Toronto Raptors: Examining the Jonas Valanciunas Post Frustrations

By Demar Grant | Aug 23, 2016

Apr 18, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry (7) talks to center Jonas Valanciunas (17) against the Indiana Pacers in game two of the first round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Pacers 98-87. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Toronto Raptors’ fans have been enraged for years about Jonas Valanciunas and his struggle for post ups, but why is it always a struggle?

Ask analysts and Toronto Raptors‘ fans alike, and there are two schools of thought about Jonas Valanciunas‘ playstyle. 1) He’s doing exactly what he should be doing (rebounding and screening) while being amazing at it. Or 2) He’s being used incorrectly offensively and needs more post touches to really show how he can influence the game.

Jv showed the league he can be load in the paint just by being a utilitarian in the playoffs, averaging 13.8 points and 10.8 rebounds. He is only 23 and the Raptors keep saying he is an integral part of their future, but it’s apparent they don’t think he’s a cornerstone, yet.

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The first priority for the team will always be winning, and the proven formula is DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. Unfortunately, being a big man not named Hakeem Olajuwon or Blake Griffin means someone has to give you the ball for you to start your offense.

The JV post up suffers from needing that pass. The Raptors offense is not a giving offense, you take what the defense mistakenly leaves on the table.

The Raptors averaged 18.7 assists last season, which was second lowest in the league. Although Lowry and DeRozan are the primary ball handlers for this team, they are not giving players – they scrounge and grind for each point they get, but that can lead to the rest of the team starving.

The offense is guard-oriented and the Duo are only looking to score for themselves, with passes typically made of desperation because their drives failed. They’ll even look to drive through Valanciunas’ post up, if it has the potential to lead to a scoring opportunity.

Every post up big man had a point guard to pass him the ball: Dirk Nowitzki had Jason Kidd, Karl Malone had John Stockton and even Marc Gasol has Mike Conley. Those point guards are floor generals and true passers.

Those floor generals keep track of everything on the court, whether it means managing the tempo, the shot clock or player touches. Valanciunas only averages 3.3 post ups a game, which is less than Kevin Love at 4.0, and pundits have clamored about his touches for years.

Managing other players touches is lost upon the Raptors guards. Every guard wants to score 30 points, but there needs to be someone willing to take a step back offensively so other players can score.

But, Coach Casey loves the utilitarian angle of basketball; one side of the ball is about hard work, defence, boxing out and rebounding. The other side consists of, setting screens for Lowry and DeRozan so they can get open. If either misses, the team’s philosophy is for the centre (regardless of who it is) to crash the boards

JV hands, crafted by Hephaestus himself, adhere to the ball like Spiderman to the wall. Any time he touches the ball as it come off the rim, it’s his. Those hands, combined with his Ent-shaped body, resulted in him being second in put-back points during the playoffs, while also drawing fouls on 13 perecent of those put-backs.

To the guards, Valanciunas getting his points through put-backs, is the way he should be getting them. There is no determination to get him the ball because he’s been working hard or hasn’t gotten any post touches recently – he’s an afterthought within the offense.

Looking to get the 2011 fifth overall draft pick touches isn’t even on their radar during game play, if they are concerned about his points, they see it remedied artificially.

Those put-back points are a symptom of the guards looking to score for themselves. For the first series and a half, DeRozan and Lowry shot terrible. Through the first four games of the Indiana Pacers series, they were one of the worst shooting backcourts of all-time.

Lowry & DeRozan: 8-27 FG in GM 4. They are shooting 30.8% this series, worst of any starting backcourt in playoffs. pic.twitter.com/9VgWGKLPHA
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 23, 2016

Valanciunas was averaging 15 and 13.5 through those first four games and Dwane Casey still didn’t draw up any plays to get him going. He was never featured in the offense, despite being the best player on the team. JV should’ve been considered at least as flyer to the team’s offensive gameplan.

Within the (relative) flow of the Raptors, Valanciunas doesn’t naturally receive the ball in a position to score and the team lacks natural passers. For him to get any semblance of post touches, Casey must run designated plays for him.

This is a set play by Casey that works to near perfection (he loses a bit of his positioning). Two dribbles to the basket and a right-handed layup, beautiful.

The play ran so efficiently against DeAndre Jordan (a Defensive Player of the Year candidate last season), that Casey could have run it until the Clippers stopped it. However, he ran that post play once all game and never came back to it.

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But, it’s hard to go back to a play when in the grand scheme of things it only generates 0.87 points per possession. Post play looks effortless when it works, but it takes hundreds of hours to get the moves to run efficiently.

Even when Valanciunas masters a move, smart defenses will gameplan for those right-handed hooks and sweeping dribbles to the middle of the paint. Those soft layups will eventually have to traverse a sea of hands to make it to the rim. Even receiving the ball in the post is a challenge and this year’s Olympic tournament is evidence JV isn’t truly adept at post play yet.

Ultimately, Casey’s the one that takes a hard look at the talent on the roster, draws up all the plays and determines the offensive philosophy of the team. More post ups would be great for a Raptors offense that gets caught in neutral multiple times per game, but Valanciunas hasn’t been efficient enough to justify the possessions.

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Lowry and DeRozan’s style of play brought the team all the way to the Eastern Conference finals, making it more daunting than ever for Casey to deviate from the initial plan (if he ever does). In fact, Coach’s plan has worked so well so far it might not be worth changing; to him everything is working as intended. As a wise man once said, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.

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