Why Fred VanVleet delivered a large gift bag to all of his Houston teammates

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Houston Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet wanted to make a good off-court impression on his new teammates.

With that in mind, before Monday’s media day to kick off team activities for the 2023-24 season, he got a handful of large gift bags and placed them in his teammates’ lockers at Toyota Center in Houston. Each player showed excitement as they pulled out the gifts, which rangedfrom beat headphones to team-style Crocs.

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“It was a welcome kit, something to get us going as we take this trip, coming down here for camp,” VanVleet after Wednesday’s training camp practice at McNeese State University. “I remember what that felt like being young, my first couple years in the league, just being excited for the beginning of the season. Just getting with my team and figuring out how we can do something that will bind us together.”

But beyond it simply being a nice gesture, VanVleet had a hidden agenda in presenting those gifts. He placed the book “Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great” by Joshua Medcalf, one of his favorite books. He was hoping that they would all read it and have some feedback from it.

“I really want them to read the book,” VanVleet said post-practice. “You have to sprinkle some candy in there, so they’ll take the medicine.”

The book is almost a tiny glimpse into VanVleet’s journey to the NBA. It describes a boy’s journey of fulfilling his dream of becoming a samurai warrior. The undrafted All-American out of Wichita State made the best of the opportunity given to him by the Toronto Raptors in 2016, which fulfilled his dream of playing basketball at the highest level of competition.

“I remember what that felt like being young, my first couple years in the league, just being excited for the beginning of the season,” said Fred VanVleet about the gift bags he gave to his teammates.” #Rockets #Sarge @TheRocketsWire pic.twitter.com/tup2sAjMWN

— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) October 5, 2023

“It is about just falling in love with the process and becoming great and the process of that, the steps that it takes,” VanVleet said when giving a brief description of the book.

“It’s not just a straight path to climb out of where we’ve been here,” he explained. “You have to be in tune and locked into the days that are tough. It’s easy to be excited and energetic on the first day of training camp, but there’s going to be those days in the middle of the season when things are hard and adversity hits, and you just got to push through it and come together as a team.”

“For the journey ahead. One step at a time.”

???? @FredVanVleet pic.twitter.com/zaSOCbtfRV

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) October 4, 2023