The Toronto Raptors are coming off a season that ended in major disappointment. After having a very good regular season, they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Washington Wizards. The Raptors have most of their core guys back, and they added DeMare Carroll in free agency. One guy that has gotten better every year he's been in the league is Jonas Valanciunas, but Dwane Casey reportedly thinks he might be a victim of the leagues trend towards going small, according to NBA.com.
For the past few years, the league has been trending towards not having centers on the floor at the end of games because they aren't as mobile and able to cover pick and roll. Casey said that the signing of Carroll will help the Raptors be able to do that because he has the ability to play the four at times, which would move either Patrick Patterson or Luis Scola to the five.
While Casey doesn't think Valanciunas will be in the game much at the end, he does believe he still has a huge role on the team.
"The league is going smaller, but as long as the goal is at 10 feet, size is going to matter. You still got to have size," said Casey about Valanciunas' role.
Valanciunas is a 23-year-old seven footer from Lithuania that has really developed into a very good center in the NBA. He is coming off a season in 2014-15 in which he averaged 12 points and 8.7 rebounds while playing only 26.2 minutes per game. He also shot 57 percent from the field and 79 percent from the free throw line.
Valanciunas can do anything you would expect a big man to do, and he is still extremely young with a lot of improvement seemingly on the way. However, it would seem that he is in the NBA in the wrong time period because Valanciunas puts up big numbers in an average amount of minutes. He is a starter but hasn't played much at the end of games due to the nature of the NBA right now, and it doesn't appear that will change at least not next season.
Valanciunas will still play an important role for the Raptors in the upcoming season as a post defender, rebounder and interior scorer. He just likely won't be out there at the end of games when it matters most due to the way the league is trending.
