Josh Lewenberg TSN Raptors Reporter Follow|Archive

TORONTO - They haven't played a minute together, nor will they, but Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo have each benefited from the time they've spent together this season, and the Raptors are better for it.

On the court, Toronto's two centres are as different as they come. A gifted low-post scorer, Valanciunas has blossomed into an efficient offensive weapon. Biyombo gets the job done on the defensive end, where he's established himself as one of the league's elite rim protectors. However, the two have more in common than you might think.

They were selected a couple picks apart in 2011, Valanciunas going fifth overall to Toronto and Biyombo at seven to Sacramento, later traded to Charlotte. They started the bulk of their rookie seasons for losing teams, and quickly became known for what they couldn't do, as much or more than for what they could.

Valanciunas couldn't defend, or at least well enough, particularly in the Raptors' pick-and-roll coverages. It kept him off the floor late in games and appeared to be holding back his development. Biyombo couldn't catch or finish around the rim. More often than not it was like playing four-on-five offensively. As a result, he fell out of favour in Charlotte, allowing Masai Ujiri to snatch him up at a discounted price over the summer.

In Toronto they've formed a lethal one-two punch, each of them enjoying career years and giving coach Dwane Casey a couple of high-quality options at the position.

“It's a great luxury,” Casey told TSN.ca over the weekend. “We're very fortunate. Both of them can give you different things.”

“I think it's huge for us as a team to have two quality players at the same position," echoed veteran forward Luis Scola. "That guarantees you that somebody is [always] going to be on the court that is good enough for what we want. I think they're different in their own way, they have their own set of skills and [it] gives us a chance to mix things up in the same game."

Valanciunas is the yin to Biyombo's yang, their strengths complimenting each other's and, at 23 and still growing as players, those weaknesses are becoming far less glaring.

Biyombo bloopers are few and far between these days, for instance. Most of his offensive opportunities are still coming off tip-ins around the rim, but his teammates are doing a better job of setting him up and he's looked more comfortable catching the ball and finishing in traffic. He's even knocked down five of his last seven shots from mid-range after hitting five of his first 22 attempts this season.

As for Valanciunas, the Raptors are pleased with his progress defensively, having changed their pick-and-roll coverages to better suit the 7-footer, allowing him to drop back and worry about patrolling the paint. One of the things they've raved about all season is how much more he's communicating on the court, a crucial part of his job as the centre and something that's often overlooked. As the last line of defence, they're counting on him to call out screens and switches, to direct traffic and know when to help. What's sparked this change in his game?

“I learned English,” the big Lithuanian joked. “That helps.”

And it has. The learning curve is steep for most big men transitioning to the NBA, particularly a player like Valanciunas, who had to learn and get comfortable with the language as much as the game itself. With time and experience he has come out of his shell. Watching his back-up hasn't hurt either.

There isn't a Raptors player who talks more on the court than Biyombo, which was apparent even back in training camp. He too has grown more comfortable with it over time, but it's a quality that has always come natural, one of his strengths and something you don't often see in a young player — he's actually three months younger than Valanciunas.

“I'm just a talkative guy,” said Biyombo. “I like to talk, whether we're playing basketball or not. But one thing I always try to do is before I go into the game I start talking from the bench, usually I talk to Cory [Joseph], and by the time I get into the game I already got my rhythm. I know sometimes it's tough because you've got to tell one guy to do one thing and then you've got to tell the other guy to do the other thing so at the end of the day you've got to communicate with everybody. It's just a matter of practicing and obviously it's helped me, it's been my strength since I came into the league, but I've gotten better at it compared to four years ago.”

Valanciunas missed 17 games after breaking his hand earlier this season and, with Biyombo filling in, he had a front-row seat.

"I think Bismack's talking has rubbed off on him," Casey said. "He sees how important that is, being the radar in the back, directing traffic, I think that has been a big thing for him."

"I always talk to him," said Biyombo. "I talk to JV a lot, even if it's in the game. If I see a defensive mistake, especially for us bigs, like we run the show on defence. If we can find a way to communicate with everybody I think those nights we play great defence. The nights where our intensity and pressure are a little lower, that's when everybody struggles on defence. At the same time, it's kind of a learning process for both of us. He's obviously picking my brain but I have a lot to learn from him too. We can always get better at something."

They seem to have brought out the best in each other. They're both averaging career-highs in points and rebounds, despite splitting minutes at the position.

It's not always easy to see it, because his improvement has been steady over the years, but Valanciunas is making strides on both ends of the floor. With 10 points against Brooklyn on Tuesday, the starting centre scored in double figures for the 15th straight contest, the longest stretch of his four-year career. He's becoming more decisive with the ball in his hands, relying less on the series of pump fakes he used as a crutch early in his career and looking for his teammates more often when the defence applies pressure. As Casey notes, the game has slowed down for him.

"I'm getting more comfortable on directing the plays," Valanciunas admitted. "Like getting the ball in the low post, passing out, reading the double team, passing out for open shots. That's what I was working on, that's what I was trying to get better at and I see that's coming. When I get the ball at the free-throw line I can just direct the ball, read the plays."

Biyombo anchors one of the best second units in basketball, a group that prides itself on the defensive end. No regular reserve in NBA grabs more rebounds than he does and only one averages more blocks per game. Opponents are shooting just 54 per cent at the rim when Biyombo is in the game, good for the fourth-best mark in the association (minimum 500 shots faced). The gig serves him and his style of play perfectly and he's bought into it.

"The most important thing is both men understand their roles, what they mean to the team and have accepted their roles," Casey said. "A lot of guys know their roles but they don't wholeheartedly accept it, but JV and Bis have totally accepted their roles and bought into where their lot is with our team."

"You have JV, who can make free throws at the end [of the game]. You've got an elite defender in Bismack. You can have him in at the end of the game and kind of tag team."

That's when the platoon has been most valuable, in crunch time, and to Casey's credit he's managed it well throughout the campaign. Making good on a promise he made during the preseason, Casey has entrusted Valanciunas with more late-game responsibility. Last year, he was benched in the fourth quarter of more than a third of the games he appeared in (23 of 80). Tuesday was only the fifth time in 45 games this season that Valanciunas didn't get in during the fourth quarter.

In the past, a late-game benching would have raised eyebrows throughout the fan base, but few questioned it after Valanciunas struggled to stop Nets centre Brook Lopez, who went off for 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, and Biyombo helped Toronto come back from a 16-point halftime deficit with his energy and physical play.

While Valanciunas is trending in the right direction, there are still games where we're reminded, he's just 23 and still has a ways to go. Only now, Casey has a viable alternative on those nights.

"Jonas is not a finished product and we all know that," the head coach reiterated. "He's better defensively, he's better offensively, but he's not where he's going to be this time next year. Every time he goes out he's going to get better. We want him to be that all-pro guy right now but he's still a work in progress."

With Friday's thrilling win over Portland coming down to the wire, Casey used his two centres based on game situation, like he has on most nights. Biyombo played the first six minutes of the fourth quarter with Kyle Lowry and the three other reserves — the team's most effective lineup — before Valanciunas checked back in to close things out. He remained on the floor until the final 20 seconds when Casey went offence-for-defence, subbing Biyombo in to get a couple big stops and going back to Valanciunas when Toronto had the ball.

Unfortunately for Toronto, there's almost certainly an expiration date on this duo. Biyombo is expected to opt out of his contract at the end of the season. He should be able to quadruple his current $2.8-million salary on the open market, a result of the rising cap and his strong play this year. The Raptors don't have his Bird Rights and with extensions to Valanciunas (four years, $64-million) and Terrence Ross (three years, $33-million) kicking in next year, as well as the max salary they'll likely offer DeMar DeRozan, they'll be hard pressed to make a competitive bid on Biyombo.

But for now, that's been placed on the back burner. The Raptors are five weeks away from kicking off what could be a crucial, franchise-altering playoff run and they'll do so with the best and most diverse tandem of centres they've ever had, a luxury they know they're fortunate to have, for as long as they have it.