a point guard? It seems like our point guard rotation is set.

 

You'd think if we were picking based on need (which isn't likely), it'd be small forward, not point guard.

 

People keep saying that houston thinks they can do more at the PG position. I wonder if that means that they are trying to "sell high" on Lowry. They have to be getting a ton of interest, given how friendly his contract is and coming off the year he had. I would hate to see him go because he provides a lot more than just what shows up on the stat sheet.

 

Absolutely right... but, I think those videos at least deserve a but. he could have been playing against high schoolers for all i know, but it does show his athleticism, aggressiveness, etc.

 

Well yeah, but that's kinda what he does.

Run the floor, rebound, set screens, dunk.

OHMSS is right though that most of the competetion is pretty weak.

If you want to get a better feel for what kind of player he is watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEfuAddCMpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iruI_sTo6y0

Caja Laboral & Barcelona are two of the better European teams.

 

Objective truth about Valanciunas is:

He is a very good rebounder. Very good potential and he will probably be a quite good player. I like him a lot actually. He would be a good draft pick. However, his offense is limited, his athletic level is overrated.

He is an absolutely atrocious defensive player in low post at center. He is much too weak to play center defensively with any effectiveness in Euroleague. He was thrown around like a rag doll and was like a little kid versus every single low post Euroleague center he went up against.

He is a really talented player, but he was just a little kid playing among men in Euroleague and it was very obvious and showed. His defense against low post Euroleague centers was so bad it is hard to describe.

He would be a very good draft pick as a face up 4 for a team that wants to invest in a talented, long-term project with very good potential. He is not by any means what this forum, or the ESPN hype circus machine claims he is (one of the best centers in Euroleague - he is more like easily one of the WORST centers in Euroleague, especially on defense, he might be the very worst).

He is very talented, but he is a long-term project and way too weak to play center in the low post on defense. I do think he will probably be a quite good player in the future, and he would be a good pick, and I say take him for sure if he is available and no other sure fire player is there. However, he is far from the level of what this forum seems to obviously think he is at. The only reason he ever saw the court in Euroleague was because his team was trying to secure a buyout for him. If it was based on trying to win games, he never would have even played in Euroleague, because he was much too big of a liability on low post defense against other Euroleague centers.

Let me put it like this for you to grasp it.... The best players on his team were Khalid El-Amin, Martynas Gecevicius and Brad Newley. Valanciunas was about half the level of those guys. Understand? That is what actual objectivity is. Not pure fantasy make believe, like what you get from draftexpress.com, nbadraft.net, ESPN - that are just there to make money off gullible idiots. And FYI, those sites have never even seen the guy play a game.

Objectivity is that he is very talented, and I do think he will become a quite good player. But, objectivity also is that right now, he is a project and his current level is that he is nowhere near as good as his teammates Khalid El-Amin, Martynas Gecevicius and Brad Newley.

I don't see anyone in this forum getting excited about adding any of those three players. It is called proper perspective. If you listened to me, and not morons and liars like Chad Ford, you would get real objective analysis. But if you want to keep believing the same guys that claimed Rudy was the next Manu, Rubio the next Nash/Maravich, Skita was the next Dirk, Darko was the next Dirk, etc...........

Then by all means, give those idiots at nbadraft.net, draftexpress.com, and ESPN the time of day. If you want to actually know the truth about a European player, then you can talk to me. The choice is yours.

 

Best troll ever.

Sorry, but: no idea. It's basically the same speech as always. You don't show more knowledge by writing more, in fact, the more you write, the more I think otherwise.

The defensive problem with Jonas in Europe is basically: lack of weight and experience. 2 problems that are solved over time if you have that frame, that head and feel for the game. He's a tough player, he plays with energy, he has the motor, he wants it... Every single young big man struggles in a given moment for one or another reason playing against 30 year old bodies. It happens in the NBA, in Europe, in China... It must be hard to understand for you.

You're always comparing performances with different players -with more experience- like if it's actually relevant. "San Emeterio kills it in Europe, he's clearly better than XX... and you all have no **** idea, so shut up".

But the most annoying part of your posts is by far your fictitious quotes, false facts, your lies, thrown away with such conviction. And there are still people right here willing to believe em... Because almost everyone thinks about you as a troll, but not all of them are aware of the amount of garbage you throw away. As if not enough, calling idiots, morons, etc. to pros of the business and everyone who passes around. I don't know how long you will be allowed to putting on that kind of show, but you happen to be already more than tiresome.

 

Valanciunas sucks defensively.

I guess that above sentence in its entirety would be an acceptable post to you? Sorry, but I am not posting here for your personal benefit. BTW, Llull is a shooting guard.

 

i dont know about all u guys but if we are lucky enough to get him at 14 that would be the steal of the draft, but doubt he will go that low, it would also be a good idea for houston to trade for him in the draft is we can pick him up

 

"You are what you can guard"

Only fools, fanboys and armchair general managers get into labelling basketball players in such constricting ways. PG or SG? Whatever, put 5 guys on the floor that play well together, that defend well together, regardless of positonal or traditional convention. You would think that someone that watches Euroball (A league with numerous 7 ups, 7 downs, 8 cuts, 6's, 90's and 66's, as well as innovative Princeton style sets to combat unique defenses created by different rules) would not view basketball in such a cliched, "draftexpressian" way. In my opinion, the most intriguing aspect of all professional leagues outside of the NBA is that in many cases they abandon the traditional norms of what a roster should look like. The NBA is hammered down by the media, forcing fans, writers and commentators into conventional views on what it takes to build a basketball team, and what conventional positions you need to have to be successful, and it is all bull****.

Bring something interesting to the table. I know for a fact that European basketball has innovated the sport in many ways, but you keep coming back here with the same old cookie cutter, cardboard stuff that is of no benefit to anyone, contrary to what you believe. Do you have any non conventional, dynamic thoughts of your own? Is the game of basketball so black and white to you? If it is, I suggest you talk to a head coach or two, they might blow your mind. (But no, I am sure they can't match your cliched, cardboard, self proclaimed brilliant, basketball mind)