Who is Fred VanVleet and what is he doing with a Raptors contract?
By Brian Boake
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has brought in another point guard, the virtually unknown Fred VanVleet. What’s he got?
The signing of power forward Jared Sullinger was a classic Masai Ujiri move. He swooped in to grab the suddenly available ex-Celtic after his presence was no longer required in Boston.
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Our GM’s latest signing, that of point guard Fred VanVleet, is a move without precedent in my memory. VanVleet, an undrafted, undersized graduate of Wichita State University, wasn’t on anyone’s must-have list. Yet here he is, a newly minted Raptor with a fresh, albeit non-guaranteed, contract for half a million dollars.
Fred reminds me of J.J. Barea, a small, feisty ballhandler and defender who has made the NBA through hustle and brains rather than athleticism. I don’t know whether Fred has even a puncher’s chance to make the big club out of camp. After all, there are 3 men ahead of him (Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Delon Wright), none of whom are going to donate their minutes to an unknown rookie.
Yet he’s not completely unknown. Fred led his Shockers, appropriately enough, to a completely unexpected Final Four berth in the 2013 NCAA Championships. They were defeated by eventual champion Louisville, but their run was impressive. Here’s a link to the Wichita State website for Fred’s collegiate achievements, which are impressive.
There’s a lot of Lowry in Fred’s game also. He’s an effective rebounder, and isn’t shy about physical contact with bigger players (which in his case includes almost everyone). His assist to turnover ratio is no more than respectable, but I’m spoiled because I remember the golden years of Jose Calderon.
Fred enjoyed his time in the Las Vegas Summer League, draining an unsustainable 54.5% of his 3-balls. Don’t put too much stock in that percentage; he was 6 for 11, which is all but meaningless as a sample.
I can see Fred staying with the Raptors, though not dressing, until the 905 season commences. Hopefully he sticks around long enough for his guarantee to kick in, and I think he will. A cynic might suggest he’s on board strictly for insurance purposes, as injuries among point guards aren’t rare. It seems to me our GM, surely with the concurrence of head coach Dwane Casey, is making a statement. The Raptors are willing to consider players who don’t necessarily check every box on a scout’s form sheet, but demonstrate an uncanny ability to actually play the game.
Who was the point guard on Larry Bird’s championship Celtics teams of the ’80s? You don’t remember, right? Dennis Johnson, who had already won a championship with the Seattle Supersonics. He was a wonderful defender and distributor; the perfect no-ego complement for a squad with a All-World front line of Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
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Fred has a loooong way to go before we can even begin to compare him to DJ. And the Raptors’ front court isn’t close to the Celtics’ of that era. But the point guard on a winning team doesn’t have to be a star, though he does have to make others be that way.
Here’s your chance, Fred. Good luck.