Welcome to “One Play!” Throughout the 2021-22 NBA season, our NBA.com Staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to reveal its bigger meaning.
Today, Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet takes the spotlight.
Context: VanVleet had his best game of the season to date in Toronto’s win over the Washington Wizards, marking the team’s fifth straight victory.
In 43 minutes of action, VanVleet led the way with a game-high and season-best 33 points. He was incredibly efficient, shooting 13-for-22 from the field, 3-for-6 from 3-point range and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
It was an impressive performance from start to finish for VanVleet, but there was one particular part of his game that stood out against the Wizards.
VanVleet receives the ball from Gary Trent Jr. with 15 seconds remaining on the shot clock. Standing several feet behind the 3-point line, VanVleet immediately receives a screen from Precious Achiuwa to run a pick-and-roll.
VanVleet generates the bulk of his offence as the ball handler in pick-and-rolls. According to NBA.com, he generated 34.0 percent of his offence on those plays last season. That number is up to 37.4 percent through the first couple of weeks of this season, making for one of the higher rates in the league.
VanVleet has been rather efficient, ranking in the 61st percentile with 0.90 points per pick-and-roll possession.
Knowing VanVleet likes to pull-up from 3, Raul Neto fights over Achiuwa’s screen while Montrezl Harrell extends himself all the way out to the 3-point line.
The Wizards have successfully prevented Options 1 (a VanVleet pull-up) and 2 (an alley-oop to Achiuwa), but VanVleet quickly throws them for a loop with a well-timed step back.
Neto is able to get a hand up, but VanVleet’s step back gives him the space he needs to get his shot off.
Why it matters: I’ll let VanVleet explain this one.
“A lot of defences give that shot up, so it’s something that I’ve been working on,” VanVleet responded when asked about his midrange game by TSN’s Kayla Grey. “Every night, I’m just trying to take whatever the defence gives. Some nights it’s setting up others, tonight it was kind of getting my own.”
I touched on VanVleet’s improvement as a midrange shooter following a win over the Milwaukee Bucks last season, but he’s gone to another level to start this season.
Get this: VanVleet went 21-for-73 (28.8 percent) on 2-point pull-ups in the 2019-20 season, per NBA.com. In 2020-21, he went 54-for-136 (39.7 percent) on those same shots.
A pretty impressive jump, right? Well, through nine games this season, VanVleet is up to 25-for-43 (58.1 percent) on 2-point pull-ups.
It’s contributed to VanVleet scoring a total of 86 points on pull-ups (50 points from 2-point range and 36 points from 3-point range), putting him behind only Kevin Durant (109) and CJ McCollum (88) for most in the league.
VanVleet almost certainly isn’t going to connect on half of his midrange pull-ups for the entire season – not even Stephen Curry can consistently do that – but the more of a threat he is to score from that distance, the more difficult he becomes to guard.
It’s well known at this point that VanVleet is an excellent 3-point shooter. He came into the NBA as an efficient catch-and-shoot threat and has improved shooting off the dribble from 3-point range in the years since. As I detailed heading into this season, it’s inside the 3-point line where VanVleet has had issues. In addition to not being a volume shooter from midrange, he’s checked out as one of the league’s least efficient scorers from floater range and around the basket.
There’s a chance VanVleet will never be a big-time finisher around the basket because of his physical limitations, but embracing the midrange is one way to make up for it.
One, because it gives VanVleet a consistent answer to teams that run him off the 3-point line and play a drop coverage, like so:
Two, because it gives VanVleet something else to go to when he finds himself on an island.
Not that VanVleet is a dominant 1-on-1 scorer, but nobody on the Raptors attempted more shots in the final seven seconds of the shot clock than him last season. He shot 38-for-117 (32.5 percent) from 3-point range and 37-for-102 (36.3 percent) from 2-point range in those situations.
Against the Wizards, VanVleet looked a lot more comfortable creating for himself inside the arc with the shot clock winding down.
Neither this…
…nor this…
…is something we saw much of from VanVleet last season.
It’s still early, of course, but if VanVleet can continue to keep teams honest from midrange, it’ll help take him and the Raptors to new heights.
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EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
