Fred VanVleet on All-Star nod, Kawhi's shot & beating Draymond in Finals | The Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to The Volume's YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. Man, excited to have this next guy on from Rockford, Illinois. I know most of y'all won't know that. And what you will know him as is guy who absolutely destroyed us in the NBA Finals, who I still don't appreciate that. I can't say that I do, cost me a ring, but I definitely, appreciate his road to becoming who he's become. Undrafted outta Wichita State. I wasn't undrafted, but I definitely understand the mindset that comes with being looked over. You're talking a guy who led his team to the Final Four as a freshman, which if I'm not mistaken, I think they became the 5th team with the seed higher than the 8 seed to actually play in the Final Four. And then the following year came back, sophomore year, led his team to the first 31-0 record in NCAA history. He finished college as a 3-time AP Honorable Mention All-American, 2-time MVC Player of the Year, and 3-time First Team All-MVC player. Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors. What's up, my brother? What's up?

Man, thanks for having me. You do a good intro, bro. I might take you on the road with me.

I appreciate it, man. No, and obviously we just spoke about you being undrafted and you came out, you played summer league with the Raptors. What was your mindset in coming out? 'Cause I know for me, like I won National Player of the Year and then I got drafted the 35th pick. And I know what that, how that fueled me. What was your mindset coming out into that first summer league with the Raptors?

Yeah, it was real similar. You know, I always been a student of the game. And it's funny that you say that because I actually remember you speaking on like having a list of the guys that went before you, you know, and you probably still remember those names.

Absolutely.

You know what I'm saying? So like, it was the same for me. I just, I put the guys that went before me at my position and I kind of looked and said, you know, who I gotta be better than, who do I have to outperform? And I just went into it with that mindset. But from day one, after I didn't get drafted, it was just like, let's make the team. Let's get to camp. Let's make the team. And I know that once I'm on the team, I know what I'm gonna do in practice every day. I know that I'm gonna continue to get better and I'm gonna have a chance to grow. So I was just focused on like, what would it take to actually make the roster?

And your rookie year, you played 31 games, but your second year, that's when you kind of started to break out. You shot over 40% from 3. And you were nominated for Sixth Man of the Year. How was that growth for you going from your first year to your second year and actually starting to come into your own?

Yeah, well, making the team my rookie year, we had 3 point guards. It was Kyle, Corey Joseph, and then Draymond Green. So I was kind of stuck in that where, you know, I think I was good enough to play my rookie year. I just, I needed to get better. I needed some experience. I needed to become a better shooter. And those are the things that I did. And then my second year, we had a chance where we had a good bench and that bench unit got some, you know, sustainable minutes throughout the course of the year. I started picking up guys full court, made some shots, and Casey actually liked having two point guards out there. So I started finishing some games, you know, my second year where I was playing in the fourth quarter, get an opportunity to make some shots. I get a chance to guard some of the better guys. So as my opportunity just create, you know, kept growing, I just try to, you know, keep getting better along the way. And it allowed me to take advantage of some of those moments.

Absolutely. And I want to continue to talk about your pro career, but I have to ask you, and I know we just spoke on this a little bit, but as someone that was overlooked, like, do you, coming out of college, you were one of the most decorated college players ever. Like, you had one of the better careers ever. Do you feel like you get enough credit for that?

Oh no, because it always gets twisted as the undrafted. So it's kinda like once you say undrafted, people forget that, you know, kinda what I went through and what I put on the table of my 4 years of school. And there's, you know, the narratives and the perspective of how we look at pro players has changed so much. But, you know, once upon a time going to school for 4 years and going to the tournament every year, going to Final Fours and winning trophies and cutting down nets, that meant something. And it definitely meant something to me. I think I'm better for it the way that, you know, I had to go through it. I was so mature and just ready to be a pro once I became an NBA player. But I definitely don't get that look or that nod because one, I was in a smaller conference, and two, once you put the stamp of undrafted, it's just like, okay, he must not have been very good before he got to this point.

Absolutely, and in reality, some of these talent evaluators just not very good.

Yeah, yeah.

But no one wants to talk about that side of it.

Yeah, they don't know everything.

Absolutely. And you know, you don't know what you don't know. But you also, you just spoke about having 4 point guards on the roster when you made the team with the Raptors. And I wanna talk about one of them and specifically a guy who I've had the opportunity to play with and win a gold medal with, Kyle Lowry. What benefit they're playing next to a guy like Kyle Lowry have on you?

Well, we're so similar in so many different ways that without even knowing each other, you know what I mean? Just obviously I studied this guy as a kid. Like, you know, I'm 10, you know, Kyle got a few years on me. Y'all a little bit older than me. So I was watching him in college. I was watching him, studying the game, studying guys around my size and stature. And so for me to get next to him, I kind of already knew like how he played and he learned how I played. And I'm watching him every day. We working out together. He's letting me shoot with him. I'm in the morning and joining his workouts and just staying next to him, talking to him in timeouts. I'm sitting next to him in the locker room. Like, I'm just a sponge. I'm trying to learn as much as I can from him. And then once I was able to get out there on the court with him, I think we just made our lives easier for each other. And we kind of could read each other without even thinking, especially after we had some time in. So defensively, offensively, like, I knew what he was going to do. He knew what I was going to do. And it was just a huge—

Draymond Green.

Bonus and just a benefit to be able to play with that guy.

Absolutely. And I wanna talk about this, this daunting 2019 playoff run that you was a part of. Before we get into the NBA Finals, your first 2 series of that playoff run, you couldn't throw the ball in the ocean. Not at all. You then have a son.

Yeah.

And you have your son, and I don't think you've missed a shot since. And it seemed like everything flipped for you. Like if you just, and I knew about the timing of it then, but for anybody who don't know, like if you go back and you can follow it along in the articles, if you go back to that run, And then you go and look at the date of Fred just had a son and you see what happened from there. Like, do you feel like that changed something for you? Was it coincidental? Was it just the energy that Lil Fred brought? What was it?

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely all of the above. Like, I'm not that proud to say that, you know, it definitely is all of the above because I have an explanation for why it wasn't going that way. You know, as we can always explain why we struggling and, you know, coach ain't calling the right plays and the rotation short. And, you know, again, It's matchups. That Philly series was not a good series for me to be in. That was a big, nasty, physical team. You know, we wasn't running a lot of ball screens, but I had some pressure on me, you know what I'm saying? My girl's pregnant. I'm out here trying to play in the playoffs and I can't be with my family. And they was home, I was in Toronto. So it was a lot of stuff going on. But once, you know, everything clicked at the right time and him being born was like the catalyst. It was like the start of it. My son being born, I went home. I got to hold him. I got to see my daughter. I got to be around my family for a second, fresh mind, new series. We started playing different. Like, we got better throughout the playoffs. And, you know, once we clicked, it was like, we were pretty much playing like excellent basketball for the rest of those, what, 3, 4 weeks that was left. So it was a perfect storm for sure.

Absolutely. And speaking of Philly and that team, I've watched that shot over a million times. In part due to, I feel like if that shot didn't go in, we wouldn't win the NBA championship, but it is what it is. So I've gone back and watched that shot and you were actually on the bench when that shot happened, which is crazy.

Yeah.

Because if you think about that Finals run and the run that y'all had to go on and win a championship, one wouldn't be able to see you not being in the game at the end of the game. At any point in that run, but it kind of just goes to show what you were saying about your rotations. But you're like right in the corner of Kawhi's shot. With your angle, what were you thinking on that play? Because I didn't think it was a chance it was going in.

Nah, it looked off left. It looked off left because I'm looking at it and you can see it go and look off like it was gonna go off to the left towards the middle of the lane. And once we saw it bounce, bounced twice, it was like, "Oh, this shit going in, it's going in." You know what I mean? And then once it was just like, bro, that was the craziest amount of emotion because for me personally, I'm like, "Yes, I get another series." Like I get another chance to play better. I didn't want my season to end, you know what I mean? With that performance on the table. So I think we was all just relieved just to get outta that series and move on to the next one because that was a really tough series. I mean, we blew them out, they blew us out. We had to go there and play. Like that was a hard fought series.

Absolutely. And talk to me a little more about like the pressure that you're feeling. Like you just said, I don't want this to end on that series. And I know what most people don't understand is this ain't, this is not Fred VanVleet, the $100 million player. No, not at all. This Fred VanVleet trying to make it, worrying about what that next contract is gonna be. Like, talk to me a little more about that pressure that you was feeling in playing and having those first 2 series that you had and then getting another opportunity?

Yeah, well, it's just back then I knew what I could do. You know what I mean? We always know what we can do as players and our confidence and, you know, you thinking about who you can be, but you still have to show that. And at that point in time, I hadn't really shown that I could be a starting point guard. I hadn't shown all of these different moments. So I was just frustrated that this is the performance that I was putting out. You know, nobody's harder on myself than I am. Toronto is one of them cities where if you playing bad, you're gonna know about it. You know what I mean? We definitely have those type of fans where they will cherish you and worship you forever, but they gonna let you know when you not playing well. And so I was caught up in that for the first time in my professional career, like reading comments, and I had to go through all of that type of stuff. So all of that was just a learning experience for me, but I was lucky enough to come out on the other side of it. Draymond Green.

Absolutely. No, that's incredible. And speaking of those playoffs, NBA Finals, y'all go on and win the next series, NBA Finals roll around. We're coming into that series without Kevin Durant.

Yep.

And we then go on to play the first 4 games without him. You guys take a 3-1 lead. Then Kevin comes back for game 5. When Kevin comes back for game 5, what's going through y'all head?

I just remember being in the locker room. I remember being in the locker room before Game 5 and it was like a little buzz, you know what I mean? Like, was he coming back? It was whispers that he was gonna play, you know what I'm saying? I felt like he was gonna play. Like, if he was close enough to play, we knew he was gonna try it out. And I just remember like the conversation being like, "All right, like he coming back. We gonna go at him." Like, you know what I mean? We gonna see what he got. And he came out and hit them first 4 shots. And I remember like, ooh. I was just there being like, damn. Like, oh my God, this dude is special. And I had a move on him one time and I seen him, he was a little gimpy. And then the next time I think Serge went by him is when he went down. And then, man, it was just, it's just sad as a basketball fan. But we was like, all right, bro, we can't get no better gift than this. We gotta, if we don't win this, we gonna have to live with this for the rest of our life. I think that kind of gave us a little extra motivation to get it done. Absolutely.

And that happens in game 5. Game 6, Klay is catching fire. And it's funny because Klay came to me right before that game and he's like, "Dray, I'm gonna have one of them game 6s. Just make sure you give me the ball, Dray. I'm gonna have one of them game 6s. I feel it. Game 6 Klay, Dray." Like he's totally bought into this game 6 Klay thing. Like that everybody's bought. He's totally bought into it. Like game 6 Klay, I'm telling you, Dray. Like just give me the ball. And then he's catching fire. I don't know. A lot of people say, "Klay don't get hurt right there, y'all don't go on to win that NBA championship." I don't know if how true that is. How do you feel about that? I mean, I know what I think, but I do wanna hear your thoughts on it.

I don't agree with that, but at the same time, I could see that argument. You know what I'm saying? I could see that argument. He like, him in those Game 6s, he got a super catalog of like those crazy games where it's hard to beat him. I felt like we were a much better team than y'all without Kevin. Because, you know, we had the depth and there was just certain matchups that we could pick on. And like some of the guys that y'all was playing in those moments wasn't like what we was used to seeing from the Warriors dynasty. Like y'all was bringing some of those guys up to speed, whether it was like Alphonso McKinney, Quinn Cook, Boogie, like those was new guys to what y'all was doing. So we had specific things that we was hunting for in some of those situations. But— Mm-hmm. Yeah, who knows? Nobody will ever know. Y'all can argue that for the rest of y'all life.

You know, Jemma came over to our staff. I always talk junk to him about it. Like, man, if we ain't get hurt. But the reality is this, if we win that game 6, which what I do believe is if Klay doesn't get hurt, we do win that game 6.

Right.

I don't think there's no questions asked, we win the game 6. But you go to game 7 and it's just a coin flip. Like— Yeah, it's a coin flip. You just kind of know that from the history of game 7s. You get to game 7, it's a coin flip. So the reality is I don't necessarily think, oh man, we won game 6, we was for sure winning the championship. Because game 7, I don't care what happened the rest of the series, game 7, you flipped a coin and then whatever happens, happens.

Game 7, anything can happen. I just felt like at the time we was winning most of the quarters. Game 5, I felt like we should have won and we was up. Kawhi started going crazy and then y'all made a comeback late. So, you know, we gonna feel this way, y'all gonna feel that way, is what it is.

No doubt. No, and you spoke about my intro to the show. I purposely wanted to talk about your college resume because I do think it get overlooked. I think I always talk about the basketball minds and how a lot of them don't really know what the hell they talking about. And you're another example of that. I'm an example of that. Purposely did that and purposely did not mention first-time All-Star. Number one, I wanna say congratulations on that.

Thank you.

Well, well, well fucking deserved. And number two, and I know you gotta go, so I'm gonna get you outta here on this one. But with the season that you've put together and becoming an All-Star and carrying your team the way you've carried your team, There has been a lot of speculation coming up now, whether Pascal will be traded at the deadline. And obviously we're recording this before the trade deadline happens. But how are you maintaining your focus with, like Pascal is important to what y'all do. How are you maintaining your focus to continue doing what you're doing regardless of that talk that's going on around Pascal and what could happen at the deadline or not?

Yeah. I mean, well, we all been through it, right? So I think for me, as I'm coming in, I'm in my 6th season now. I think the best feeling to have is to be playing good. Around the trade deadline, be playing well, everybody's feeling well, feeling good, feeling excited about things. And then the pressure to make some of those drastic moves is not there. I think you gotta look at the market and see what's out there. I don't know if any of those moves make sense for us right now in terms of something major. I think we like our core, we like our situation, what we have, and we're playing good basketball. So I think you just gotta try to control what you can control. Me personally, I— listen, bro, you know, I'm from a place just like where you from and you got some of the similar backgrounds. All of this is a blessing. And you know, once you get into all of that extra stuff, you know, you kind of, you set yourself up for disaster. So I just focus on leading this team, trying to win as much as we can and whatever's going to happen is going to happen.

No doubt. Nah, man. Like I said, I know you got to get out of here. I appreciate you coming on the show. I must say, This guy was second in MVP voting when they beat us. So if you wanna look anywhere past Kawhi and them beating us, you have to look no further than Fred VanVleet. I don't appreciate that, but I definitely respect it. I love it. I mean, I'm a big fan of yours, bro, and your journey. I love the whole bet on yourself mentality and how you owned that. Like you didn't just sit behind the scenes and say, I'm betting on myself from the, from the very beginning, it's, "I'm betting on myself." And you've embodied that. Nothing but love and respect, bro. And I appreciate you coming on.

Likewise, bro. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Absolutely. Yes, sir.