[VarnishkisParticipant]

Hello guys! Just a quick question any of you knows why Jonas Valanciunas (possible Top 8) has been removed from NBAdraft.net. He has already has given in an early entrants form and working hard preparing for the Lithuanian Basketball League Finals against old enemy Zalgiris Team. He is a solid C (see him going first before Kanter) with a little one on one coaching will become one of the leagues top scoring Cs in the next 5 years or so. He is already proven he can play against best Euroleague players this year 8pts 6rbs in 15mins only! Perfect running pick n roll and could be already successful his first year if joins a team with a good, experienced PG.

I personally see him being drafted anywhere 7th Det, 8th Cle, 9th Cha at worst 11th GS or maybe even higher depending on the lottery.

What is your thoughts on this talented guy?

[Anton123Participant]

 He hasn’t been removed, he’s in the 2012 mock draft. Probably the NBAdraft.net admins think he won’t come out this year.

The fact that he played only 15 mins in Europe says something, I think he would benefit from another year out of the NBA. Although realistically he probably wouldn’t have a shot at being drafted top 7 next year.

[NashyMingParticipant]

Valanciunas should be in the 2011 Mock.  With the lockout coming, NBA teams are probably more willing to draft someone who has talent but would not come right away much higher than any other regular draft.

Valanciunas already put his name in the 2011 draft and I don’t see any reason why he would pull out.  Given this draft is so weak, he would be a lottery pick for sure and likely a top 10 pick.  If he’s coming out next year, he probably wouldn’t be drafted higher.  The lockout works in favor with him.

With the lockout, the NBA team would likely just stash him in Europe for another year, it would help
1) his contract situation where the NBA team can let him play another year in Europe to get a better buyout opportunity

2) If the lockout is longer than a month, Valanciunas is better off playing in Europe and gain experiences than to sit at home waiting for the NBA to start the season

A lot of college prospects would be stuck in a lockout.  They can’t do much to avoid the chance of getting injured without a contract, so they may just stay at home and do some light workout to keep themselves in shape.  It’s critical for these young players to gain exp and develop, but they can’t do much if there’s a lockout.

[JimmeredYaWabafetParticipant]

 

Posted on: Mon, 04/25/2011 – 3:16am

 

Aran_Smith

 

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Aran_Smith’s 2011 Mock Draft

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He was always going to enter.

He was always going to enter. The question is whether he’ll stay in…

5 points

 

 

 

[SwatLakeCityParticipant]

 I too think he’ll stay in the draft, but it appears Aran Smith is very hard to convince. Give it another week and you’ll see Jonas Valanciunas in the 2011 mock draft. Why because it will be past May 8th in a week and that is the last date for underclassmen to opt out and still not lose their college eligibility. So just be patient, you’ll see it happen soon enough.

[teamjosh04Participant]

International players actually have until June 13th or 14th to pull out. May 8th is a NCAA rule.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Hey, Motiejunas and Vesely were supposed to be lottery picks last year as well, and they both pulled out. Valanciunas is still only 18, turns 19 in a couple days, and while we have seen and heard good things, we really have little idea of what NBA insiders think or say. We can trust all of these other sources, such as ESPN and other draft sites, but I have a feeling Aran has as much of an idea as anyone.

Their have definitely been cases like this before, I think Pavel Poldkolzine leaving a draft where people were talking about him being a top 10 lock in 2003. Jonas Valanciunas does look like a promising young C/PF prospect, but their is no assurance of his being a top 10 pick that I know of at this point. Plus, he could be waiting for next years draft when the Center class might even be weaker than this years. He could have a contract situation he wants to deal with later, he might want to see how the new CBA looks.

Personally, I have no idea what his situation is. It seems like he could go in the top 5, but he could also go in the mid teens. Most sites have him very highly rated, but does that necessarily mean NBA personnel feel the same way? We can only guess. One thing I will say is, people doubted Aran Smith on a couple things. One was Derrick Williams being a possible first pick, the other was Tristan Thompson entering the draft. Well, I was darn impressed by both calls, even though even I had thoughts that he might be wrong. Valanciunas could indeed enter the draft, but if Aran has a feeling about something, it very well could be true. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt here, and I will wait to see what happens with Jonas Valanciunas before saying anything about his status for this years draft.

I know someone posted this, but here it is again. This was a video breakdown from David Locke, the Jazz play-by-play announcer, on Jonas Valanciunas. He certainly points out that while Valanciunas has a lot of upside, their are definite things he needs to work on as far as being an NBA contributor:

 

http://www.nba.com/jazz/features/locked_on_jazz.html

[i’m jus so offendedParticipant]

 david locke is a fool and based his analysis off one game

[HitsterParticipant]

Aran’s latest mock has some perfect fits for a lot of teams but I’m still assuming he is using a BPA formula unless he is 2nd guessing which teams may take certain players like we try to do and this year he appears to being motre cautious as regards certain prospects when he has often hoisted hyped players way up this site’s mock.

It will be interesting to see when NBA.Com starts publishing their overall combined mock drafts from the various sites so we can see what the consensus mock is.

Valanciunas if he does declare should be drafted in the lottery and likely top 10 but if he is and there isn’t a lockout then I’d assume his team would want him over. In recent years only Fran Vasquez and Ricky Rubio from lottery picks have not come over to the NBA straight away as far as I can remember. Portland have about 3 picks stashed away but they were late first rounders.

[scliddiardParticipant]

Locke has done more research that just one game, and I pretty much agree with his analysis. Whether or not he stays in this draft is another point. To me it would be a wise thing for him to stay in this draft, he would probably be drafted higher(means more money) and next years draft looks stronger.

[LOFTYParticipant]

locke is the utah jazz scout……. remember LOL HAHA

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Yeah, it is true that lottery guys have usually come over quickly, but that does not mean that Valanciunas might not still spend some more time in Europe. You really never know unless you hear it from them directly, and even than it is not always what happens. As far as Portland’s three stashed first rounders, they may be over sooner than later. Two of them were 30th picks, in Petteri Kopponen and Joel Freeland and one was I believe 23, Victor Claver.

Joel was a raw British PF, and he has turned into a pretty successful European pro. He was averaging about 13 per game in Euroleague and ACB this past year, and was one of the leading rebounders in both leagues as well. Still only 24 years old, and from what I have heard for years, he is dying to play in the NBA. Maybe this is the year if the lockout is settled?

Kopponen looked very promising in Summer League as a young rookie, though I have not heard much about him. He still must be pretty young, I believe he was around the same age as Nicolas Batum. He is a 6’4 combo guard, definitely had come PG ability. Really no idea what his status is though.

Claver is probably the best long term prospect of all of them. He is a combo forward, nice athlete and has some agression in his game. He averaged around 11 in both the ACB and Euroleague, plus showed a nice ability to shoot from outside, though he might rely on it a bit too much. He is 6’10 and about 220, and I have not heard whether he will come over or not. Still, it is nice to have some young guys with some pro experience who could come in and possibly be nice role players down the line. That is what you ultimately want from late first round picks.

[SwatLakeCityParticipant]

 My mistake. I always get those two dates messed up. Oh well I still think he will sign with an agent in about a month from now

[butidonthavemoney]

He already has an agent.

[VarnishkisParticipant]

Intrestingly in the both semi-final games last week in Lithuanian basketball league there were quite famous people who came to watch Jonas playing. First it was Shareef Abdur-Rahim the Sacramento Kings team’s assistant general manager who watched both games on Wed and Fri. On Friday David Griffin from Cleveland Cavaliers have joined him to see how is Jonas doing (and he was pretty good 21pts and 8rebs in 1st HALF). Couple weeks prior that Joe Dumars was in Lithuania checking him out too. The Finals starts tomorrow and I can garuantee there will be more scouts coming for sure.

If he wouldn’t be Top 8 this year why would all these guys do 10K+ air miles round trips to see mediocre player???

[HitsterParticipant]

With the NCAA Season over then the team’s scouts will devote their energies to Europe and really have to check out the top prospects like Valanciunas but I agree when you have Team Presidents and Assistant GM’s taking a look in person at players in action then they must be very interested in them.

Is there any NBA rule stopping the likes of Dumars and Shareef talking to the likes of Valanciunas whilst in Europe if his team allowed him to meet with them?

With the draft lottery still to come, it might be too early to give a promise but could something along the lines of say Dumars promising to take him if he has 7th/8th pick in the lottery be allowed so once the lottery was done and if Valanciunas knew he had a firm offer then he might decline to work out for any other teams unless they were top 3 perhaps. Other teams could of course try to draft him but if it seemed unlikely he may want to play there they would run the risk of having a top 10 pick remaining in Europe.

 

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