Seven years of Fred VanVleet wasn’t near enough

Article content

Now that he’s gone, a few words about Fred VanVleet.

Article content

While a surprising number of the fan base, at least a fair number of the vocal ones on social media, were done with VanVleet after last season, I can safely speak for those around the team on a more or less daily basis and say that attitude towards Mr. Bet on Yourself was not shared by anyone who knows him even a little bit.

Article content

Article content

And don’t get this twisted. We’re not suggesting we KNEW VanVleet. He didn’t go looking for friends or allies in the media. But he earned everyone’s respect.

He earned it with the way he played the game. He competed every single minute he was on the floor. He earned it with the way he treated people and, selfishly, he earned it with the way he treated the media.

Fred VanVleet is, and we say this with total confidence, the kind of player every media member, teammate, coach or front office type is lucky enough to come across once in a career.

Article content

He was cooperative almost to a fault with the parts of today’s NBA game that put a strain on even the most agreeable of individuals. Ask ten NBA players the worst part of their job and 11 will tell you it’s the daily media requirements.

Dealing with media on a nearly daily basis is no cakewalk and none are better at it than Fred.

He wasn’t always eager to fulfill these duties. On more than one occasion he reminded all of us interlopers what a pain we could all be, but VanVleet understood the media were the conduit to the fans and the fans were the ones that ultimately paid his salary and so even on those days he would have preferred any alternative to talking to the media, Fred talked.

Another part of his job he doesn’t get enough credit for was the leadership role he took on with this team. And if you don’t think that’s a big deal we point you in the direction of the $130-million bag the Houston Rockets just threw at him. He’s not getting that kind of deal if his contributions are going to end with the final whistle of every game.

Article content

Article content

VanVleet, and all leaders in any professional sports landscape, take on an additional role that is often akin to walking a tightrope. You become an extension of management and your head coach in the locker room often at your own expense. The job of getting in the face of teammates when they step out of line or get too selfish or simply do stupid things is not a role anyone seeks out. Go too far and you can lose the room. Don’t do enough and you lose all effectiveness.

But it’s a role the best leaders in sport take on because they know someone has to do it.

It’s almost universally a thankless job, but it’s a role that has to be filled if a team is going to achieve its goals. Only the best step up.

It was almost laughable listening to people talk about VanVleet’s struggles with his on-court role last season. Struggle with his role? Hell, he switched roles at the cost of his own numbers because it was felt that was what the team needed.

Article content

At his best VanVleet is scoring and has the ball in his hands a lot, but that wasn’t the case for much of the season last year. He sacrificed to ensure his teammates and particularly up-and-coming star Scottie Barnes were more comfortable in the offence and getting their touches and their offence.

But struggling with his role? That’s an abject misread of the situation.

I mean criticize the man for some shooting woes last season, though, even those went away once he got healthy, but it’s patently unfair to criticize a man for trying to make those around him better.

On a personal note, VanVleet was the perfect mix of intelligence, tell-it-like-it-is directness, and with just enough humour thrown in to make it all work.

Article content

From the newest and greenest of the media types around the team to the oldest and most jaded, VanVleet was a favourite. That is not a generalization.

He would listen patiently to any question from any corner of the room, and then give a thoughtful and in-depth answer. Of course, if the questions got too personal or stepped beyond the accepted exchange between player and reporter, VanVleet would put an end to that line of questioning directly.

Even when VanVleet would remind the assembled masses that his own knowledge of the game went well beyond anything anyone in the room could hope to fathom, it wasn’t taken as a slight or a rebuke or even cockiness. It was the truth. No one questioned it.

That was the respect he had from the media that covered him and we expect from the men who shared a locker room with him.

Article content

And then there was his general approach to life. How could anyone not get behind his story?

And underdog from the day he signed as an undrafted free agent, VanVleet defied the odds and became one of the six or seven most important and impactful players in franchise history.

He won this reporter over almost immediately in that first training camp in Vancouver with his quiet confidence in a situation that would have overwhelmed most others.

At no point in his seven seasons with Toronto did VanVleet ever appear overwhelmed or overmatched.

Sure, there were struggles, none bigger than that Philadelphia series in the championship run when VanVleet wasn’t getting a real opportunity because of the matchup, and when he did get minutes, he wasn’t having much of an impact.

Article content

VanVleet was already a mainstay in the rotation at that point as the leader of Toronto’s bench mob, but his role was vastly diminished in that series. It was a tough pill to swallow.

In true VanVleet fashion, he put his head down and went to work on ensuring he couldn’t be overlooked again. He refused to make his own less-than-ideal situation an ordeal even with reporters hounding him for explanations.

Following the birth of his son midway through the next series in Milwaukee, VanVleet could not be kept down and in just his third year in the league and at the ripe old age of 24 he became both an NBA champion and an indispensable part of the Raptors organization.

The Raptors will fill his minutes. Someone, maybe even Scottie Barnes, will take over at point guard. But there will never be another Fred VanVleet. He is one of a kind.

He’ll earn every penny the Houston Rockets pay him.

[email protected]

Article content