How high is the ceiling for a failed draft in the NBA? Van Vleet gave a satisfactory answer today. On the 2022 All-Star bench list released by the NBA, the East Side column prominently bears VanVleet's name. Although this is expected, it is still lamentable. Throughout his career, the secret of VanVleet's success is that he shines the brightest light on the most important occasions and on the biggest stages.
VanVleet thus became the fourth player in NBA history to be named an All-Star after John Stax, Ben Wallace and Brad Miller. After Lowry moved south to Miami, VanVleet took over the Raptors' backcourt scepter. So far this season, VanVleet has averaged the league's highest average of 38.6 minutes per game, with 21.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7 assists and 1.7 steals, shooting 41.6% from the field and 39.1% from three-point range. In addition to steals and total shooting percentage, all others set new career highs for VanVleet, along with the record highs of true shooting percentage and win-per-48 minute contributions.
Currently, the Raptors are 7th in the Eastern Conference with 27 wins and 23 losses, and are expected to return to the playoffs after a year, and VanVleet, as the commander of the backcourt, is naturally indispensable.
Van Vleet was born on February 25, 1994 in Rockford, Illinois. In a later interview with SLAM magazine, Van Vleet recounted her difficult childhood life. It all started with a tragedy in which his biological father, Fred Manning, was shot dead in 1999, "My brother and I were forced to see things that our children shouldn't have seen when we were very young. Fortunately, VanVleet's stepfather, a policeman named Joe Danforce, regarded him as his own and continued his love of basketball.
Perhaps influenced by his biological father (Fred Manning had played at Local High School in Rockford), or perhaps just to hang out with his brother Darnell, VanVleet became associated with basketball at a very young age. He once said that in his hometown, basketball and rugby are quite popular, locals vent their resentment and dissatisfaction with life through sports, and basketball courts have become shelters.
Like the thousands of stories circulating on the streets of the United States, Van Vliet honed his skills and mind on the street court. The stepfather will take the children to practice ball control and exercise strength and endurance. Perhaps because of the changes that have occurred, Van Vleet was extremely sensitive when he was a child, and he would cry bitterly when he was not comfortable. On one occasion, when they went to the University of Notre Dame for a summer tour, Van Vliet ran away crying during the game and hid in the bathroom until he was found by his teammates and persuaded to return to the court.
As his skills and confidence grew, VanVleet began to become calm and composed, and his teammates even thought he was cool at times. While attending Auburn High School in her hometown, VanVleet was selected as one of the nation's best players in the united states during her senior year of high school. He led the team to 22 consecutive wins and reached the illinois High School League Final Four (3rd) for the first time, where he was named a four-star high school student.
Subsequently, VanVleet promised to join the Wichita State University and stayed there for 4 years. Since his sophomore year, he has averaged about 30 minutes per game, and in his junior year, he averaged 13.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. He was selected for the MVC Division's Best Team three times, the Best Player in the Division twice, the All-American Team nomination three times, and the Third Team once.
Perhaps considered to have no potential to tap, VanVleet fell behind in the 2016 NBA Draft. After that, stubbornly, he rejected two contracts from the development league, but represented the Raptors in that year's summer league, signed a training camp contract with the Raptors as desired, and stood out among the competitors and joined the team roster.
VanVleet moved between the NBA and development leagues during the rookie season and won the 2017 Development League championship with the Raptors 905 team. In the second season, VanVleet gained a foothold in the Raptors and began an unstoppable growth. On March 8, 2018, it was his one-time strike that led the Raptors to a 121-119 overtime victory over the Pistons to lock up a playoff spot. He averaged 8.6 points, 3.2 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game that season, ranking fourth in net efficiency per game in the NBA, the only substitute in the top 20 plus-minus, and a candidate for the best sixth man.
The addition of the small card in the 2018 offseason gave the Raptors an unprecedented chance to win the championship, and VanVleet also completed the leap in this season. Everyone is familiar with the events of that time. In the first 15 games of the 2019 playoffs, VanVleet's performance shook the heads of Toronto fans, averaging 4 points and 2.7 assists per game, and the three-point shooting rate fell to 19.5% of the performance was a disaster.
The turning point came on May 20 of that year, when Van Vliet's second and first son fell to the ground. Van Vliet, who is in good spirits, scored 13 points and 6 assists on 3 of 3 three-point shooting in the Eastern Finals G4 and 21 points on 7-of-9 three-point shooting in G5. Since then, Van Vleet has been out of control and has played an efficient performance continuously, and the name of "Van Jordan" has not gone away. On June 14, a day that Toronto fans will never forget, as Van Vlitte scored 22 points on 5-of-11 three-point shooting, the Raptors won the first championship in team history with a 4-2 victory over the injured Warriors.
With the departure of Little Card and Lowry, the Raptors lineup is constantly doing subtraction, and the results are declining year by year, but VanVleet's status in the team has soared like a rocket. In the 2019-20 season he sat firmly in the starting line. After a 2020-21 season, he climbed to the top of the season and stepped into the ranks of All-Star players. Looking back on his career, many people still regard the birth of their son as a turning point in Van Vleet's career, thinking that he was inspired by divine power, but people who know his basketball path understand that this is just the result of Van Vleet's accumulation.
Today, Raptors hardcore fan Drake came to the scene of the game and hugged Van Vliet affectionately and sent his congratulations. Perhaps, as Raptors coach Nas put it, VanVleet's all-Star selection "is to make an already incredible thing even better." (Supine Braces/Hairy)