Fred VanVleet's extended range frustrated Nets' defense

Fred VanVleet has been working on extending his shooting range since last year's playoffs. It showed on Monday against Brooklyn.

When Fred VanVleet struggled in the 2019 NBA playoffs a lot of it had to do with the length of the opposition.

At just 6-foot-1, the Toronto Raptors' guard can't just attack the hoop and overpower opposing teams. Instead, he has to find every little edge out there to continue to score in a league where the average player is just a bit taller than 6-foot-6.

This season, that's meant expanding his shooting range and forcing opposing teams to step out even further than the 23-foot-9 3-point line.

"He was not getting shots off, he was getting a few blocked and we needed him," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We needed his spacing and his 3-point shooting so we just decided, well, if he backed up maybe five feet, maybe they wouldn’t be able to get to him as quick and he went to work on it."

VanVleet's development in the area was on full display Monday night in Game 1 against the Brooklyn Nets. Not only did VanVleet shoot 8-for-10 from 3-point range, but he nailed three 3-pointers from further than 26 feet away from the hoop.

Against the Nets, that extended range can be particularly helpful. Brooklyn is one of the NBA's best teams at defending the rim because they traditionally drop their bigs in pick-and-roll coverage and chase shooters over screens.

You can see it on this play, Serge Ibaka screens for VanVleet and Brooklyn's Rodions Kurucs drops to defend the paint and Garrett Temple chases VanVleet around the screen. The whole process gives VanVleet enough space to sink a 28-footer.

The @Raptors are COOKIN' right now, sheeesh. 👀🔥

Watch on SN + SN NOW. 📺#WeTheNorth | #RapsOnSN pic.twitter.com/oX4wRrqdTY

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 17, 2020

"I want them to stay like that the whole time. I’m the one getting the open shots," VanVleet said. "When they come up I’m going to have to probably start creating and passing it out. You just try to be ready for anything."

It's not just hard to defend because you're forcing players to respect you from so far out, but that extended range also frees up space down low both for other Raptors players and for VanVleet, who has traditionally struggled scoring in the paint.

"Being able to stretch the floor gives you a couple of extra steps to get by guys when they are running at you so that’s a product of knocking down shots," VanVleet said.

During the season, VanVleet went 33-for-92 (35.9%) from 27 feet away from the hoop. For comparison, the Raptors as a team shot 33.2% from 27 feet away and the league average on 3-point shooting from anywhere this year was 35.8%.

NBA Stats

Last year, VanVleet took 58 shots from 27 feet away or further, making 19 of them, a 32.8% clip.

"Give him credit, he really started working on it, working on it and I think it just continues to grow from there," Nurse said. "His range just keeps getting farther and farther out which is good. Again it’s just again more spacing and it’s hard to guard if a guy can shoot it at a really high clip eight feet behind the line. It’s really hard to guard.

That change should make a huge difference if the Raptors are forced to go up against another lengthy team like the Philadelphia 76ers, a team VanVleet struggled against in last year's playoffs.

As for this series, the Nets will certainly adapt defensively, playing tighter on VanVleet and forcing the ball out of his hands. It'll mean the rest of the Raptors should have an easier time getting shots off and with so many skilled shooters, that shouldn't be a problem for Toronto.