Anunoby showing he’s a ‘top guy’ in the NBA
Way back before he was a quiet man getting an honourable mention for NBA player of the month honours, as he did Thursday, O.G. Anunoby was a quiet kid learning how to get better on a club team run by future teammate Thaddeus Young.
Even though Anunoby was under the radar nearly a decade ago when he started playing for the veteran big man’s AAU team in Memphis, Young has always maintained he knew Anunoby would at least make it to the NBA. And if a few things broke right, he felt the young man could become a household name.
“When we first got him on Team Thad I said: ‘That’s a pro,’ ” Young said recently. “He’s going to be a top guy in the league. Great defender. All he has to do is just bring the offence along and he’s done that.
“He’s learned how to actually score the basketball, to do different things that he needs to do in order for us to win basketball games”
Anunoby is having a career season both as a scorer (18.7 points per game, the fifthstraight season he’s raised his scoring average) and as a defender. Vegas recently installed him as the third-best choice to come away with defensive player of the year honours after he’d been off the board for the whole year. Again, Young isn’t surprised.
“He’s probably one of the best two-way players in the league, if not the best twoway player,” Young said. “He’s getting steals, he’s going out there and playing 30 plus a night guarding the other teams’ best players and he’s still scoring over 20 a night (quite often).”
Young has been a steady player on offence and defence since entering the NBA in 2007, but he’s only averaged more than 15 points a game in a season three times, so he can appreciate just what exactly Anunoby has managed to do this season.
“That’s the toughest thing ever, because every team has a really good wing scorer. So, him having to take on those matchups and those assignments, that’s huge for him. But it’s also huge for us as a team. And it’s super tough, but he’s, he’s getting through it. He’s fighting. He’s battling and he’s putting us in a position to win.”