Anunoby ‘NBA-ready physically’
Raptors select athletic Indiana power forward with 23rd overall pick
OG Anunoby was at a major disadvantage selling himself through the NBA draft process.
The Raptors’ selection at No. 23 in the first round of last night’s NBA draft pretty much did all his selling verbally.
A torn ACL in January prevented him from participating in the full workouts many of his fellow draftees had the advantage of going through.
The biggest piece on the Indiana Hoosiers this past season until the injury in a game against Penn State in January, Anunoby had basically his freshman year and 16 games this past season to sell himself to prospective NBA employers.
The Raptors were one of six teams that Anunoby actually interviewed with during the draft process.
At 6-foot-8 and 232 pounds, Anunoby, when healthy is extremely athletic. His just under 7-foot-3 wingspan is a major selling point, as are his high defensive credentials.
Anunoby was born in London, England but moved to Missouri at age four, where he was raised before heading off to join the Hoosiers.
The sophomore could have elected to stay for his junior year, and improve his draft standing after the injury, but opted into the draft and remained there.
As late as October Anunoby was considered a top-15 pick in the draft, but the injury and his lack of offensive progress saw his draft stock slip.
In those 16 games this past season, Anunoby (pronounced an-uhNO-bee) averaged just 11.6 points a night, but that’s not his calling card.
Anunoby is going to earn his minutes on his defence. Within this draft, he’s considered one of the best defensive prospects available.
He shot a decent 36 per cent from behind the arc and that’s a skill that will likely improve over time, but it’s his defensive skills that most impress the Raptors right now.
“He fits in well in the way of switching, guarding one through five easily,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said of the newest Raptor. “He’s a PJ Tucker clone practically and that’s something that’s perfect for us, with that toughness.”
According to Casey, he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery from the injury. Casey expects the team doctors will have a program ready for him when he arrives in Toronto as early as today.
“He’s a guy that our scouts targeted, one of the guys they targeted, and luckily he fell to us,” Casey said. “There were a lot of teams right behind us that were salivating to get him and we were lucky he fell to us at 23.
“He has a toughness, he’s NBAready physically. Defensively, he’s one of the top defenders in the draft. One of those guys that you don’t have to say giddy-up to, he’s ready to go right from the start. We’re excited to get him. He fits into how we want to play.”
There was plenty of chatter throughout draft night that the Raptors were looking to trade up in the draft and including Jonas Valanciunas in a potential deal if need be, but that didn’t happen.
The team is already loaded with young talent, but that doesn’t concern GM Masai Ujiri, who looks at this pick as just one more asset his team can use.
“With the way the new CBA is constructed, I feel that player development is something we have to pay attention to, so whatever young players or draft picks we have, we have to pay attention to it,” Ujiri said in an interview leading into the draft.
“You never know when you’re going to hit with that or something pans out that will help your team in any kind of way.”
Anunoby joins a young crop on the Raptors roster that already includes the likes of Bruno Caboclo, Lucas Nogueira, Norm Powell, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright.
That’s a lot of youth on a roster that hopes to maintain its spot among the top eight teams in the league, but it will be made easier this year with the addition of two more spots on the roster as it goes from 15 to 17.