Ball in the Family Podcast with Lonzo & Gelo Ball · Betr

NBA 1 v 1 Tourney? - BITF Ep. 9 w/ Fred VanVleet

·1 hr 10 min·4 clips

Fred calls the Raptors' 2019 title team the most locked-in group he has ever seen.

Fred VanVleet comes in as the kind of guest the Ball in the Family crew likes to press. He starts with draft night and the strange mix of confidence and uncertainty that came with being undrafted in 2016. He says he felt like he was at least as good as the players who got picked. His agent tried to calm the moment down, but Fred had already turned it into a real draft party. That night mattered because he was all in. There was no plan B or plan C sitting in the back of his mind. The conversation moves into the story of how he got from that point to becoming a champion with Toronto. The crew gives him credit for grinding through the G League and keeping that same edge on the way up. Fred talks like somebody who has lived through being counted out and still wants the hard version of the truth. The room leans into that. They ask about coaching and why he responds better to someone getting on him than somebody soft-pedaling the message. He says that style fit him because he came up with a lot of direct coaching and the NBA adjustment took some getting used to. That opens the door to a bigger conversation about E-May and the way he coaches. Fred describes him as intense in game mode and much lighter everywhere else. He says the guy is cussing through the game, cussing at the refs, and cussing at his own team like it is AAU. The crew loves that. They keep pulling on the contrast between that edge and the fact that the coach can still feel like a big brother the rest of the time. The talk also touches the physical side of the game. Fred is asked about coming back later in the season and says the timeline is not really on his side. He is realistic about an ACL recovery taking time. He is also honest that if he feels good and the team tells him he can hoop, he will want to play. The episode keeps that same loose rhythm throughout. Someone jumps in, somebody laughs, and the whole thing keeps moving instead of settling into a formal interview shape. Fred eventually shifts the mood again by talking about what he enjoys building away from basketball. He says he likes the design side of things more than actually being on the show sometimes. He talks about creating a podcast studio set, seeing an idea turn into something real in 3D, and liking that process a lot. That gives the episode a nice finish because it shows the same instinct in another lane. He is still building. Just in a different room. The whole conversation leaves him sounding like a player who never stopped treating life like something he could shape with his own hands.

As heard by us

Fred VanVleet brings a bet-on-yourself story to a candid, direct basketball conversation.

Fred VanVleet comes through here as the kind of player whose confidence had to be earned the hard way. The strongest parts are the ones about being undrafted, having no plan B, and deciding he was at least as good as the players around him.

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Want a real one about going undrafted and betting on yourself anyway?

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