Toronto Raptors: Fred VanVleet proving to be a difference-maker

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet is quickly earning the reputation of a man who is at his best when the pressure is on.

It’s hard to come up with a comparison for a player who has flipped public perception quite as dramatically as Fred VanVleet. Last season in the early stages of the playoffs as the Toronto Raptors battled demons of postseasons past, VanVleet looked like the very embodiment of a squad known for little besides shriveling when the lights are brightest.

In a 14-game stretch between Game 2 against the Orlando Magic in the first round and Game 3 against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, he averaged 3.3 points in 19.1 minutes per game. He shot 21.7 percent from the floor on 4.9 shots per game and shot 14.3 percent from 3-point range.

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You could be forgiven for wondering if he belonged on that stage. It was a fair question to ask.

In Game 4 against the Bucks, he earned a reprieve. He shot 5-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-3 from 3-point range. Toronto Raptors fans breathed a sigh of relief and told themselves, “At least he didn’t lose this one for us.”

In Game 5, he scored 21 points, all from the 3-point line where he went 7-of-9 and played 37 minutes. The Raptors were +25 in his minutes against the mighty Bucks. They closed the Bucks out in Game 6 and Fred VanVleet had a casual 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 33 minutes. The script had been flipped completely on its head.

Suddenly VanVleet was no longer a massive negative, but instead, somebody who could hold his own in tough matchups. Sure enough, against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, he made Stephen Curry‘s life a living hell.

While VanVleet averaged 14.0 points per game in the Finals, shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from 3-point line, when he defended Curry, the two-time MVP shot just 36.8 percent from 3-point range and 41.4 percent from the field.

As we know now, the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship, then Kawhi Leonard bolted to Los Angeles, and Canada’s team found themselves picking up the pieces. With Leonard and Danny Green‘s departures, one of the beneficiaries of their absences was Fred VanVleet himself. He’s started all 49 games he’s played, and his usage has ticked up from 17.9 percent last year to a career-high 21.8 percent this season.

The NBA is well underway in its restart, and on Monday afternoon against the Miami Heat he had the opportunity to show what he could do against a tough opponent. In a hard-fought 107-103 Raptors victory, VanVleet led all scorers with a sparkling 36 points, adding five rebounds, four assists and a steal.

He shot 8-of-16 from the floor and 7-of-12 from 3-point range, and the Heat had no answer for him at any point other than to foul him and send him to the line. He went 13-of-13 from the stripe, so you can see how well that went.

Fred VanVleet is still an inconsistent scorer, although he’s shooting 38.8 percent from 3-point range this season and 39.2 percent for his career. He’s not particularly reliable inside the arc, and at 6’1″ his height isn’t an asset by any means.

Much like the rest of the Toronto Raptors, though, VanVleet is quickly proving to have that special something extra that it takes to survive and thrive when the challenge is at its most difficult.