Not everyone thought Jonas Valanciunas would be the Toronto Raptors’ starting centre on opening night, but that was Bryan Colangelo’s plan all along.
The Raptors’ president and general manager explained that even before this past summer’s draft, free agency and training camp he approached head coach Dwane Casey and — without giving orders on who to put on the court — listed the reasons it made sense to start the young Lithuanian.
“Valanciunas is capable of doing a lot because he’s so active and he’s a difference maker on the court and I knew he would be,” Colangelo said on Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Wednesday prior to the team’s season opener against the Indiana Pacers.
“Has he outplayed the others? Does he deserve to start? Yes, I believe he has gotten to a point where we can’t really go into this situation without putting him out there because it really is the way we function best.”
The 20-year-old had a strong pre-season and showed poise beyond his years, which led to him earning the starter’s job.
“Based on what I knew what he was capable of doing and based on the observations of everything we had seen, there’s only one way to deal with a player like this,” Colangelo said.
“In my opinion, you’ve got to throw him in there and let him cut his teeth quickly because it’s too easy for a coach to be in a situation to put in the veteran player and then if things aren’t going right he can look down at the bench and say, ‘I can’t go to the rookie right now.’
“The best way to sometimes get someone some experience, much needed experience by the way, is early on in a game.”
Colangelo also suggested fans might see that with fellow rookie Terrence Ross as well — not in a starting role, but with minutes off the bench early in games.
There are realistic expectations surrounding the Raptors this year but Colangelo’s goal is to make the playoffs and he said something like a 38-win season would be a disappointment.
On Tuesday, the NBA got underway and the Los Angeles Lakers were underwhelming against the Dallas Mavericks.
Colangelo suggested that Steve Nash is going to take some time to adapt to the offence the Lakers are running and that right now he seems uncomfortable with the system.
The Raptors are in a somewhat similar situation in the sense that they have a handful of new faces and that it could take some time for the team to gel.
“We do have five or six new faces, but in particular three potentially in the starting lineup — (Kyle) Lowry, (Landry) Fields and Valanciunas — that clearly is going to take for everyone to get comfortable,” Colangelo said.
“The bottom line, though, we don’t have that same sort of let’s say star power that the Lakers are dealing with. That’s an issue for them. They’re all trying to sort out egos on the court and we’re just trying to sort out roles on the court … I’m cautiously optimistic that this is going to come together and work well.”
