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Raptors’ Fred VanVleet: ‘Nobody can tell me I’m selfish’



Raptors’ Fred VanVleet: ‘Nobody can tell me I’m selfish’



by Rubb3rDuck3y

16 Comments

  1. No fucking shit. At the same time, the President of the Raptors has mentioned that there has been some selfishness on the team. So it’s not a 0 or 1 type of situation here.

    I do think Fred is not the one we as Raptors’ fans should be the most upset at tbh. But this has been a disappointing season, so everyone’s looking for the scapegoat. Realistically, it was a bunch of different players all slumping at the same time. It was the coaching that couldn’t adjust and pull them out of it. It was the Front Office that put them in situations where they had to be perfect in order to play good defense.

    I know folks on here will clown me, but does anyone actually think the Raptors aren’t a top-6 team in the East at the very least if Jakob played the entire season? I know the ultimate goal is championship, and I don’t know if this core is the one to do it — but like, they are not that bad. If Jak was around from the beginning of the season, we’d be chatting about this team as a top 10 team

  2. One thing I have never called Fred was selfish. I have called him a score first guard with a delusional level of self confidence but never selfish. Fred calls his own number a lot to because he believes he can get the job done but he has never shied away from hitting the open man.

    One thing that has been clear this season was that the lack of a true big probably hurt Fred more than anyone else on the team. You saw flashes of it early while Koloko was getting heavy minutes and since Poeltl came back he has been a very good point guard. You would never guess they hadn’t played together in 4 years.

  3. AngryHelicopter

    Calling him ‘selfish’ does seem like it’s an out-of-line and unfair attack on his character. I do think he takes too many shots, though, even with all the qualifiers that Poeltl added in his great presser yesterday.

  4. Ehhhhh takes wayyyy too many shots when he’s not feeling it. I’ve seen too many possessions where Scottie has a guard on him right near the rim and Fred ignores it.

  5. Selfish =/= poor shot selection.

    I dont think any reasonable person out there is thinking “Wow what a dick he took that shot cause he wants it all”.

    It boils down to how he views himself and his abilities, and you can hear it in his voice and the things he says in just this interview. The ego is huge, and the impact isn’t consistent with that.

    I get the whole “bet on yourself” mentality and some ego is needed, but so many terrible shots being taken is because you *think* you can make them. He’s a career 40% shooter, that’s not selfish, that’s just overestimating your own skill level.

  6. I don’t think he’s selfish but his shot selection is horrible at times. Which explains why he’s never had a season of above average ts% his entire career.

  7. Embarrassed_Habit199

    I think both yes and no can be true in this situation

  8. Didn’t Fred say he didn’t want to take a smaller role just a few months ago?

  9. kingsayer

    He bets on himself too much. He really thinks very high of himself whereas league exactly showed how much they value him on trade deadline. They didn’t even want to send role players in return.

  10. TinyOrganization1507

    Why is he doing another press tour talking about being selfish, if he wants to prove it to the fan base he should stop calling out his own number and dish it out to his teammates a lot more instead of chucking the ball. When the NBA playin occurs the other teams will scheme against him and under that light can he get the same amount of points he got playing the crippled Charlotte hornets.

  11. 1DapperRaptor

    Every action and statement made this year is aimed at him betting on himself. Selfish AF

    Getting Jak saved his season but it isn’t Fred that’s making us better it’s Jak.

    I’m so done with his fake statements like this.. such bullshit

  12. n3moh0es

    he’s not selfish at all just want a better guard. his skillset isn’t good enough and players of his style and size are fading out and we are bout to extend the guy… god help this franchise plz

  13. DomincNdo

    Fred’s selfishness stems from his inability to manipulating the defensive via paint penetration, so he relies on his shoot making to move them instead. The problem with this method is that he’s inconsistent and he’ll keep putting up shoots trying to get himself going even if it’s in the 4th quarter.

    Even Steph Curry the greatest shooter of all time doesn’t just reply on shooting but also has a nice layup package. Fred’s playstyle is not subtainable and we saw that for the entirety of this season + after the ASG from last season.

    Against a contender like the Sixers he shot 3/10 from 3. Ok that was a tough team, how about the 26 wins Hornets missing literally all their starters, 1/8 from 3. Forget the max, if we re-sign him at all I expect more underwhelming basketball from the Raptors for the foreseeable future.

  14. capitalcitybaby

    This guy talking about how he’s top percentile individual, is some pro arrogant shit.

    Plus, they’re always like, “of couldn’t do it without the fans” in the interview and then goes on a podcast to say “fans don’t know anything about ball”.

    Crazy inflated egos.

  15. iamwearingashirt

    For the most part, it’s true what he says. But also, it’s the wrong tact.

    People at the top of their field shouldn’t have to remind people they’re at the top of their field.

    It would have been so much better to acknowledge that fans are probably frustrated because of this reason or that.

    Validate feelings, not necessarily opinions.

    Then, explain some of the philosophy of his play style like Jak did.

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