'It would have drastically changed my make-up': Fred VanVleet on the challenges of social media

Raptors guard Fred VanVleet and C.J. Miles discuss the challenges basketball players face with the influence of social media on today's generation. Listen to the full episode on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed or watch on our YouTube channel.

Video Transcript

FRED VANVLEET: I just always value the reward over the risk. You know what I mean? I think the reward of being great and being special and achieving these things and winning a championship and winning and going to the playoffs and helping your team and like that-- all of that outweighs the negativity or the backlash that comes with being criticized.

And I've had hard coaches. I've never had a bad coach. But I've been getting cussed out playing basketball my whole life. You know what I mean?

[LAUGHTER]

But it is what it is. I had to really break down my film four years, every single day in Wichita, where it was like not just a couple plays. It was like every bad play you make is going to make it on film. And you're going to get embarrassed until you're not-- you don't end up on film no more.

So my upbringing in basketball plays a role in how I view the game as well. I'm not really too concerned with that.

CJ MILES: And it's not upbringing like that now. Now everybody got highlight tapes. So like everybody made to feel like, hey, you're good, you're good, you're good. No, you're not.

FRED VANVLEET: Yeah.

CJ MILES: And that's OK.

FRED VANVLEET: And you got phones at halftime. You got phones at halftime now. You know what I'm saying? You got Twitter now. You got your phone. Even if you don't want to look at it, you're going to see something. You know what I'm saying?

CJ MILES: Yeah.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

FRED VANVLEET: I'm watching it, how it's changed, even in my short time, my seven years. You know what I'm saying? Versus like how I grew-- I couldn't imagine having all of these things, being a teenager. You know what I'm saying? It would have drastically changed my makeup and who I am as a person.

So I don't necessarily blame nobody for it or especially. It's just the way it is. It just is what it is. But there is a difference. You know what I'm saying? And you've got to be able to recognize that.

CJ MILES: And that's how people get it messed up. And they think by us calling it, that we trying to-- like we're hating on it. I'm like, no, you just see the difference. And my job as a veteran and a retired player that's teaching the game to young dudes is to show them how to separate yourself, put that thing down, man.

Let's do this work because I know that they're not doing this work. I know they're not-- they're not even looking-- I'm like, I'm here in the summertime. I'm still hooping and things like that. And we'd see the UTSA guys that are like, man, I wanted to get in the gym with you. I'd be like, bet, we hooping tomorrow at 6:00. They'd be like, all right. I might come.

I'm like, what do you mean you might come? I'm like, bro, I'm not even playing no more. I worked out at 4:30 this morning, shot a little bit, and came and hooped. My day should not be harder than yours. You know what I'm saying?

And I'm not-- and this is me just doing my-- I'm not even like trying to go nowhere.

FRED VANVLEET: Yeah, you're not even in mode. Like that.

CJ MILES: I'm not-- yeah, I'm just-- this is just what I did today because this is like-- I'm staying in shape and I love the game. And I'm like, bro, you shouldn't be walking in here, looking like you done something. I'm like, bro, I'm just filling my day up. I'm not even trying to go play.

FRED VANVLEET: And that's the part I hope that don't get lost in the way that everything is shaping out now because the game is growing at a crazy pace. And a lot of it is for the betterment. And obviously the NBA's sake, it's more money. It's more opportunities. It's more everything. That's life-changing things.

But it's like, we can't lose the fabric of what makes the game the game. And like CJ knows, this game has been so good to all of us.

CJ MILES: All of us.

FRED VANVLEET: And the best thing you can do is just get in that lab every day and just put that sweat equity in and just see what come out of it. And you'll be surprised at what you can achieve. You know what I mean?

AMIT MANN: Sure.

FRED VANVLEET: Just look at me for an example. There's a thousand other cases of guys that nobody really thought nothing of that they turned their self into whatever they wanted to. But you've got to put the work in. You can't skip that.