The Jonas V thread

[th1]

i didn't follow the whole thing too much, but i didn't notice any articles or stuff that JV doesn't want to come to Cavs. I thought he only had troubles settling the buy out with his former team.

[Czvosec]

Eh, Jonas wanted to play in Toronto and didn't want to come to Cleveland. His agent did a good job of getting what they wanted. Grant was afraid the kid wouldn't ever come over and play so he passed and took the advanced metric project instead. In retrospect Grant should of called their bluff, but that shit's in the past now, best to move on.

I don't understand this. Isn't Zydrunas a Cleveland guy? Did he not love being here? Is he not involved with the organization? Is he not Lithuanian as well? If this really was the case, why was Z not brought in to put on the full court press? If it really was a matter of making Jonas want to come here, why not bring Z in? What's the point of him being involved in the organization if he's not going to help convince players to come here?

[Mdog1]

I'm not going to say Grant screwed up because of one game. But seeing this hurts a bit. I do understand the Cavs reasonin to a degree. If Jonas really didn't want to be here, that is obviously a red flag the first year after Lebron left. I'm more angry Barnes didn't declare in 2011.

Irving
Waiters
Gee/Barnes
Varejao
Zeller

Take someone like Noel and boom.

Yeah I think it would have been great to get Barnes in 2011. In the 2012 draft I thank a diety that I don't particularily believe i that we passed on him. Maybe playing with Kyrie he would be a beast, but I just hate the thought of drafting a guy at #4 that has a hard time creating his own shot.

[Birdy89]

I don't understand this. Isn't Zydrunas a Cleveland guy? Did he not love being here? Is he not involved with the organization? Is he not Lithuanian as well? If this really was the case, why was Z not brought in to put on the full court press? If it really was a matter of making Jonas want to come here, why not bring Z in? What's the point of him being involved in the organization if he's not going to help convince players to come here?

There is alot of revisionist history going on right now with this "he didn't want to play in Cleveland" thing that it looks like Grant whiffed terribly on him.

Thankfully we won't have to put up with the "it was a weak draft" excuses for TT much longer when people use that excuse making it seem like he was the best we could do.

Now that JV is starting to scratch the surface of his potential, he will be a daily reminder how the failure of Chris Grant's computer spreadsheet based approach to building a team.

[Goldin Brown]

I don't understand this. Isn't Zydrunas a Cleveland guy? Did he not love being here? Is he not involved with the organization? Is he not Lithuanian as well? If this really was the case, why was Z not brought in to put on the full court press? If it really was a matter of making Jonas want to come here, why not bring Z in? What's the point of him being involved in the organization if he's not going to help convince players to come here?

I'm not sure Z was working for the organization at that time, I could be wrong. Anyway, its a mystery to me why the Cavs chose to take TT. My belief heading into that draft was that we were going to take JV, I was as surprised as anyone that we took TT. The rumors I heard after the draft suggested the Cavs were lead to believe that Jonas would be difficult to sign and there was uncertainty when or if he would come to the NBA. Cleveland passes and goes with Tristan, Toronto takes Jonas and it seemed like shortly after the draft, reports came out that there was an agreement to when he would come over. I don't know, seems to me that there was more to Grants decision than who was the better prospect. I'm not saying Grant is off the hook on this one. The situation the organization was in at that time, I can understand why they would pass in that case if that uncertainty was there.

I also think we wanted to have a bunch of young guys coming up together in the league so we can avoid another Lebron situation. I think they wanted to get a group of young guys together who could bond and build a friendship/brotherhood. If you take JV and he doesn't come over then it becomes difficult for that bond to form, then who knows how things play out down the road. Who knows, maybe they liked Tristan more simply because he went to high school in Jersey and he and Kyrie had some familiarity with each other. That makes sense if the goal is to build a team that will stay together and gives you a chance to re-sign all of these guys when the time comes.

The point is, I really don't know what their thinking was or what factors lead them to do what they did. I've thought about it a lot and I've just decided to move on and root for the guys we've got. I don't think there is really anything to criticize at this point, still too soon if you ask me.

["Boobie" Gibson]

There is alot of revisionist history going on right now with this "he didn't want to play in Cleveland" thing that it looks like Grant whiffed terribly on him.

Thankfully we won't have to put up with the "it was a weak draft" excuses for TT much longer when people use that excuse making it seem like he was the best we could do.

Now that JV is starting to scratch the surface of his potential, he will be a daily reminder how the failure of Chris Grant's computer spreadsheet based approach to building a team.

Now that he's starting to scratch the surface of his potential by having one single good game, we'll forever be reminded of CG's incompetence.

[xprt]

His last four games
11 pts 11rb 3ast 3blk 3-6fg 25min
16 pts 10rb 2ast 1blk 8-11fg 35min
9 pts 6rb 1ast 2blk 3-6fg 31min
22pts 7rb 3ast 3blk 9-13fg 39min

[Pioneer10]

Now that he's starting to scratch the surface of his potential by having one single good game, we'll forever be reminded of CG's incompetence.

He's had a run of 4 good games in a row.

Not claiming the sample size is near enough to make a determination either way in terms of Tristan or JV, but he's not playing like a bust which a lot of Tristan fans were saying he would be

[TyGuy]

He is latvian not lithuanian, so I'm not sure how much z would have helped. Really it doesnt matter, he had no say in the matter. If we would have picked jonas he would have played for us. I think that is something we all tell ourselves for not picking the superior talent.

Sent from my ass using tapatalk 2

[Mdog1]

He's had a run of 4 good games in a row.

Not claiming the sample size is near enough to make a determination either way in terms of Tristan or JV, but he's not playing like a bust which a lot of Tristan fans were saying he would be

I would have taken Jonas over Tristan.

With that said i'm not willing to write Tristan off until at least year 4. The kid was a known project going into the draft, and he's had less than a full NBA season's worth of games under his belt, and only one training camp. Not every rookie big man is good right off the bat, in fact i'd say it's the opposite. The ones that are great players right off the bat are some of the greatest talents in NBA history, which I don't think anyone though Tristan, or Jonas would be. Tristan has a huge ceiling as a defensive big man, and his offense is just so raw that at this point we have no idea if he will be able to hit a 15 foot jumper consistantly, or if he'll brick them cosistantly.

Let the kids play before we pass judgement. I wouldn't be surprised if Jonas is better than Tristan this year, and next year, and then Tristan makes a big jump in his fourth year. Jonas has far less room to improve than Tristan does, and if both hit their peaks Tristan will blow Jonas out of the water.

[Birdy89]

if both hit their peaks Tristan will blow Jonas out of the water.

This is a joke, right?

[adam81king]

He is latvian not lithuanian, so I'm not sure how much z would have helped. Really it doesnt matter, he had no say in the matter. If we would have picked jonas he would have played for us. I think that is something we all tell ourselves for not picking the superior talent.

Sent from my ass using tapatalk 2

Not sure where you're getting that he's Latvian, but everything I've ever read says he's Lithuanian--including his play with the Lithuanian national team for the last few years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_V...4%8Di%C5%ABnas

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jonas_valanciunas/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utena

[TyGuy]

My mistake, I always thought he was latvian. Like you said, that would only make things stringer for us. Had we drafted him he would have played.

Sent from my ass using tapatalk 2

[Goldin Brown]

Yeah probably. If not we could have just sent Big Z on his ass to get him into town. Oh well...

[Cavatt]

We know the scouts the Cavs employ are big on European guys. They had thoroughly scouted Jonas, and didn't think he was the best.

Personally, I think they took a swing on Tristan, that can't be completely judged yet. Thinking he is always going to get blocked 4 times a game could be shortsighted. He starts looking like a monster if he can convert those.

Jonas looks to be good though, and I agree that a Center who is a beast is better than a PF with the same skills. As of now if I could choose, I would take Jonas.

I still think Tristan could be very good. He is not a liability and he barely knows how to play. He has gotten into that scoring rhythm before too where he can't miss. He is definitely awkward, but he can use either hand. I dunno he looks like a 10 year old to me, and I think he is still working on losing his adolescent clumsiness.