Surprising duo standing guard
Wright and VanVleet play way into unusual mix for opener
What was once expected to be a competition has suddenly turned into a coupling, as the Raptors are prepared to experiment with a young, unproven backup back-court as the NBA season approaches.
The commonly held opinion when the Raptors traded Cory Joseph to the Indiana Pacers in July was that Delon Wright would slide into the backup role behind starting point guard Kyle Lowry, with Fred VanVleet pushing him for minutes as No. 3 in the pecking order.
That’s gone by the boards in five pre-season games, with coach Dwane Casey using them at the same time in an effort to inject a youthful look into the second unit while easing the nightly load on starters Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
“They have a little rhythm, a little thing going,” Casey said of Wright, now in his third season, and VanVleet, about to start his second.
“They complement each other,” the coach said. “One guy’s strength is the other guy’s weakness — perceived weakness — but they really cover for each other. Fred is an excellent three-point shooter once he gets his feet set, and Delon brings his length to the equation.”
They are indeed disparate players: Wright’s a long, smooth six-foot-five guard who can control game with pace; VanVleet’s the tougher one, likened to a young Lowry, a six-footer who plays hard all the time.
They are also not quite as young as some might think: Wright spent four years at Utah and is 25; VanVleet’s 23 with four years at Wichita State on his resume. VanVleet’s the better shooter, Wright’s the better distributor and they’ve found a way to take advantage of their differences.
“Even going back to last year . . . we were very good together because the defence can’t just key in on one ballhandler,” Wright said. “We both like to penetrate and find each other.” Whether the duo — who have spent a lot of pre-season time on the floor with fellow youngsters Jakob Poeltl and OG Anunoby, and the elder statesman C.J. Miles — can thrive in the regular season is the great unknown. Casey has not been staggering the minutes of Lowry and DeRozan to leave one of them on the floor at all times, intent on letting Wright and VanVleet sink or swim, but that’s the pre-season. In the regular season — starting Thursday against the Chicago Bulls — against teams playing legitimate NBA talent at high intensity, the coach might rethink that.
“There’s going to be situations where Delon is on the floor with Kyle and DeMar, and Fred and Delon,” Casey said, leaving the door open to a more traditional rotation. “There’s a lot of combinations we can look at.”
But when Wright and VanVleet are together, they present some interesting matchups, at least offensively.
“We’re both point guards, but I think both of us being out there makes it easier on each other,” VanVleet said. “We don’t have to carry the load every single possession. . . . I’m able to catch-and-shoot a little bit and cut, and Delon can do the same thing. His length defensively helps, obviously, with me being a little smaller. So we just try to bring different things and a different tempo.”