TORONTO – For the 47th time this season OG Anunoby took his place around the Raptors logo at centre court at the Air Canada Centre as the club’s starting small forward.
The question is for how much longer?
The Raptors blew out the visiting Detroit Pistons 123-94 to improve to 42-17 and maintain a half-game lead over the Boston Celtics for first place in the Eastern Conference, ending their home losing streak at one.
So, clearly, who they start at small forward can’t be causing that much trouble. Any problems the Raptors have are like lottery winners complaining about their taxes, as far as the rest of the NBA is concerned.
But considering where the Raptors are hoping to go, everything counts.
And what happened in Anunoby’s 18 minutes of floor time illustrated the challenges and some of the opportunities of having a player whose promise exceeds his accomplishment starting on a team determined to make their first NBA Finals appearance.
By Anunoby’s standards he broke out offensively – finishing with eight points on four shots – which is kind of telling.
No one is expecting him to be a huge contributor offensively. He earned his place in the lineup for his defensive acumen – unusual for a rookie, but at six-foot-eight, 230 pounds, Anunoby is unusual as his physical advantages have made him a tough matchup for some of the most athletic wing players in the sport.
Just ask the Pistons’ Blake Griffin who tried to back down Anunoby on a switch and had to give up and pass the ball out at one point against the rookie, or Reggie Bullock, who scored eight of his 14 points in the second quarter when Anunoby was sitting, but just two in the third quarter when Anunoby was the primary defender.
“I don’t know if he knows the details and the minute things of scouting and understanding players and what they do,” says Kyle Lowry regarding Anunoby’s defensive approach. “I think [it’s] just brute toughness, competitiveness and just being a strong, athletic kid.”
It’s on the other side of the ball that Anunoby has begun to show his lack of experience and the Raptors may find him wanting.
As you may recall, the Anunoby era started with a bang. In his first career start on Nov. 12 he knocked down three triples on four shots, finished with 16 points and, more importantly, used his size and quickness to hound James Harden into an 8-of-25 shooting night and nine turnovers as the Raptors beat the Houston Rockets on the road for their first signature win of the season.
Against all odds given that largely unheralded Anunoby came to the NBA having played just one-and-a-half college seasons and coming off reconstructive knee surgery, the Raptors rookie started a 35-day, 17-game tear in which he shot 52 per cent on threes while averaging 8.2 points a game in 24 minutes, all while being typically matched against the other team’s most dangerous wing scorer.
The Raptors organizational void at small forward, which arguably stretches back to the departure of Tracy McGrady, seemed to be filled.
But slumps happen, and Anunoby went through his. After hitting six of seven threes against Charlotte for 20 points on Dec. 20, the Raptors small forward shot just 21 per cent from three and 37 per cent from the field for the next 27 games, leading into the all-star break.
How good can an elite team be when one getting so little offensively from one position, even if Anunoby continued to hold his own defensively. is what the Raptors must decide with the playoffs inching closer.
“As long he’s productive and we’re successful with him playing,” says Casey. “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. 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 [but] there’s a balancing act there.”
By design Anunoby is spaced out behind the three-point line, a relief valve for DeMar DeRozan and Lowry, but the strategy only works if he’s willing and able to make defences pay if they get sucked into helping on the Raptors all-stars.
Of late, most teams haven’t bothered guarding Anunoby – against the Milwaukee Bucks Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo stood in the paint, making themselves available as help defenders, ignoring Anunoby spotted up in the corner.
And why not? Anunoby took only one shot – a missed lay-up – in 14 minutes.
But there were signs of hope against the Pistons – soaring above the crowd to grab an offensive rebound with both hands and start a fast break that he finished by hitting a wide-open, trailing three. He hesitated on it – which drives the coaching staff crazy – but he pulled the trigger and he made it.
A couple of possessions later he caught the ball on the wing, drove with purpose and when the defence collapsed he snapped a crisp pass to DeRozan – wide open in the corner for three.
But after six minutes in the first quarter Casey went quickly went to C.J. Miles – a pattern than has been more and more the norm lately.
“One game before the break they came to me and said they we would be going to me a little earlier,” said Miles.
Said Casey: “Yeah, one, we’re struggling to score [at the start of games]. He spaces the floor a little bit for us, mainly. We still want OG to be aggressive offensively and we need his defence, but there’s some stretches there, kinda early in the first quarter, when we [have] struggled to score.”
It gives the Raptors most explosive bench scorer and prolific three-point shooter more time with the starters. Miles has been getting more minutes with Lowry and DeRozan late in games also.
But it also means a diminished role for Anunoby.
As the starters began filtering back Casey stayed with DeRozan at small forward and Delon Wright sharing the backcourt with Lowry.
And in the final minutes of the first half with the starters all in it was Norman Powell – the Raptors starting small forward to begin the season until he lost his job to injury and Anunoby – who closed out the half.
Anunoby was back among the starts as the Raptors blew the game open by winning the third quarter 34-22, and he was part of it, too: He scored a lay-up and converted the three-point play, earning an encouraging thump on the chest from Lowry. A moment later he sprinted the floor and scored after a goaltending call on an alley-oop lay-up.
The Raptors haven’t lost faith in Anunoby. To a man they describe an athlete whose largely stoic public demeanor shouldn’t confuse anyone he’s a high IQ player who has only upside ahead of him.
“There’s a lot going on in there, don’t mistake that quietness for a lack of knowledge or ignorance or whatsoever,” says Casey. “He’s a smart kid, he’s very aware … I started out – because I wanted to get a good feel for him – watching film with him every day and he knew his mistakes before I could even tell him most of the time.”
But can Casey stick with a starting small forward who rarely shoots and is struggling to convert the shots he does take?
And if Anunoby is removed as a starter who fills those minutes? Can Powell – shooting just 31 per cent from three himself this season – pick his game up?
For good reason the Raptors are loathed to fiddle with their second unit, which means starting Miles or Pascal Siakam are choices they would be very hesitant to make.
The simplest solution would be if Anunoby can rediscover the offensive pop he demonstrated in November and December.
Anunoby has shown that he’s going to get every chance to be the small forward of the future for the Raptors.
But can the future get here fast enough?
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