Back in 2012 at the London Olympics, Lithuania national coach Kestutis Kemzura expressed some of the concerns he had about his young big man, Jonas Valanciunas, who was then 20 years old and coming into his first season in the NBA. Valanciunas had struggled in the tournament, and Kemzura told Sporting News, “Sometimes, he wants to come in and do everything right away. In his head, he is working too fast. He is young, that happens.”

Four years later, at the Rio Olympics last summer, Kemzura’s criticism of Valanciunas — who averaged just 6.7 points and 7.0 rebounds — was echoed by new coach Jonas Kazlauskas in much sharper terms.

“He has to dedicate himself to basketball more,” Kazlauskas said. He was also asked why Valanciunas was struggling, and said, “You’ll have to ask Valanciunas.”

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Fair or not, in the minds of executives around the league, this helped cement the reputation of Valanciunas as a player who is less than enthusiastic about conditioning and, at best, an anachronism in the middle — big, slow and deliberate, without providing much by way of rim protection.

And that’s a big problem for the Raptors as they try to reconfigure their identity this summer. They’ve already shed familiar rotation players DeMarre Carroll, Cory Joseph and Patrick Patterson, betting on the further development of youngsters they’ve accumulated in the last few years.

But the team has been unable to shed the final piece that would complete its restructuring: Valanciunas, and the three years and $50 million (including a final-year player option) he is owed.

“With him, there are still a lot of questions, and like a lot of big men — not just Jonas — you have to try to find their place in the way everyone is playing the game now,” one general manager told SN. “He is talented and he still is young. But he is pretty much the same player he was three years ago. So what his national team coach said about him, about dedication, that sticks out. I think that hung over their ability to trade him these last few months.”

Again, the reputation is not necessarily fair. Valanciunas is effective when he gets the ball (he averaged 1.28 points per possession as the roll man in the pick-and-roll, among the league’s best). But he does not get the ball enough in the Raptors’ offense, which is increasingly focused on All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.

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Toronto has sought to deal Valanciunas since the February trade deadline. They’d had conversations with Detroit and New Orleans then, sources said, and continued to have discussions around Valanciunas at the draft, but talks with the likes of Sacramento, Phoenix, Charlotte, Portland and Atlanta did not get very far.

Valanciunas could wind up being eclipsed in Toronto, even without a deal. One of the aims of the offseason for the Raptors was to both unload some salary and clear up playing time for some younger, hungrier players the Raptors have been developing. Among those are second-year men Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam, and both had very good showings this summer.

Poeltl spent time back home in Austria, but returned to North America soon after to begin reshaping his shooting mechanics and extend his range (Poeltl took only four percent of his shots from outside 10 feet last season). He averaged 13.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in Las Vegas, and Siakam averaged 14.3 points with 4.5 rebounds.

With Patterson gone, there will be more minutes for Poeltl (who is 21) and Siakam (23). But the Raptors could choose to go with small lineups more frequently next season, with Serge Ibaka at center alongside either Poeltl or Siakam.

“I think there will be an opportunity for me and for Jakob,” Siakam told Sporting News. “That is how it seems, that there will be more time for younger players on the team, and it is our job to be ready for that. I learned a lot last year, but this year, I want to do more. But I know I am not going to play if you can’t execute.”

Poeltl and Siakam are part of a bench that is now shaping up to consist almost entirely of players who are 24 or younger, including Norman Powell (who could start), Bruno Caboclo and rookie OG Anunoby. They’re a big part of what the Raptors hope is a rejuvenating facelift for a group that seemed to have stagnated after reaching the conference finals two years ago and falling back to the East semis last year.

Toronto was able to achieve most of what it set out to do in what was a necessary overhaul to stave off the luxury tax and give this team an opportunity to grow. But the one player — Valanciunas — the Raptors were not able to move still lingers, and he remains the biggest question on the team’s roster.