NBA Draft 2011: Jonas Valanciunas Is the Best Player in the Draft

Within three or four years, Jonas Valanciunas will be easily recognized as the best player to come out of the 2011 NBA Draft.

Even though he is only 18 years old, the Lithuanian sensation already stands at 6'11" without shoes and he is not even finished growing.

What separates him from the pack, however, is not his physical stature. On the court, he does not want to just score on you, he wants to dunk on you.  

His highlight dunks are impressive. 

He plays with a passion that the NBA has never seen from an international player. Imagine if Dirk Nowitzki crashed the boards on every play and wanted to dunk on everyone in the league.    

His credentials are equally as impressive; the man refuses to lose. When he was only 16 years old, he became the 2008 U16 European Championship MVP. In 2010 and 2011, he was a LKL (Lithuanian Basketball League) All-Star.

In 2010, he took home the U18 European Championship MVP. This season, he was the LKL All-Star Game MVP.

He will bring a winning attitude that any NBA team will benefit from. 

In European contests, he has been matched up with fellow NBA prospect Enes Kanter several times. The first time, he was utterly demolished. The most recent time they played against each other, however, it was a pretty even battle.

Next time, there is a good chance that Valanciunas will dominate the matchup.

This most recent year, after extrapolating his stats to 40 minutes of playing time, he averaged 21.8 points, 13.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. In addition, he shot 75 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the stripe. 

Is he still a little too skinny? Of course.  

Does he find himself in foul trouble too soon and too often? Yes.

Don't forget that he is only 18 years old.

The fact remains that he plays every play in fifth gear and his career proves it.

Valanciunas' game will translates well to the NBA. He refers to the pick-n-roll as "my [style of] basketball."

His outside shooting is still undeveloped, but it a good sign that his free throw percentage is very high. It is an even better sign that he took one three-pointer all season, as time was winding down, and drained it.

The man plays to win.