Jonas Valanciunas is one of the leading candidates for Summer League MVP.
He showed up to Vegas filled out in the upper body and then proceeded to be a man among boys averaging 18.8 points on 56.1 percent shooting with 10 rebounds and almost one block a game. He isn’t just bullying his way to the rim, he has shown patient moves, improved footwork, the ability to score with jump hooks, he’s got pump fakes coming out his pump fakes, and if the defense shifts he’s made some nifty passes. It may only be Summer League, but it’s been an impressive run.
And it may be over.
The Raptors may be shutting him down for the remainder of Summer League reports Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.
The Raptors are still alive in the Summer League tournament; they play the Suns on Saturday. Win and they advance to the semi-finals, so there could be as many as three Raptors games left. Shut Valanciunas down and there is probably just one.
Valanciunas will be playing for Lithuania this summer at EuroBasket. That will be a good test as rather than playing against boys there will be some real men with size to match his bodying him up.
Raptors fans, don’t go too overboard with Valanciunas’ Summer League performance, but it’s a really good sign of his development that his body and footwork made this kind of jump.
