The proof is in the passing for Valanciunas
Big man doesn’t want to talk about expanding role, says he’ll let his play do that for him
There may be no one associated with the Toronto Raptors who knows the possibilities for Jonas Valanciunas more than the man who controls the centre’s fate.
For each of the last four summers — and pretty much every day in the regular season — Nick Nurse has worked with Valanciunas, in Lithuania or Los Angeles or Las Vegas out of season and in every NBA arena once the games begin.
So when Valanciunas does something that seems new or out of the norm, Nurse, the former Raptors assistant who is now the team’s head coach, will quietly think to himself, “Yeah, I saw that coming.”
It’s why when the seven-foot Valanciunas makes some eye-popping pass, Nurse doesn’t get too worked up about it.
“Probably about four years ago … I went over (to Lithuania) and really started working on some up-the-court ball-handling and firing the ball around a little bit more because I wanted to see what his skill level was like,” Nurse said before Friday night’s 113-101 victory over the Boston Celtics at Scotiabank Arena.
“It’s been a little while, but we’re giving him a little organization on where those cuts are coming from and he’s finding them.
“Willing passer, that’s the good thing. He’s a willing passer.”
There is no doubt that Nurse sees myriad possibilities for Valanciunas — held to four points and five rebounds in Friday night’s win after running into foul trouble — that the Raptors will try to exploit this season. The six-year veteran is being asked to initiate more offence from the elbow or the high post to take advantage of those burgeoning passing skills.
In the season opener, Valanciunas made a near-perfect nolook pass to a cutting OG Anunoby for a baseline dunk. Earlier in the same game, he took a hard pass rolling down the lane after setting as screen and dumped it off for an easy basket rather than forcing a shot or committing an offensive foul.
Those were plays he might not have made even last season and which were impossible in his first couple of years.
“He has always had the skill to do it,” teammate Fred Van Vleet said of the big man’s ball-moving skills. “It’s just about how you are utilized. I think the way we have kind of changed our offence a little bit in the past year or year and a half, that is putting the ball in his hands quite a bit.
“To be a playmaker, you have to make reads and plays and he has been good at that. He’s going to keep getting better.”
The ironic part about the Nurse-Valanciunas relationship is that the coach might get more out of his veteran centre by using him less. Being familiar with Valanciunas’s skill set means Nurse understands which matchups work best and the coach feels no compunction with sitting the veteran when he doesn’t have a good matchup. And using Valanciunas’s offensive skills against traditional big men plays into Toronto’s versatility.
“He’s gotten to be more comfortable facilitating,” Kyle Lowry said. “Last year, (we were) putting the ball in his hands more up top, and him knowing that he doesn’t have to try to score every time he touches it, it’ll get back to him — and him having the comfort and the confidence to make plays — I think that’s why he’s been a better passer and even more willing of a passer.”
If there’s been one constant with Valanciunas aside from incremental growth as he becomes more experienced, it’s that he deflects most credit — and blame — from himself. He’s always been about team success and even now with a role that may expand, he’d rather let his play do the talking, no matter what the coach wants.
“I hate to talk about that because I never like to talk about it, I like to prove it,” Valanciunas said. “If you like to prove it that we are a better team, then we are a better team. If you’re just going to talk nicely about the team and say we’re a better team, and you’re not going to prove it, who gives a damn about those talks, you know?”