There was recently penned an article about why Jonas Valanciunas maybe doesn’t get as many minutes as everyone thinks he should. The reason? According to on-off stats, he totally tanks the team on both sides of the ball whenever he’s on the court despite his good box-score numbers! I call it the “Brandon Knight Effect”.
In this case, I don’t put all the blame on Jonas. Toronto and its coaching staff are likely misusing him, or running a system that he doesn’t fit in with. On the other hand, it takes a special kind of roster construction to take advantage of a player like him, and he should do more to expand his game. Maybe some more jumpers? More defense? I don’t know, I’m just a fan talking crap.