Honest Fred has his doubts
VanVleet may have burst Raptors’ bubble with comments on podcast
They say one of the hallmarks of a successful professional sports operation is a healthy and robust level of internal competition. But you’ll excuse Raptors president Masai Ujiri if he’s not exactly celebrating the feistiness of a homegrown adversary named Fred VanVleet. At least not this week.
It’s not just that VanVleet, an unrestricted free agent, has made headlines announcing to the world that he plans to be a ruthless negotiator when NBA free agency opens a week from Friday. Anyone who has paid attention to VanVleet’s rise from undrafted underdog to clutch-shooting linchpin of Toronto’s 2019 championship run knows he is a serious and thoughtful operator, not only a consummate gym rat but a builder of an admirable personal brand. As a self-described businessman whose self-styled mantra is “Bet On Yourself,” it only makes sense that VanVleet is eager to reap the free-market payoff on the long-odds wager of his lifetime.
“I’m trying to get paid, man. I’m not shy about that,” VanVleet told the “Old Man and the Three” podcast, co-hosted by New Orleans Pelicans guard J.J. Redick. “I’ve won a championship and now it’s time to cash out.”
More than a few observers have interpreted “cash out” as synonymous with “get out” — as in leave Toronto for the address of the highest bidder. Dwane Casey’s Detroit Pistons are looking for a point guard and might overpay. The Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks are among a group of other potential suitors. And there are those assuming that, given Toronto’s need to maintain a salary-cap sheet that allows for the potential acquisition of a prized 2021 free agent — and Giannis Antetokounmpo tops the list of possibilities — it’s likely VanVleet goes where the money takes him.
Maybe he does. As much as the Raptors would like to think their player-development infrastructure has been instrumental in transforming VanVleet from unplucked gem to coveted diamond, VanVleet didn’t sound overly sentimental about his time here. He spoke highly of Toronto’s organizational culture, sure, but he also insisted he could help transplant its principles elsewhere.
“It’s not like it’s impossible to replicate,” he said.
He also mused about what every NBA player muses about: Blossoming from contributing player to centrepiece.
“I would like to run my own team as a point guard,” he said. “As a great leader of men, I think that’s something I would really look forward to.”
Still, he also double-backed on that particular brainwave at one point. (“My ego isn’t that big where I need the ball in my hands all the time,” he said.) And as much as he seemed to rule out going to a perennially hapless franchise like the Knicks — “I’ve never been on a losing team in my life,” he proudly pointed out — he more than once made reference to the decision being ultimately driven by the bottom line.
“I do value certain things when it comes to picking between franchises that are offering the same number,” he said.
As a negotiating posture, it was savvy stuff. If the Raptors were hoping VanVleet might be a grateful loyalist and sign at a hometown discount in the name of the greater good, VanVleet was sending a Mitch Marner-endorsed message that they’d better think again.
Still, of everything VanVleet said on Redick’s podcast, the contract talk might have been the least of Ujiri’s worries. The top-of-mind concern for the team president has been the ongoing lobbying of three levels of government to allow the Raptors to play their home games at Scotiabank Arena — a privilege that would require an exemption to the 14-day quarantine rule both for the Raptors and for opponents arriving from the U.S. VanVleet’s penchant for truth telling probably didn’t help Ujiri’s case.
In VanVleet’s conversation with Redick, both players scoffed at the notion that NBA players would adhere to the presumed restrictions that would come with visiting Toronto — that is, that players would dutifully trudge form the charter plane to the hotel to the arena, eschewing a broader sampling of the city beyond contactless food delivery to their hotel rooms.
“Is that realistic in Toronto? I don’t think so,” VanVleet said. “At the same time, what are you going to tell the teams travelling to Miami or L.A.? Are you going to be able to monitor these things? I don’t know. I don’t get paid to answer those questions.”
Redick, a 36-year-old veteran, was even more skeptical. “There’s some reckless (expletives) in our league. They can’t tell us just to stay at the hotel. For me, if we play 36 road games, chances are, a couple of those times, I’m going to go out to dinner in those cities.”
Those quotations were in stark contrast to the case Ujiri made on CBC radio on Thursday in which he framed the NBA as a global leader in responsibly navigating the pandemic.
“Trust me, we play by the rules,” Ujiri said. “We have. And we will.”
The reckless expletives might beg to differ. Still, Ujiri continued.
“We were the first to set the example for the world, right? Nobody else did it. The NBA stopped during the pandemic. Not companies. The NBA did it, first,” Ujiri said. “We set the example … So there’s a sense of responsibility for us. Public health and the safety of every individual in this world matters to us.”
Still, it’s not just about the NBA. If governments make an exception for Canada’s one NBA team, they’ll be under pressure to do the same for its seven NHL teams. The Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto FC, already forced to base themselves on the other side of the border this past summer, will rightly wonder what’s changed, especially since Thursday brought news of 1,575 COVID cases in Ontario, a new daily record. Amid that backdrop, and in the face of the realistic picture of potentially porous protocols painted by VanVleet and Redick, it’s a tough case to make. Not that Ujiri, ever eloquently, should stop trying.
“We are trying to lead. We are trying to beat this pandemic. We are trying to come back in the best possible way,” Ujiri said. “Because there’s going to be a new normal, one way or the other. And we’re trying to give people a sense of hope. That’s what we’re trying to do. So we don’t look at it as saying, ‘Hey, give us this because we’re privileged …’ We want to set an example that gives people a sense of hope. We don’t want to take our team to another city, carry families, carry workers, carry other people to another place. Let us learn here. Let us figure it out here.”
They’ll figure it out, somewhere. Ujiri told CBC that his team’s list of potential U.S. bases for the 72-game NBA season that is scheduled to begin Dec. 22 is lengthy. Tampa, Nashville, Louisville, Kansas City, Buffalo, Newark and Fort Lauderdale have all extended invitations.
“We are honoured. We are humbled. We are appreciative that everybody wants us to come play in their city,” he said. “We’re lucky that the Raptors have become a darling.”
Whether or not the darlings of the NBA can convince VanVleet into signing on the dotted line remains to be seen. But perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to include the coveted free agent in deliberations on their potential destination. On Redick’s podcast VanVleet said that, while he has unsuccessfully lobbied for the organization to spend the season based in Las Vegas, he’s got a favourite among the actual contenders: He’s partial to Tampa. There’s no state tax in Florida, after all, and he’s about to get paid.