VanVleet focused on here and now
RAPTORS GUARD: Snubbed at draft, rookie could earn a roster spot
BURNABY — Raptors hopeful Fred VanVleet knows exactly what he is and what he isn’t.
VanVleet is a basketball player. A 6-foot, 195-pound point guard. He plays the game hard, he plays it the right way and he gets results. His stat line won’t jump off the page every night, but he does help you win.
What he isn’t is a guy who is going to wow you with athleticism.
Whether that is connected to him going undrafted or not, no one can know for sure. VanVleet expects it is, but the draft snub is no longer worth talking about.
VanVleet was a key member on a successful Wichita State team that included Ron Baker. Baker was not drafted either. Those two were essentially the Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozans of the program.
Baker signed in New York with the Knicks, where he is looking to make the team as the third point guard.
VanVleet has come to terms with the whole draft thing.
“It’s a motivational thing for me but I don’t dwell on it,” he said following practice Thursday at Fortius Sport & Health Centre. “It is what it is. I’m in a great position here and I’m a firm believer things fall the way they are supposed to. It happened. Whatever.”
He has a theory as to why he and his teammate were overlooked, but he’s reluctant to spell it out.
“Obviously the draft is on potential and what’s hot, it’s a super hype machine,” he said. “But when you line me up as an athletic prospect against the best guys in the world, I’m not going to be very high on that board. But when we are talking about basketball players? I’ll just say sometimes you have to evaluate what you are looking for. I don’t trust that everybody knows what they are talking about. Those guys get paid to do what they do and I’m not questioning anybody who didn’t draft me. It is what it is. I ended up in a great place in a great situation.”
Quite frankly, the Raptors couldn’t be happier.
Dan Tolzman, the Raptors’ director of player personnel, was on the phone immediately following the draft looking to bring VanVleet in.
At the time it was to push Delon Wright for the third point guard spot, but now with Wright out until the end of December with a shoulder injury incurred in Summer League, VanVleet has a real chance to start the season with this team.
“The way things are shaping up he’s in a pretty good situation,” Tolzman said. “Originally we thought it would be a tough position but now because of Delon’s injury I don’t want to say he is a favourite but he has an opportunity to take advantage of.”
“I’m in a great position here and I’m a firm believer things fall the way they are supposed to.” — Fred VanVleet
It would appear one of VanVleet or Brady Heslip of Burlington, Ont., will work his way onto the roster. It’s going to come down to need. The lights-out outside shooter in Heslip or the steady hand of VanVleet running the offence.
VanVleet had a solid Summer League in Las Vegas and is turning heads already in training camp.
Going up against Lowry, VanVleet has not backed down at all, even managing to get under the skin of the Raptors’ team leader on occasion with his physical play.
The truth is, VanVleet has been keeping a close eye on Lowry for a completely different reason. He quickly figured out the game he played in college is not the game he is playing now in the pros, and has had to adapt. Lowry has been a big part of that adaptation.
“You have to change your whole game, pretty much,” VanVleet said. “It’s like two different sports, pretty much, and he’s one of the best at it. I am blessed to be able watch him every day. He probably doesn’t even know it but I’m watching him and seeing some of his tricks and things he does.
“He is kind of paving the way for guys like me, same body stature. He’s much more of a scorer than I am but just the way he runs the show and is able to have great success in the paint. He is maybe more athletic than me but as he gets older we probably have more similar games.”
The chip on his shoulder that Lowry used to make him the player he is today is probably even larger at this point for VanVleet. Lowry at least was drafted, albeit lower than expected at 24th overall.
Like Lowry, VanVleet fully expects to use any perceived snub as a tool.
“You gotta do things like that, find whatever you can to drive you every day,” he said. “I have a long list of things that I use and that was just another thing to add to the group.”
Does that sound like anyone else on this Raptors’ roster?