Toronto Raptors: Top 5 Centers in franchise history

Raptors center No. 3: Jonas Valanciunas

Seven years with the Raptors (and eight if you count the year the team stashed him in Europe), Jonas Valanciunas has quietly given a lot of himself to the city of Toronto.  Sixth on the Raptors all-time games played list, seventh in points, and 2nd in rebounds, Valanciunas may not have been a star, but he was a highly consequential piece of Raptors history.

Coming in as a raw 20-year-old from Lithuania, the team threw Jonas right in the NBA fire, expecting him to play the starting five position almost immediately. He was a comfortable starter during a successful era. A second round here, an Eastern Conference Finals there, another second round.

As perhaps the most talented player on those mid 2010s teams besides DeRozan and Lowry, Valanciunas could never stand tall enough to create a ‘Big 3’ in Toronto, but for what he was he was great?

Jonas Valancuinas had a great Raptors career

He had a nose for the ball.  His long arms and big hands only added to his presence in the paint as he swallowed up missed shots from in close. Raptors fans still remember how he would catch the ball up high and swing his padded elbow around in a snarl, as if to clear out any punk who’d have the audacity to steal his rebound.

Over the past six years, Jonas, now in Memphis, has averaged around 1.01 points per possession when you throw it to him in the post. He knows how to use his strength to gain position on the low block, and while his footwork is slow he had baby hooks, jump-hooks, and drop steps to have his way down low.

At close to 270 pounds you better believe Jonas sets some blistering picks.  His high post work in the triangle and the pistol action.

However, the man was, and is slow. The modern NBA calls for players to be able to switch on to multiple positions defensively. While Valanciunas had the strength and sheer bulk to bang with the Embiids of the world, if he got switched onto the perimeter he was toast.

He isn’t a great shot blocker. He’s big, but he’s pretty ground-bound. On offense, he was either cleaning up tip-ins or else you really had to throw it to him on the low block.

Jonas Valanciunas is a man out of time.  He would have benefited so much by playing in the 80s or 90s. A time where he could get all the post touches he wanted, where his soft hands and interior game would flourish, where he wouldn’t be exposed as much defensively because he could stay guarding fellow big guys and smack any Michael Jordans that may have came flying by.

He was born too late. But for what he was, he was really good.