When you believe in your children, they become capable of extraordinary things.
For the sake of this experiment, let’s pretend that Jonas Valanciunas is our 7-foot tall, hairy, Lithuanian son.
Is he the best in his class? No, but damn if he doesn’t try. Besides, when your classmates are the likes of Anthony Davis (who, by classroom standards is a total overachiever) and Joel Embiid, striving for slightly above mediocrity is perfectly acceptable.
But Jonas didn’t do that.
Over his six NBA seasons, Jonas has consistently tweaked and improved his game, bringing it to a level that allows him to stay relevant in an NBA era that sees less and less use for big men with limited skill sets.