Jonas Valanciunas has started 161 games over the last two years, however often times he finds himself on the bench during the fourth quarters. The decision was made by head coach Dwane Casey as he needs more production late in games. If Valanciunas wants those minutes he needs to improve on both ends of the floor. From Doug Smith of the Toronto Star:

"Valanciunas is going to have to be a better, more decisive and more willing passer, he’s going to have to defend pick and roll better or he’s not going to be on the floor down the stretch of close games. David Blatt brought up an excellent point during the final when he said that in the last five minutes of games you have to play your most versatile players regardless of position or size; I think Dwane agrees with that but if JV can become one of those guys, that would be the best of both worlds. Dwane like size (see the quote in the story that came out of the little chinwag) but he likes to win more and it’s going to be entirely on Valanciunas to see if he can earn those minutes. This is a huge summer for the big guy and fans can only hope he gets more out of Jack Sikma than he did from that sprint coach he worked with last summer because that was an abysmal failure. The one thing I’m interested in seeing once September rolls around is whether or not Masai sees fit to talk contract extension with Valanciunas, since he’s eligible for one that would have to be done by Halloween."