The Toronto Raptors have managed to find themselves in the top half of the Eastern Conference in the past couple of seasons, banking on a the strength of a young roster that should be expected to only get better the longer they play together. Recently, the Raptors look to be furthering that cause by reportedly engaging in advanced contract extension talks with center Jonas Valanciunas.

According to Marc Stein of ESPN, sources say that while the negotiations are not done, the framework of the deal is centered on a four-year deal worth in excess of $60 million.

CBSSports.com opines that reported figure would appear to be a bargain for the 23-year-old Lithuanian. This offseason, fellow 23-year-old Enes Kanter got a four-year, $70 million offer sheet from the Portland Trail Blazers, while the Oklahoma City Thunder eventually matched.

As noted by the report, while the big man has not had his expected defensive impact on the Raptors, he is still a much better defender than Kanter (with the Raptors being 1.6 points worse per 100 possessions defensively with Valanciunas on the floor, compared to the Thunder being 6.8 points worse defensively with Kanter playing).

Last season, Valanciunas averaged 12 points and 8.7 rebounds while shooting 57.2 percent from the floor in 80 regular season games for the Raptors.

Back in April, Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri gave Valanciunas and forward Terrence Ross his vote of confidence saying that he "loves their upside."

"He [Ross] fell back on defense a little bit, but we felt that he started getting it back together," Ujiri said. "And then Jonas started, I think, protecting the rim a little bit better and rebounding a little bit better, especially defensively, so there's upside, it takes a while, you guys know me, there's no knee-jerk reaction here, we're going to be patient. I think that's going to be our nature of building here."