It's funny how sensitive are homer fans. And it's also the lack of dialogue culture which is common among post soviets. Dudes like SS or LD are simply gatekeeping and can't accept different opinions regarding their on darlings or partialities. I'm post soviet mother fucker as well. More educated than average post soviet likely (at least in some fields, like humanities let's say), but nevertheless also a bit "a clockwork orange" as we all are coming from that shit hole. Folks should notice that my criticism is always analytical, teleological and not personal. I have players that I like more than others, but if I see that one of my darling players have certain weakness I address it openly and say it's a problem. I never read once on this forum something like "God, how much JV sucks at p'n'r defense, holly shit!" from JV's fanboys here...Not a single time. And, boy, he sucks at it big time. While I myself pointed at Sabonis' weaknesses many times. Grigonis is one of my favs, but he can't slash, he can't beat athletic defense in front of him and lacking toughness/athleticism. I despise blind homersim and partiality. I treat it as sign of low intelligence. As a sign of a cultural "redneckisim".
When I post slow mo JV's pick and roll defense it's not hate, it's the emphasis on, IMO, the biggest problem which is still often not named because of respect to JV. He deserves respect, but he didn't deserve as much respect that the truth would be less important than respect. No-one does. BB community, podcasters, shy away from saying openly, even Kleiza hesitates a bit to do that completely cause JV's his pal, but Gecevicius did. He said, with JV we play too primitive, he can't guard and so on on. In my opinion our trashy D with JV has been the biggest issue of the NT. More and more fans see it, but only some say it openly. JV has been good scoring old school center. When I posted that video I simply express by mourning that the stretch when we build around such player has been completely winless. That a tragedy happened to LTU basketball. We build around slow old school center who can score some, play zero defense and doesn't make other better. Homers gonna whine and squeal though. It's funny how "crappy guards" are responsible for JV's fucked up defense (like against Spain EB 22 8finals where Willy completely destroyed JV and he even ruined us in 2 first minutes of OT with his p'n'r D, while Brazdeikis dropped 17pts, Lekavicius 15pts, Jokubaitis 13pts). Now also JV has nothing to do with Serbian guards relentlessly taking layups in the paint I guess. I think people who deny that JV's defense has been a tragedy for LTU NT are simple homers of JV. End of the story.
This can be literally addressed to LTU NT 2016-2023 as well, literally. And, boy, Raptors had some elite guards. What a miracle! Good guards don't make JV's defensive issues to disappear.
Valanciunas is notorious for his inability to defend against the pick and roll, especially against guards with a great chance of pace. Charlotte immediately picked at this scab on Friday, involving Valanciunas in some kind of screen on nearly every play to start the game. For a Raptors fan, it was hard to watch.
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2017/01/24/valanciunas-pick-roll-defence-centre-raptors-struggle/
JV never was a winning player anywhere. Even Raptors had to get rid of him to win the trophy (taking 34yo grandpa M. Gasol as defensive boost). JV's fanboys create your own fanboys thread and spill your pathetic partialities and irrational obsessions there, please.
