TORONTO — Way back in the first quarter of the Toronto Raptors’ first preseason game in Edmonton, Fred VanVleet did something you’d never expect of a veteran with an All-Star appearance to his name: He put intense ball pressure on an opposing guard.
Remember the context. As excited as players are to compete for the first time in months against another team in an NBA setting, this was still a game that did not count, and in the case of VanVleet, we had a player who had nothing to prove at this moment. His starting spot and general role are guaranteed and, if anything, the Raptors want him to find moments to rest this year, occasions when he gets to ease up on his body. Yet, there he was, getting as close to Utah’s Collin Sexton as possible, eventually causing a turnover.
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Was this about the 36 points Sexton hung on the Raptors, many of them on VanVleet himself, back in March 2021? Was it a reprisal for the pressure that Sexton, in his first game for a new team after surgery on his knee wiped out most of his last season, was putting on him? When asked after that game, VanVleet smiled, suggesting an affirmative answer to the line of questioning, but didn’t cede that it was personal at all. VanVleet said he was just trying to play good defence.
“Those are my two secrets. I try to lead by example,” VanVleet said Monday when asked about how he tries to coax maximum energy out of a team that will need to exhaust themselves to win on most nights. “And when that doesn’t work, I cuss.”
Smash cut to parents everywhere nodding vigorously.
There is occasionally an existential thought that maybe VanVleet, tied with Pascal Siakam as the longest-serving Raptors, does not fit the type of team that is taking shape. VanVleet is 6-foot, surrounded by a battalion of 6-foot-8 guys with 7-foot wingspans. In a development system that routinely tries to turn bad shooters into passable ones, VanVleet has been above average from the day he made the roster as the 15th man, and was second only to Stephen Curry in 3-pointers made per game last year. As much as VanVleet tries to hold his own in the post, he cannot quite do that as well as his predecessor, Kyle Lowry, did for years in Toronto. Sometimes, there is an opponent out there that is simply too big for VanVleet to credibly defend.
So, deadline for Siakam and VanVleet extensions are tonight. BUT, if VanVleet opts out after season, he then becomes extension eligible once more leading up to free agency. Siakam would be extension eligible again next offseason if no deal.
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) October 17, 2022
If all that is true, then does VanVleet not pull the Raptors away from who they are, or at least who they’re trying to be?
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“He sets (the tone) just because that’s his nature,” Nick Nurse said on Sunday. “He competes to win. That’s just who he is. He doesn’t know much better. You guys come to practice tomorrow and we’ll be playing games that are being scored, and he’ll be out there fighting.”
“It’s just kind of my job to make sure we get through a good practice,” VanVleet said. “And when we don’t, I blame myself. I’ve got a pretty good track record.”
That is pretty standard sports leadership talk, but it carries outsized importance on the Raptors in particular. When you have a defensive scheme that quite obviously requires giving as much effort as you have, you want to be sure that your most tenured players are exhibiting it. And if VanVleet, who doesn’t have the physical gifts that most of his teammates have, can do his part at full bore, it sends the signal that the rest of the guys should do the same.
The Raptors were free to offer VanVleet a four-year contract extension worth up to $114 million on Monday, and unlike Siakam, whose own extension offer could only be accepted before midnight Monday, it can stay on the table. (Since Siakam has two more years left on his contract, there was a deadline to sign his extension. VanVleet technically has two more years, too, but since 2023-24 is a player option, VanVleet can decline it and sign the extension at any time. Veterans in the last year of their contracts are free to negotiate extensions throughout their season heading into free agency, assuming it has been more than two years since they signed their deals.)
The number seems high for a diminutive point guard in a league bending toward skilled players with more size, and a good start from VanVleet would certainly go a long way toward making the Raptors feel more comfortable locking in the contract. Notably, VanVleet shot just 33.1 percent on his pull-up 3s last year, which is fine, but you might hope was a little higher since he took more than five per game. Moreover, he shot just 30.5 percent on shots between three and 10 feet away from the rim last year — floater range, colloquially — and that has never been his strength. In order to maximize his skills as a pick-and-roll ballhandler, he has to increase his efficiency from that area. We have seen a few more floaters and push shots from him in the preseason, but that’s the preseason.
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Still, if VanVleet accepts that offer at any point, the Raptors should be delighted. Tyler Herro and Jordan Poole came off the potential restricted free agent list for next year by signing expensive rookie extensions this month. Both outpace what the Raptors can offer VanVleet, and even if you factor in that those teams might be paying for a previously unreached upside compared to a more established player in VanVleet, they indicate VanVleet can probably get more than that if he repeats what he did last year. He’s a proven playoff performer, a plus defender for his position, an elite shooter and the beneficiary of being one of the better players available in a market in which nine teams could currently cobble together $30 million worth of cap room.
In other words, VanVleet might be able to earn more as a free agent either re-signing with the Raptors via Bird rights or into cap room with another team that he can make right now with an extension.
“My success, my individual success, is pretty much based on how the team does,” VanVleet said, later adding he will not address his contract publicly other than to say he loves everything about his situation in Toronto. “The way I play is relative to how the team does. I’ve always won, I’ve been a winner, and I’ll continue to strive to be that. So, if we do well that means I’m probably playing well. … Everything else will probably work itself out. That doesn’t factor into my day-to-day thinking or add pressure in any way.”
With so many younger players on the roster who are probably heading for their own big paydays, it’s yet another way that VanVleet will be able to lead by example. If they fail to take the hint, at least we know VanVleet has a backup plan.
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(Photo: Brian Fluharty / USA Today)
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