An aura of authority
Raps rookie Anunoby confident ahead of LeBron showdown, writes Mike Ganter.
OG Anunoby is not NEW YORK even a half season into his NBA career and already the prospect of facing a LeBron James barely fazes him.
At the ripe old age of 20, Anunoby has already lined up opposite the likes of NBA stars Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, et cetera. and he’s yet to meet a challenge he feels he couldn’t match.
That’s not to say some opponents haven’t got the better of Anunoby this year. As a rookie still learning the ways of the NBA, there have been miscues and teaching moments, but at no point has he ever felt overmatched.
“I can compete with everyone,” Anunoby said when asked if he’s ever felt overmatched. “I believed that coming into the season but as the season has gone on, I believe it even more.”
Anunoby is not your average rookie. He seems like he has skipped that deer-in-theheadlights phase most rookies go through. There is a maturity and a poise about him that most firstyear players simply don’t have.
And while he’s looking forward to his first game against James, it’s the challenge James brings that is the draw for Anunoby.
“He is one of the premier wings in the NBA and probably the best player in the NBA so yeah (James would be at the top of his list),” Anunoby said.
Coach Dwane Casey isn’t prepared to say Anunoby will get the assignment as James’ primary defender Thursday at the Air Canada Centre but he’s not prepared to say he won’t either.
Casey has options, but if he goes with someone other than Anunoby, it won’t be because he’s hesitant to throw his rookie at the best player on the planet — the coach has not shied away from putting Anunoby on anyone this year.
Raptors’ star DeMar DeRozan learned early on just what kind of physical specimen Anunoby was.
“I remember in training camp I went up for a rebound and he was going up for it too and it felt like I hit Reggie Evans,” DeRozan said. “You look up and see it’s your rookie and it’s impressive.”
For those who have forgotten Reggie Evans, he was basically a piece of chiselled granite who went after a rebound like it was the last morsel of food remaining in the midst of a famine.
Anunoby, 6-foot-8, 232 pounds isn’t quite as rabid as we remember Evans being but no one will ever question the rookie’s fight or determination.
“He is a strong young man,” Casey said. “He’s got a good body but again, he’s still young. He’s still going to make mistakes which he did the other night and you understand that. It’s part of his growth. The good thing about
OG is he is such a quick learner. Eventually his offence is going to (expand). We will start running plays for him, running sets for him. He’s shooting the ball really well right now which is great. It has been all positive with him in the lineup.”
DeRozan doesn’t know quite what to make of the success his young rook is having against such experienced players. On the one hand he knows Anunoby is strong and mature beyond his years but on the other he also knows he still doesn’t have the experience normally needed to deal with the matchups he’s taking on every night.
“When you are young, you kind of have that ‘I don’t care’ attitude and he kind of has that attitude when he goes out and plays like that, especially defensively,” DeRozan says. “He goes out there not knowing, not having that experience of being in the NBA and you just go out there and play. He does that and he does it hard and he does a lot of good things while he’s doing that. That shows. It’s part of him being young but at the same time it’s part of him being a tough individual.”
Anunoby’s solid game in Milwaukee went somewhat unnoticed because Jonas Valanciunas had such a stunning third quarter in the win, and while Casey is not in the business of providing opposing teams with blackboard material, he knows his young rookie deserves credit for the job he did on Antetokounmpo.
“I don’t want to pour gas on the situation but I thought he did a good job, a solid job,” Casey said. “Nobody is stopping Giannis. He still had 24 but this young man has never seen anyone like that. ”