Jonas Valanciunas has been putting on a great campaign in the EuroBasket tournament, but he was exposed a bit in his team’s recent game against Finland. Lithuania was able to eke out a tight, 81-78 victory, but Big Val was largely reduced to a spectator down the stretch as his team needed to be able to switch everything on defense to slow down the Finns.
Lauri Markkanen was lighting up the Lithuanians by calling defenders into pick-and-roll actions, chiefly Valanciunas. With Val in a deep drop, Lauri had far too much room to shoot, and when Val tried to switch or play at the level, Markkanen was able to go right by him.
Valanciunas was essentially played off the floor, and Lithuania was only able to get some stops once they went with a more versatile defensive lineup. Luckily, it worked out, but Valanciunas may not be so lucky back in the NBA.
The Nuggets will be facing opponents with more threatening weapons than Markkanen and much, much more threatening secondary options. At this point in his career, Val isn’t too quick on his feet, and it’s clear that teams are going to be able to attack him relentlessly in pick-and-roll actions.
Valanciunas likely to be strictly situational player for Nuggets
The good news for Denver is that they won’t be relying on Valanciunas nearly as much as Team Lithuania has to. The limitations on the 33-year-old veteran big man are clear, but the Nuggets have the luxury of not having to ask him to do anything outside of his comfort zone.
They’ll be best suited playing Val off the bench as a pure backup big man (only starting when Jokic is out, obviously), and trying to line his minutes up with other conventional big men. If the team uses him correctly, he should be a great weapon off the bench.
But if fans are expecting much more, they may be in for some disappointment. He’s not going to be able to stay on the court against elite offenses, and there will almost certainly come a time when he gets played off the floor in a playoff game.
Luckily, the Nuggets have plenty of depth this season and a variety of buttons to press. If JV is having a tough night or faces a bad matchup, they have other solid options. Maybe we see more of DaRon Holmes II at center than we expected. Maybe they go back to the old small lineup with Aaron Gordon at 5 when Jokic rests. The point is, they have good choices, and don’t have to let Valanciunas get exposed by the NBA’s best offensive players.