Versatile Fred VanVleet a valuable Raptor, even in an up-and-down season

No one asks more of Fred VanVleet than Fred VanVleet and, in some odd way, that might be contributing to what’s been a rather up-and-down season for the Toronto Raptors guard.

Coming off a breakout season in 2017-18, and with a new $18-million contract as his reward, VanVleet put all kinds of expectations on himself.

“That’s a little bit of the problem,” he said. “You want to take big leaps every year and, as great a year as I had last year, my role really hasn’t changed that much this year in terms of what I mean to this team.