April 2011 Lietuvos Rytas Wiretap
The Eurocup released their groups for the Last 16 on Tuesday.
Group I will consist of MBC Gravelines, CEZ Nymburk, VEF Riga and Valencia Basket.
BC Khmki Moscow, ASVEL Basket, BC Donetsk and Aris are in Group J.
Group K has Banvit BK, BC Spartak, Krka and KK Buducnost Voli.
Group L will feature Lietuvos Rytas, ALBA Berlin, PBC Lokomotiv and Benetton Basket.
Jonas Valanciunas will not be playing for the Raptors during the 11-12 NBA season.
“I’m currently with Lietuvos Rytas and I’m not really interested in those talks. There’s a lot to be done here. I’m in Lietuvos Rytas, not the Raptors,” said Valanciunas.
“Jonas will stay in Lietuvos Rytas until the end of the season. This has been agreed and we are not going to break the agreement,” said the club’s sporting director Martynas Purlys.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey recently spoke about what he saw from Jonas Valanciunas at EuroBasket.
"Jonas has had a whirlwind summer and he's just 19," said Casey. "He played in the 19-and-under tournament and they won that. Then he goes right to the Senior National Team at EuroBasket, they finish -- in their minds -- a disappointing fifth in their home country. So that was disappointing for the program and for him because he had played well with them. Then he turns around and has to play for his professional team in Vilnius and then they don't make the EuroLeague, they make the EuroCup. He's had to compete in three pressure situations right in his own country with the spotlight being bright on him, which is a good thing. It helps him grow up a little bit.
"But he does so many positive things. He plays hard, he has a quick motor in terms of rolling to the basket and running the floor defensively. He definitely had an offensive presence that I was really impressed with. Now our key as a coaching staff is translating that from a European league to the NBA game, which is going to take time and we've got to be patient with him. But I'm really impressed with his skill level, what he brings to the table as far as hard play, running the floor, blocking shots and just his energy level.
"He's not a typical big man that's a plodder, he's athletic for his size, which is going to help him transition to the NBA a lot quicker."
Valanciunas is coached on Litetuvos Rytas by Alexander Dzikic, who was an assistant of Casey with the Wolves.
"I plan on saying staying in touch with Alex. They're using the same terminology and some of the same offensive sets that we used and are going to use here, so that's going to help. Alex is going to help him with his English and try to get Jonas ready and let him know what NBA culture is about, so that will help the transition be a little bit quicker. He’ll tell him some of the things he can or can't do and just prepare him for being in an NBA setting. That's a big plus for us to have him there as his coach. He's got a job to do, which is try to win for his team, but on the other hand he's going to try to help Jonas as much as he possibly can."
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