Why Valanciunas? Well, for one, Toronto desperately needs a centre outside of Poeltl that is over 6 feet 9 inches, as both Sandro Mamukelashvili and Jonathan Mogbo list at 6’9″. Don’t get me wrong, Jonathan Mogbo flashed his potential as a rebounder last year with a triple-double performance against the Charlotte Hornets in a 126-96 win when he put up 17 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. He’s also had 3 double doubles in his young career, but even as a good rebounder for his size, it isn’t enough.
The same can be said for Mamukelashvili. Don’t get me wrong, he was the steal of the off-season as signing him for 2 years, $5.5 million was a great move by the front office,but he might serve better as a power forward or even a small forward as he’s shown solid handles and deceptive speed. Across five starts, in 31.4 minutes, he’s only averaging six rebounds per game, and trust me, that’s the only part of his game I’m willing to complain about, as he has completely met everyone’s expectations and overdelivered so far.
The second reason why could be a bad reason, but the nostalgia factor is too real for one of the more underrated Raptors in franchise history. You could say the fifth overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft class hasn’t fully lived up to the hype of an early lottery pick, especially given how stacked the class was as the Raptors missed out on big names after him, including Kemba Walker (ninth overall pick), Klay Thompson (11th overall pick), Kawhi Leonard (15th overall pick), Nikola Vucevic (16th overall pick), Tobias Harris (19th overall pick), Jimmy Butler (30th overall pick) and last but surely not least, Isaiah Thomas (last pick of the draft). Despite all that, he has put together a solid career, especially with the Raptors, as he’s averaged 13 points and 9.1 rebounds per game while evolving with the game of basketball. He came into the league with a good mid-range jumper, but would not shoot threes; now he’s a career 33.9 percent shooter from beyond the arc. He’s also all across the board in Raptors franchise numbers after serving seven years for the franchise. He ranks 7th in games played as a Raptor with 470, 10th in minutes played with 11774, 8th in field goals made with 2169, 2nd in offensive rebounds (1209), defensive rebounds(2752) and total rebounds (3961), all behind Chris Bosh. He’s third in blocks with 479, just one shy of the tie with Amir Johnson, ninth in the points category with 5524, and second for double-doubles in franchise history with 137. One could argue that he was underutilized in his time with Toronto, though, as he doesn’t rank in the top 10 for minutes per game. And the biggest throwback of them all… who remembers #FoulonJonas? JV ranked seventh in all-time personal fouls as a Toronto Raptor with 1307 and gave us fans one of the greatest memes back in the day.