Anunoby taking game to a higher level for Raptors

They sit 2½ games out of the final spot for the play-in game and there’s still another team between them and that 10th spot, which means we can just about quit talking or writing about a post-season opportunity for the Raptors.

This season of upheaval, which began with a lastminute move to Tampa for what turned out to be the duration of the home schedule, managed to spare not a single individual at least an injury of consequence or a face-to-face battle with COVID-19. It has managed to — in all probability — end the Raptors’ post-season streak at seven-consecutive years.

It’s one thing to have your run ended because you are not good enough and there will be some that make that argument about this year’s Raptors, but it won’t be an unopposed argument.

Many, and you can include this writer, believe the circumstances around this most unique of all seasons were the predominant reason this team came up short.

The team made contributions to this end, not the least of which was an inability to bring back a modicum of a functioning centre until they landed on Khem Birch just a few weeks ago.

But whether the presence of a Serge Ibaka, for instance, would have been enough to overcome the pervasive fingerprints of COVID-19 all over this season and the damage it did to this team, is something none of us can know for certain.

But if this is, in fact, the end of that playoff run, it’s been an impressive one. And it doesn’t feel like another one is necessarily far away.

With a returning core of Fred Vanvleet, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Chris Boucher, along with the expected return of Gary Trent Jr. not to mention Malachi Flynn, there is a nucleus of talent there to begin another seven-year run.

Then there’s a level of developing talent from the likes of Yuta Watanabe, Paul Watson Jr. and Freddie Gillespie that could be on their way to joining that core, depending on how the Raptors choose to fill out their roster.

Which brings us to the final nine games of this season beginning with Saturday night’s tilt in Utah against a Jazz team gearing up for a potentially long playoff run of their own.

If you are asking yourself what there is to possibly gain by taking in these games now that the results barely matter, the first answer lies in what is going on right now with OG Anunoby.

Anunoby is on the kind of run that has not just media types who watch these games nightly focused on him, but his teammates as well.

Siakam and Vanvleet aren’t done in terms of what they will become, but you can see where they are headed with their games. Anunoby is just now showing us another level of his game.

This was Kyle Lowry’s take on the progress Anunoby has made of late.

“OG has got a chance to be special,” Lowry said after Anunoby reached or surpassed the 20-point plateau for the sixth-consecutive game in a loss to Denver. “Me and him talked the other day, and I remember he said it after his rookie year, ‘I want to be an all-star next year.’ I said: ‘Hold on young fella, be patient, let it come. It’ll get there.’ But he’s worked extremely hard to get where he’s at, and all he’s going to do is continue to get better.”

It’s no secret Lowry cheers hard for every single one of his teammates. Their success is his legacy as well and he wants nothing but the best for them. But where others might need Lowry’s help or his hand in getting to that next level, Anunoby is doing this primarily on his own.

He’s already one of the most respected and feared defenders in the league but this offensive boost of late is basically something he is personally pushing the envelope on himself.

“I would say it’s just aggressiveness, taking the opportunity that’s presented itself to me and just the preparation and hard work throughout the years to be ready for this,” Anunoby said.

Raptors head coach Nick Nurse sees it too. He wasn’t terribly enthused with the efficiency in which Anunoby got to his 25 points on Thursday night in Denver — he was good on just eight of 21 attempts — but he does see the need for Anunoby to become a guy who takes more shots. “We do want to get him reps and we’re seeing him grow his game a little bit,” Nurse said.

Anunoby is shooting almost 47 per cent from distance over these past six eye-opening games and 52 per cent from the field overall, so the efficiency has been there. He’s also assisting on at least three buckets a game over that span as well so there’s plenty to like about his progress.

Lowry said it’s all part of a package that is just now starting to really show itself.

“He’s being patient and understanding that he’s bigger than a lot of guys,” Lowry said. “He’s getting a lot of open looks. He’s making hits threes at a high clip right now. He’s starting to figure out he can get to his spots, be patient and still be bigger and stronger than a lot of the guys guarding him.”

The wins and losses may not be so important right now, but seeing Anunoby make this jump is can’t-miss entertainment.