TORONTO -- Jonas Valanciunas had been one of the faces of the Toronto Raptors over the past several year. The gregarious, giant Lithuanian became a fan favorite as a mainstay of Toronto's rise from Eastern Conference afterthought to perennial power.
Valanciunas is a nice player, just like the Raptors had become a nice team. But in firing Dwane Casey and trading DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri made it clear the days of settling for being a nice team with nice guys were over.