The worst workout of the many Fred Van Vleet has logged for NBA teams over the past month was his very first, for the Lakers. It came because of the guy he was matched up against.
“I walk in the gym, here he is standing there,” Van Vleet grinned Saturday after his 16th workout came for the Pistons. “We were matched up against each other all day, just killing each other. It was probably my work workout and I’m sure it was one of his worst ones, too, just the way we were competing against each other.”
The guy Van Vleet was mud wrestling against was his backcourt running mate for all four years at Wichita State, Ron Baker. They won about as many games together as any pair of college teammates ever has, 121 – against only 24 losses – in their time elevating Wichita State to the national stage.
And yet it’s no sure bet either one will hear his name called next Thursday when the NBA culls what its teams believe are the 60 best available players in the world. Van Vleet, despite the universal admiration he won for oozing a point guard’s ultimate qualities for four years, is ranked the No. 85 prospect by DraftExpress.com, three spots behind Baker.
“That’s the thing,” Van Vleet said. “Projections and lottery and the hype and some nerd on Twitter with a draft mock board. It’s a lot of things that go into the process. I trust the guys upstairs more so than something on Twitter, but it is what it is. I should have that opinion, because I’m not favored high on those draft boards. Somebody who is favored high would value them more, but for a guy like me, I can’t put stock in that. I’ve just got to put my head down and go to work and try to make a mark.”
Van Vleet, who averaged 12.2 points and 5.5 assists against only 1.7 turnovers as a senior and shot 39 percent from the 3-point arc over his Wichita State career, feels good about his 16 workouts – with two left, Toronto and Milwaukee. He’d feel even better if he’d been given more of a chance to go up against the point guards rated ahead of him.
“I’ve been chasing ’em, for sure,” he said. “That’s part of the process, getting your agent to try to target certain guys and line ’em up. It’s difficult now. They have agents, too, who are pretty smart. Duck and dodge and play business, make smart business decisions. But I’ve caught some of them. I won’t name names. Done more than OK.”
Van Vleet didn’t get to go against any bigger fish Saturday in front of Stan Van Gundy and Pistons brass. The highest-rated player in the workout was Utah senior forward Jarrod Uthoff, ranked 59th by DraftExpress. Others were Virginia senior forward Anthony Gill, Columbia senior guard Maodo Lo, West Virginia senior guard Jaysean Paige and Northwest Florida Community College guard Brandon Austin, who began his college career at Oregon.
It’s possible Van Vleet goes undrafted but still carves out an NBA career. He wasn’t invited to the NBA draft combine in May – Baker, who worked out for the Pistons May 31, was – but he took that snub in stride, too.
“It’s a little disappointing, kind of disrespectful, but it is what it is,” he said. “These guys get paid to do what they do. No hard feelings, but more motivation for me to get better. And when somebody takes a chance on me, it’ll give me all the more motivation to prove them right. I don’t really focus on the doubters. People that believe in me, I lock in on that and try to make them look good.”
Van Vleet wasn’t the only high-profile college senior shut out of the combine. Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell, another high performer and four-year starter, also wasn’t invited. This year marked the first that the NCAA allowed underclassmen to attend the combine without forfeiting their amateur standing and NBA teams took advantage of that to get an up-close look at prospects not as well known to them as Van Vleet and Ferrell.
“It’s not like they just said, ‘All right, we’re not inviting Fred because he’s not good enough.’ There’s more things that go into it. I feel like I have the respect of all the teams in one facet or another and we’ll see what happens. I feel good about next week. I’ve had some great workouts in front of some good organizations, so hopefully somebody takes a chance on me.”
