Anunoby earning his keep in Raptor’s
When his three-point shot left him for a while there, so too did a lot of the fickle fan base when it came to being in or out on Raptors’ rookie OG Anunoby.
Perhaps he did it to himself coming out of the gate as strong as he did nailing threes at a 47 per cent success rate in November and then 43.4 per cent in December.
When those shots stopped falling, people started looking elsewhere. Maybe Norm Powell was the better fit as the starting small forward after all. Or maybe CJ Miles should be inserted into the starting lineup.
What those people did not recognize and what management, his coaching staff and his teammates said all along was Anunoby, even hitting at just 19.4 per cent from three, as he did in January, was still right where he needed to be joining Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas in the starting five.
Early on this season the Raptors made the decision to let Anunoby learn the game playing at its highest level. An injury in mid-November to Norm Powell opened the door for him in that regard but once that decision was made it was going to take a damn sight more than just a shooting slump to go back on it.
“His defensive presence, his physicality, his body — he’s the only guy we have like that — so that has allowed him to stay on the floor and plus we’re growing him,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said of the former Hoosier. “He’s going to have to be a big part of our future and the only way to play him either down in the G-League or here and we made a decision to grow him and give him an opportunity to play and have some ups and downs and play him through tough spots.”
That includes a 19.4 per cent three point shooting line from January because through the good shooting and even now as he continues to re-locate his stroke Anunoby has been a dogged defender, most nights matched up against the opposing teams’ best (and quite often) most physical player.
James Harden, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo who Anunoby saw for the third time on Friday night are his primary covers when they show up on the schedule. He has taken them all on and not missed a beat. It more than offsets whatever offensive struggles he has had and there’s no plans to change that.
“As long he’s productive and we’re successful with him playing — and he’s been productive on the defensive end and I’m sure there are things teams are going to try to do and he’s going to have to make some shots and he will, he does,” Casey said. “He went through a stretch there where he was making shots, so he’s just got to go back to being who he is, getting ready to shoot it on the catch and not hesitate and think too much about shooting. He’s a good shooter. There’s a balancing act there.”
Lowry, who swears only his teammates know the real OG but refuses to shed any light on what his young teammate is really like, says Anunoby has already proven himself in this league and he’s only going to get better.
“He’s a very confident kid, a very confident kid. Very, very humble but he understands that he’s a professional, he understands he belongs in this league.”
But Lowry points out he’s far from a finished product too even on the defensive side where he has been so valuable.
“I think right now it’s athleticism, pure body strength,” he said of his biggest attributes on the defensive side. “I don’t know if he knows the details and the minute things of scouting and understanding players and what they do, I think just brute toughness, competitiveness and just being a strong athletic kid.”
Lowry isn’t the only individual in the organization who sees a bright future for the rook.