In case you didn't hear, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished a four game sweep of the Toronto Raptors in convincing fashion this past Monday, with LeBron James doing ridiculous LeBron James things throughout the series. The sweep was an unfortunate end to a season for this Toronto team which had high hopes heading into the postseason. Moreover, those four straight losses most likely cost Dwayne Casey his job. Needless to say pour some out for Dwayne tonight everyone, and hope to god your professional career never requires you to compete directly against one of the best who have ever done something.
But that's not what this article is about. This article is about this loveable oaf:
Let's go on a journey together, a journey back in time.
The date is May 1st, 2018. The time is roughly 6:45 PT. The Toronto Raptors are up double digits at home midway through the third quarter in game one of the series versus Cleveland. Things are looking mighty fine, and their center, Jonas Valanciunas, is making hay inside against the smaller Kevin Love:
Jonas Valanciunas is seven feet, two hundred and sixty-five pounds, and plays with a lot of force. Despite their game one loss, Jonas would end the game with twenty-one points and twenty-one rebounds. He was dominant enough to make *this guy* think that the Cavaliers should start Tristan Thompson in game two to match up with him. And just like that one time when I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on rye bread, my judgement was objectively terrible.
Jonas Valanciunas played thirty-four minutes in the game one that Toronto lost in overtime. In game two he played twenty-six minutes. Jonas played nineteen minutes in game three. And in game four he played only fifteen minutes, with Dwayne Casey bringing him off the bench.
At this point I would like to point out that Jonas Valanciunas is an above average player. Look at this statistical profile:
Normal Person Stats:
13pts/9reb/1ast
57% overall from the field
81% from the line
Lame Nerd Stats*:
22.5 P.E.R. (Player Efficiency Rating)
62.8% TS (True Shooting)
22.7% USG (Usage Rate)
7.6 WS (Win Shares)
*all stats are from the 2017-2018 season via basketball reference
These aren't the numbers of a big man giving hustle minutes off the bench at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters. This stat profile is one of a contributing starter, and yet his role was diminished significantly as the series progressed, eventually not even starting. What in tarnation happened out there?
Jonas wasn't injured. He wasn't playing poorly. Instead, it was the nature of the series and the strain the Cavaliers put on Valanciunas defensively which would cause Dwayne Casey to rightfully curb his minutes and eventually move him to the bench in game four.
Here he is attempting to guard a pick and roll with LeBron James as the ball handler and the light-footed Jeff Green as the screener:
Jonas struggles mightily guarding Jeff Green, seemingly behind the play the whole time and eventually surrendering an easy lob for Cleveland. This lack of foot speed limits his versatility on defense. And against teams that spread the floor with shooting( like the Cavaliers) he struggles to remain effective. Jonas is a simple man; he wants to stay in the paint, rebound, and show off his fantastic beard. Honestly the Cavaliers were jerks for making this guy run around on the perimeter.
Here is a clip of him attempting to guard Kevin Love off the ball:
Keep in mind Kevin Love isn't exactly the quickest guy, and yet he creates a massive amount of separation here for a wide open short jumper. Jonas struggles getting through the off ball screen and is so far behind Kevin Love he basically has to surrender that shot with no hope of a contest. Valanciunas just can't keep up with all this off ball movement. He is a big guy. He doesn't want to be chasing guys around screens and such, that's for little guys.
Next up is an example of him helping and attempting to get back to his man:
Unlike in the prior clip where Kevin Love faked a drive and got a wide open jumper, here Love pump-faked the jumper and went right by Jonas on the way to a easy bucket at the rim. Valanciunas closed out far too hard and surrendered a very open driving lane which Love took advantage of. As was the case in the previous two clips, Jonas Valanciunas was just so far behind the play that he allowed for another easy scoring opportunity for the Cavaliers.
The other day I saw these two kids playing catch me if you can. The one who was being chased was little and quick. The boy who was doing the chasing...wasn't that. And no matter how hard the bigger kid ran he couldn't catch that annoying little brat. That's what watching Jonas Valanciunas attempting to play defense against the Cavaliers was like.
You hear a lot of conjecture and talk about the 'death of the big man' in the modern NBA game but very little substance as to what that actually means. Jonas Valanciunas is a prototypical NBA center. He does not operate outside the paint effectively on offense or defense. It is exactly this type of player that is becoming less and less effective in intense playoff basketball. And when you think of the best teams in the NBA they could all pose serious problems for Jonas on defense. If he can't chase Kevin Love around how do you think he would fare against a Houston Rockets team which would get him guarding James Harden or Chris Paul on a switch? Think about how he struggled getting over that off ball screen earlier, now imagine him playing the Warriors and being screened like that multiple times every possession. Al Horford of the Boston Celtics has a pump-fake and drive game similar to Kevin Love...
My point being is not that Jonas Valanciunas or other players like him are mediocre or bad players, but that their ability to influence and be effective in a game can be very narrow. The league is trending toward versatility, both offensively and defensively, and players who can only guard one position or score from specific spots on the floor are exploitable by smart teams.
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