Big stepping stone for Anunoby in a rocky season
Forward having breakthrough Nurse knew would come
We are used to Pascal Siakam doing Pascal Siakam things. The Savant of the Spin contorts himself at the rim to score from any improbable angle, often after some court-length mad dash. He seems to set a new personal scoring mark weekly, and astonishes all who watch with how far he’s come in such a short time.
But there’s another guy who might ulti- mately be as vital to the Raptors’ longterm fortunes as Siakam.
Another promising, raw, young athlete who has stalled while his teammate has ascended.
Do not sleep on OG Anunoby. Do not sleep on him at all.
Toronto coach Nick Nurse has been telling anyone who’d listen all season that they still see great promise in the second-year forward and, lately, he’s starting to deliver.
He’s not at Siakam’s level — there might not be another guy at that level in the entire NBA with a similar background or history — but Anunoby came up with one of those “Hey, don’t forget about me” games on Wednesday that might just reopen some eyes.
A career-high 22 points. A career-high four three-pointers. Five rebounds, a steal and zero turnovers. Some stifling defence on the difficult-to-defend Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards.
In a season when he’s watched, along with all of us, as Siakam approaches the
basketball stratosphere, Anunoby made his presence felt in a big, big way.
Anunoby will never use five words to answer a question when one or two will do, so he kind of shrugged off his performance in the 129-120 win. He kept shooting because his coaches and teammates told him to, was aggressive on both sides of the ball, figured that stopping the Wizards “and then Pascal (from doing all the scoring)” was the best part of the night.
No, he will not fill notebooks, but as long as he fills stats sheets the Raptors won’t care.
“He’s a good player,” Nurse said, a refrain the coach has been using all season. “He’s a good player that we haven’t got a lot from, for a lot of reasons, but there’s still a long way to go.
“He’s young and he’s lively and he’s athletic and he’s strong and we like him.”
Nurse has been Anunoby’s biggest backer, and most realistic analyst, for most of this up-and-down season. The coach sees, as many do, the size (six-foot-eight), the bulk (a sturdy 230-ish pounds) and the quickness that’s prototypical for a standout NBA player these days. But Nurse has also seen the stretches of games where Anunoby has played small and had little impact on the outcome.
The 21-year-old — and don’t look past that youth too far — has been away from the team for four stretches this season to deal with personal issues, and he’s never really gotten untracked. Nurse coaxes him, coaches him hard and lays out exactly what is required.
“The only thing I can do … is kind of pare it down for him and say: Let’s start by playing harder,” the coach said after Wednesday’s victory over the Wizards. “Let’s impact the game with your athleticism and your hard play. Defence, rebound, get on the floor, get dirty a little bit. Let some of the other stuff come, all the shooting and the drives and the spin moves come a little bit.”
On the veteran team that the Raptors have become, there won’t be a lot asked of Anunoby in the cauldron of the playoffs, unlike last spring when he was in a starting role. The responsibilities will be diminished, but it would still be nice to have a player with Anunoby’s skills functioning at the highest level when the games mean the most.
The second-year forward has been very good lately, and it’s something to build on. And if he become Siakam Lite for a couple of months this season heading into 2019-20, the Raptors will be better off for it.