Before Fred VanVleet became the most unlikely complementary option for the Toronto Raptors’ two All-Stars, he remembers playing in gymnasiums in front of the top college coaches in the nation, attempting to impress them only to meet wandering eyes and rejections. It was a long way from where VanVleet now finds himself, with DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry trusting him in the season’s biggest moments.

The 6-foot VanVleet developed his game in Rockford, Illinois, and became an all-state player while turning down more premier AAU team invites from people who came and went. He led his high school team to state championship contention, defeating sponsored teams and ones with elite recruits. The high school experience prepared VanVleet for Wichita State, for the fact that this was his story. Forever overlooked, yet forever winning over looks.

“Growing up, high school was my first impression to all the internet rankings and hype machine — and it’s some [expletive],” VanVleet told Yahoo Sports. “That was my first impression with it. Growing up, that’s the world. Your name being on a website, on an article, on a magazine, I thought that’s the world. But that [expletive] don’t mean nothing. When I’m playing with my local teams and my friends, we’re beating the sponsored teams and the teams with the big recruits and high school rankings. We’re beating everybody.

“I would see the best of the best college coaches in the stands, and they just didn’t see it in me. So I had to make my own way. I went to Wichita State, and I was surrounded by other players like that. We went to the Final Four [in 2013], rewrote history, and we all embraced it. This was the way it was going to be, having to prove yourself, and we were going to make the most of it.”

When VanVleet joined the Raptors on a partially guaranteed two-year contract in July 2016, Toronto’s front office had identified in him some unique mental and physical traits that indicated he had the potential to stick around. Sure enough, he survived the final cuts out of training camp and made the roster as a reserve point guard. “A lot of people lost bets,” VanVleet laughs now.

View photos It’s tough to get a handle on Fred VanVleet. (AP) More

No one is laughing when it comes to VanVleet’s game. He has become an ideal complement to the Raptors’ stars in clutch moments, a reliable ball-handler and shooter who brings toughness and leadership. His stepfather, Joe Danforth, developed a discipline in the household early in VanVleet’s life, from a 10 p.m. curfew in ninth grade to dating restrictions to early wake-up calls for workouts. Danforth has been a police detective for the past 23 years, working sectors such as housing development, violent crimes and now gang-related issues.

During a visit back home during his freshman year at Wichita State, Danforth remembers, VanVleet requested to start boxing. Danforth began boxing at age 19 when he was in the Army, and his three sons, Fred, J.D. and Darnell, had dabbled in sparring matches. Fred VanVleet wanted more.

“There’s nobody you can depend on but you,” Danforth said of VanVleet’s boxing lessons. “It takes the fear out of you and creates that toughness within you.”

“Fred couldn’t settle for being average, because a random dude can get out of bed and be average,” Danforth, 47, continued. “He followed discipline and followed the rules. He’s one tough kid.”

VanVleet helped Toronto clinch its postseason berth March 7 — on a game-winning 3-pointer off a DeRozan pass to the corner on a night he finished 2 of 10 from the field. “We trust our bench more than ever, and Fred brings us a calm player and is a big part of that,” DeRozan told Yahoo Sports.

The Raptors’ bench has a different energy than past years: the activity of Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl in the frontcourt, the shooting of C.J. Miles and the dynamic backcourt of VanVleet and Delon Wright. LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers could still prove too much in May, but that’s the genius of a generational player creating the ultimate separation among the slimmest margins.

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