Hard work pays off for big man
Raptors’ Valanciunas puts in the effort to become a three-point threat
Jonas Valanciunas is far too selfaware to try and become something he is not, so no one should expect to find the Toronto Raptors centre hoisting up a handful of three-pointers each game just for the heck of it.
Even a run of solid success — he’d made 10 of the last 16 three-pointers he tried before the Raptors beat the Boston Celtics 111-91 on Tuesday night — isn’t going to go to his head.
The seven-footer knows that his coaches wouldn’t like it if he starting bombing away with no regard for reality, his teammates would be riled and, besides, it’s not how he’s supposed to make his living.
In other words, there are no benchmarks for attempts he wants to reach every night.
“I’m taking them when I have a chance and when my spacing gives it to me,” the 25-year-old Lithuanian said. “Doesn’t matter — could be one, three, four. I’m not hunting them. It’s not what I do for a living, it’s what I’m adding to my game.
“I’m not hunting down, I just take a three when I have the opportunity.”
The opportunity has presented itself more often these past few weeks because Valanciunas and his teammates are reading situations better.
Instead of automatically rolling to the basket after setting a screen, if Valanciunas sees a defender back up to clog the lane, he’ll step back. It’s the same in transition, if the lane’s packed he’ll pull up. It’s the same in Toronto’s motion-based offence, if he hands the ball off and no one stays with him, he’s more apt now to remain in place and take a wide-open shot if it presents itself.
It’s the product of hours and hours in the practice gym working on his shooting range.
Valanciunas didn’t all of a sudden become an adept shooter, he worked diligently at it.
And it’s opened up another facet of the game for him. When Valanciunas pump-faked a three-pointer that Memphis’s Marc Gasol fell for and then drove for a dunk, it was eyeopening.
“In these kind of situations, you’ve just got to make the play,” he said. “It’s basketball reading. If he’s closing out, you can pump-fake him. If he’s not closing out, you can shoot. “Either or is good.” Still, it’s odd to see him hoist even two a game and even his teammates can see that. Fred VanVleet remarked that it’s still “funny” to see the centre stop and shoot but he also knows how vital it is to the team’s growth.
“Him adding that three-point shot, something he’s got to keep growing and getting more comfortable with,” VanVleet said. “You’ve seen the evolution.” Valanciunas’s long-range shooting has not only helped Toronto to its best record ever at this point in a season but has also given the team another point to rally around.
Watching Raptors’s bench stand and point skyward in unison when Valanciunas shoots speaks highly of the group’s cohesion.
And few things breed continued success more than the harmony that comes with the start of something. Teams that seem to have fun seem to win more.
“I think we can go really far if we play like that,” Valanciunas said. “It’s not basketball skills or something, it’s just everybody enjoying the game, feeling happy to play. That’s what gets us going.
“We have a great locker room and good relationships and that transfers on the court.”