VanVleet feels Raptors aren't respected around NBA heading into season
For Toronto Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet, tonight marks the official start of year seven of his NBA career.
But it also marks the seventh year in a row that VanVleet’s Raptors probably haven’t earned the recognition they deserve around the league.
At Wednesday morning’s shootaround ahead of the team’s home opener tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers, VanVleet was asked if he felt that Toronto had earned widespread recognition in NBA circles as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference after finishing sixth last season with a 48-34 record.
“No,” VanVleet replied, in what has become his standard answer to Yes/No questions.
Oddsmakers at Stake.com are predicting the Raptors at a season over-under win total of 46.5, the seventh-highest total in the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, ESPN has the Raptors projected at 15th league-wide in their season preview power rankings.
But even though he might not fully feel respected by fans and media members alike, that doesn’t seem to faze him all that much.
“We’ll be here all day, talking about something like that,” VanVleet added. “But it doesn’t matter, it’s the same thing every year. My answer is always that we got all the love and admiration and respect that we could ever want when we won a championship [in 2019]. So let’s put that on the board to try to figure out how we’re going to do that [this year]… there should be enough internal motivation without worrying about [what other people think.]”
Per Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy, the Raptors have hit the “over” on their preseason win total in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
Raptors hit their win total Over (36.5) for the season last night. 10th time in 11 years.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) March 13, 2022
VanVleet averaged 20.3 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.4 rebounds in 65 games in 2021-22, while he was selected to play in his first All-Star game.
Toronto takes on Cleveland at 7:30 tonight, with the game being broadcast on TSN.
“I’m just hoping to get off to a good start,” VanVleet added.