lefty
07-11-2011, 10:03 AM
With a victory over Serbia on Saturday at the FIBA World Under-19 Championship, Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas (http://www.examiner.com/nba-draft-in-national/2011-nba-draft-prospect-profiles-jonas-valanciunas) captured his third FIBA gold medal and Most Valuable Player award.
While it may be quite a while before members of the most recent NBA Draft class take the court in competitive style, the 7-foot, 231-pound center and 2011 first round pick of the Toronto Raptors (No.5 overall (http://www.examiner.com/nba-draft-in-national/2011-nba-draft-grading-the-eastern-conference-atlantic-division)) once again dominated the FIBA championship.
Winning championships are becoming a tradition for Valanciunas, who put the finishing touches on another gold medal performance with a U-19 best 36 points in the final game against Serbia and averaged 23.0 ppg, 13.9 rpg and 3.2 bpg for the tournament en-route to another MVP award.
It has been an illustrious ride thus far in Valanciunas' young basketball career, with the big man winning at almost every level, having won a gold medal and MVP awards at the FIBA Europe Under-16 and Under-18 games in 2008 and 2010, respectively, along with an LKL Championship and LKL Cup with Lietuvos Rytas in 2010.
If anything, his recent exploits should dissuade any buyer's remorse the Raptors might (foolishly) have after tabbing the talented center in the 2011 draft, even if Valanciunas' contract will keep him overseas for one more season.
Continue reading on Examiner.com He did it again – Valanciunas leads Lithuania to FIBA gold medal - National NBA Draft | Examiner.com (http://www.examiner.com/nba-draft-in-national/he-did-it-again-valanciunas-leads-lithuania-to-fiba-gold-medal#ixzz1RoEa7THE) http://www.examiner.com/nba-draft-in-national/he-did-it-again-valanciunas-leads-lithuania-to-fiba-gold-medal#ixzz1RoEa7THE
While it may be quite a while before members of the most recent NBA Draft class take the court in competitive style, the 7-foot, 231-pound center and 2011 first round pick of the Toronto Raptors (No.5 overall (http://www.examiner.com/nba-draft-in-national/2011-nba-draft-grading-the-eastern-conference-atlantic-division)) once again dominated the FIBA championship.
Winning championships are becoming a tradition for Valanciunas, who put the finishing touches on another gold medal performance with a U-19 best 36 points in the final game against Serbia and averaged 23.0 ppg, 13.9 rpg and 3.2 bpg for the tournament en-route to another MVP award.
It has been an illustrious ride thus far in Valanciunas' young basketball career, with the big man winning at almost every level, having won a gold medal and MVP awards at the FIBA Europe Under-16 and Under-18 games in 2008 and 2010, respectively, along with an LKL Championship and LKL Cup with Lietuvos Rytas in 2010.
If anything, his recent exploits should dissuade any buyer's remorse the Raptors might (foolishly) have after tabbing the talented center in the 2011 draft, even if Valanciunas' contract will keep him overseas for one more season.
Continue reading on Examiner.com He did it again – Valanciunas leads Lithuania to FIBA gold medal - National NBA Draft | Examiner.com (http://www.examiner.com/nba-draft-in-national/he-did-it-again-valanciunas-leads-lithuania-to-fiba-gold-medal#ixzz1RoEa7THE) http://www.examiner.com/nba-draft-in-national/he-did-it-again-valanciunas-leads-lithuania-to-fiba-gold-medal#ixzz1RoEa7THE