Playing best basketball of his career, Raptors’ VanVleet deserves All-Star nod

Make him an All-Star, damnit. He deserves it.

Fred VanVleet is playing the best basketball of his career. He’s still great at everything he’s been great at since becoming an NBA starter, and he’s significantly improved in areas that were weaknesses.

He deserves to be recognized at the NBA’s mid-season showcase on Feb. 20 in Cleveland, which would be fitting for VanVleet who has always been more midwest substance than bright-lights style.

VanVleet’s latest argument for why he should be one of 12 players to represent the East was made emphatically on Tuesday night as he dropped 33 points and seven assists in Toronto’s 129-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

It’s the third straight game VanVleet has had 30 or more, putting him on a list with Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Vince Carter, Kawhi Leonard and Mike James among Raptors who’ve pulled that feat off.

The victory improved the Raptors record to 17-17 as they touched the .500 mark for the first time since Nov. 13. The Spurs fell to 14-22, though could be encouraged by the showing of Josh Primo, the 19-year-old rookie from the Toronto taken 12th overall in the 2021 draft. He put up a career-high 15 points off the bench along with five rebounds and four assists in front of an estimated 20 family and friends in a Scotiabank Arena otherwise closed to fans.

But a lot has happened to the Raptors since the heady days of mid-November that were buoyed by an early-season five-game winning streak.

Not all of it has been good, which is why VanVleet earning his first all-star spot is no sure thing.

His biggest challenge is the team he’s playing on, or – more accurately – that due to injuries and illnesses, the team he’s on has so rarely been the team the Raptors were hopeful they would have out of training camp: young but with a base of high-end talent and capable of surprising some people, with VanVleet as one the leaders.

Teams struggling to get to .500 and stick around the play-in tournament don’t normally get the benefit of the doubt from All-Star voters.

“I think he’s got to be in the conversation,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse.

“But I also say … we’ve got to climb the standings. I just think that’s part of it. Right? I just think it’s part of it. And if we do, then he certainly will deserve it. He’s been out there most of the games this year. Right? That’s another big thing. There’s been a lot of guys missing big chunks of time on a lot of teams. But I think he’s right in there. We know what he brings, he brings winning and leadership and scoring. Great defender. So he’s got to be in consideration.”

VanVleet is doing his part. The Raptors have won three straight since they got the bulk of their rotation back after COVID-related absences – VanVleet included. They have won four of the past five of the games he’s played.

VanVleet’s five-game line?

Only 31.4 points and seven assists a game while shooting 47.4 per cent from three.

The numbers will never quite capture VanVleet’s season, though they are a pretty good representation.

But with VanVleet, you gotta watch.

The mini-run he put together midway through the first quarter was even telling.

It included a tough lefty finish off the glass with a defender draped all over him (VanVleet is shooting a career-best 65.5 per cent at the rim this year, shoring up an early-career problem spot); an easy three (he’s shooting 48.4 per cent on catch-and-shoot threes, which leads the NBA among players with at least four such attempts per game) and a moment later he sniffed out a Spurs play, made the obvious (to him) steal and set the Raptors up for an easy transition basket.

It’s hard for anyone to play better basketball than VanVleet has of late, let alone a 6-foot undrafted point guard who can’t dunk.

VanVleet in turn felt the need to give credit where credit is due. He says his success in catch-and-shoot situations stems from the playmakers around him.

“I think with having everybody back it’s a little harder to key in on guys,” he said. “… we’ve got guys that are finding the shooters, being aggressive, and I’m just trying to hunt to those open catch and shoots obviously because I feel good in that role and those are probably the easiest shots I guess. So just trying to capitalize on those.”

There were plenty of contributions from elsewhere. Pascal Siakam has been playing his best basketball as he makes an All-Star push of his own. He finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, giving him 28 helpers in his past four games. Scottie Barnes flirted with a triple-double and ended up with 11 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while Gary Trent Jr. chipped in with 21 points and three assists.

Rookie Justin Champagnie took advantage of the COVID-related absences of Yuta Watanabe and Svi Mykhailiuk to put up 14 points while knocking in four threes in five chances – a benefit of the early gym time he’s been putting in to develop his shooting.

But VanVleet stirred the drink, like has been all season.

An all-star? No question, said Champagnie.

“All-star, off the rip,” he said. “What [VanVleet] is doing is incredible, for himself and the team. He’s a big part of this team and he’s been putting on a show for everybody to see he deserves to be an all-star. Me, personally, as his teammate – not being biased – I think he deserves it, he’s been doing his thing and it’s been fun to watch, it’s fun to watch.”

VanVleet has been silencing doubters his entire career.

Before the game Spurs coach Gregg Popovich admitted he hadn’t paid a lot of attention to VanVleet’s season, given he’s got enough problems with his struggling team. But you can be sure VanVleet got his attention, which could be crucial given his candidacy will likely come down to a vote among the coaches, who pick seven of the 12 spots in each conference.

Even heading into this year there were questions about how he would manage being the so-called ‘head-of-the-snake’ with the departure of backcourt mate Kyle Lowry.

If defences loaded up on him, would he be able find his shot? Get to the rim?

Yes, and yes. And through the first 34 games of the Raptors’ season he’s done it even while having to paper over long-term absences from Siakam, OG Anunoby and Khem Birch. He’s shared the court more with 20-year-old rookie Barnes and 22-year-old Trent Jr., an NBA starter for the first time in his career.

“He’s really the focal point guard on his own,” said Nurse. “Certainly, with Kyle gone, the attack was always a two-man deal. He’s had to run the team a little bit more and all those kind of things. He’s playing great. He does a lot of things well. It just isn’t scoring or assisting. He’s a great blocker outer, for example, he’s a rebounder, he runs the team, he finishes at the rim, shoots 3, mid-range stuff developing. He’s continuing to get better.”

His counting stats are more than impressive: He’s averaging 20.9 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 40 per cent from deep on nearly nine attempts a game. The only other player doing all that is Steph Curry from the Golden State Warriors, the early-season favourite for league MVP.

Dive deeper and there is more. The Raptors are an absurd 21.4 points per 100 possessions better when VanVleet is on the floor than when he’s not, which is second behind 2020-21 MVP Nikola Jokic and just ahead of Curry.

He leads the NBA in loose balls recovered on defence, is second in deflections and is among the league leaders in steals.

It was all on display against the Spurs. The Raptors led by one at the end of the first quarter as VanVleet put up 13 quick points on 10 shots, and then controlled in the second quarter when VanVleet had 11 points and five assists as the Raptors led 68-53 at half. VanVleet had nine more as his club stretched the game out in the third, where his highlight was a nasty jab step sequence against former Raptor and old friend Jakob Poeltl — leading to another VanVleet triple. Poeltl torched his old team for 19 points and 12 rebounds in 23 minutes, but VanVleet got the better of him there.

There were doubtless more low-hanging fruits out there, but with the Raptors pushing the game out of reach in early in the fourth, the NBA’s leader in minutes per game (37.7) got a well-deserved rest.

He deserves more than rest. He deserves to be rewarded for his efforts. He deserves to be in Cleveland in February, strange as that sounds. And Fred VanVleet is doing everything he can to make it happen.

Playing best basketball of his career, Raptors’ VanVleet deserves All-Star nod
Source: Pinas Ko Mahal