Fred VanVleet had a massive impact on the 2019 NBA Finals. How important is it for the Chicago Bulls to find their own version of VanVleet?
Kawhi Leonard was (rightfully) the 2019 NBA Finals MVP, but without Fred VanVleet and his Herculean efforts, I’m not sure the Toronto Raptors would’ve been hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy Thursday night.
VanVleet had his struggles during the 2019 NBA Playoffs. He was far from perfect. But when it mattered most, he was outstanding.
In the final three games against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, VanVleet shot 14-for-17 from behind the 3-point line. That’s astonishing. He didn’t keep up those numbers in the Finals (who could?), but he still impressed.
Against the Warriors in the Finals, VanVleet averaged 14 points per game and was a serious threat from deep.
Obviously, VanVleet isn’t the type of guy you can build a team around, but he is definitely the type of guy that championship-caliber teams need. He’s a good defender, he’s a good shooter and he’s not afraid of the moment, but the most important tool in his bag is his ability to create shots for himself when things aren’t going well.
The game was tied with less than four minutes left and Freddy Buckets (I’m trying out this nickname) hit Quinn Cook with a nasty step-back and calmly sank the biggest three of his life.
Fred VanVleet hits his FIFTH three of the game!#WeTheNorth | #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/JCTP5O8tgY
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) June 14, 2019
By the end of Game 6, the Warriors basically had one guy that could create shots for himself: Steph Curry. The lack of offensive weapons surrounding Curry is why he was frequently getting double-teamed. Heck, sometimes the Raptors were even throwing three guys at him.
I feel confident saying the Warriors would’ve done anything to have a guy like VanVleet on their team. Shaun Livingston is good, but Father Time is catching up with him. Quinn Cook, the other backup point guard for the Warriors, is fine. He works hard, he can shoot threes and he knows his role, but he’s nowhere close to the level that Fred VanVleet is at.
This all begs the question: How can the Chicago Bulls find their own version of Fred VanVleet?
Unfortunately, there’s no easy algorithm to follow.
VanVleet was undrafted out of Wichita State in 2016. Then, he spent some time in the Developmental League where he led the Raptors 905 team to the championship. Fast forward to modern day and VanVleet’s an NBA champ who received a Finals MVP vote. (That vote was courtesy of Hubie Brown.)
How can the Bulls possibly get a guy like that?
A lot of it is luck. There was no way to predict three years ago that VanVleet would be made of ice in a close-out Finals game. Sure, you can conduct interviews and get to know what a guy is like, but there’s no way to know how he’ll react in the closing minutes of a Finals game until he’s thrown into the fire.
That’s the bad news.
The good news, though, is there are awesome point guards coming out of college every year that frequently slide late into the second round or even go undrafted. It’s up to the Bulls to do their best scouting and find those guys.
Some dudes to keep in mind this year are Shamorie Ponds, Cody Martin, Tremont Waters and Jalen Lecque. I wouldn’t bet on any of those guys turning into the next Freddy Buckets. I mean, there’s a reason VanVleet just won the NBA Finals. He’s a rare breed.
The Bulls would benefit from adding any quality backup point guard, though. And maybe, just maybe, one of those dudes could turn into a difference maker on a Finals team in the future.