Fred VanVleet Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: G
Born: 02/25/94
Height: 6-1 / 1.85
Weight:197 lbs. / 89.4 kg.
Salary: $21,250,000
Born: 02/25/94
Height: 6-1 / 1.85
Weight:197 lbs. / 89.4 kg.
Salary: $21,250,000
VanVleet has recorded 27 blocks this season, the second-most of any Raptors and the second-most of any guard in the league this year. But the thing about VanVleet’s blocks is they aren’t really blocked, per se. He has this uncanny ability to get his hands on the ball the moment an opposing player goes up to shoot. It’s not like when Chris Boucher swats a ball into the second row of the stands, with VanVleet it’s far more subtle.
“I have to protest and talk to the league about how to get some of those as steals,” VanVleet said Tuesday night. “Every time I think I got a big steal game I go to the locker room and they give me three, four blocks, I can’t do nothing with blocks, they don’t do nothing for me, you know what I mean? But if I added those on to the steals, I think I’d be running away with the steals lead.” He’s right. If his 0.8 blocks per game were added to his 1.7 steals per game — the seventh most in the NBA — he’d be far and away the NBA’s steals leader.
When it comes to getting those so-called “blocks” there are two things that make VanVleet so special. For one, he has ridiculously strong hands. It’s one thing to strip the ball from a tiny guard, but it’s a whole other thing when you’re ripping the ball away of a big man going up with force. “My hands are pretty sore after each game,” he said. “I can make contact with it a lot, but this is the most that I’ve actually come away with it. Just making a more concerted effort to make the play and go the other way.”
Eric Koreen: “I’m very disappointed,” Nurse says of VanVleet not making the All-Star Game. He takes nothing away from guys who made it, recognizes how deep talent is. “He’s played his guts out,” and has been a big reason for Raptors’ turn-around.
