team originals

Players are enjoying a much needed break. It’s been just over a week since the Toronto Raptors were eliminated from the 2022 NBA playoffs and after putting in the work to make the season an unmitigated success, they’ve earned the right to put their feet up and relax for a little bit.

Soon enough, they will get to their off-season workout plans to get better. Scottie Barnes will look to keep his foot on the neck of growth, Fred VanVleet is going to get uncomfortable and think outside the box once his knee and hip flexor are fully rehabbed, and Pascal Siakam is going to get back in the lab with Rico Hines for his first fully healthy off-season since winning the championship.

Each player will have their individual goals for how they want to improve, but the most noticeable upgrades will be those that are made within the context of improvements the team needs most.

All season, Toronto was the carpenter with only a hammer at their disposal. If they could win the possession battle by feasting on offensive rebounds and turnovers, they won. If they didn’t, life became very difficult. Struggling to execute their halfcourt offence was a major theme as the Raptors ranked 26th with 91.3 points per 100 half-court possessions (Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix were the top three at just over 100 points each) and the only saving grace was that they played less half-court possessions than any team in the league and got out on the break more than anyone except Memphis.

Effective field goal percentage (eFG%) takes into consideration the value of a three-pointer being 1.5 times that of a two and the Raptors ranked 27th in that category primarily because they were 26th at shooting efficiency within four feet at 62.8 percent and 25th in non-corner threes at 33.5 percent. These were weaknesses Nick Nurse expected the team to have coming into the season and so they were still able to amass 48 wins because their counter strategy was executed by the players very effectively. As a collective, taking relatively less shots around the basket and non-corner threes happened because Toronto did not have the personnel to be better at those measures.

With a new team that was in transition and experimenting with a thoroughly unique style of play, Nurse knew he would have to be comfortable with the team stepping outside of his principles in this regard, just so he could learn as much about them to bring out their best in the future. The man who re-invented the Raptors’ offence with great success in 2017-18 had to let his ideal shot spectrum take a backseat this season as Toronto finished 25th in their offensive shot profile. They were 23rd in how often they shot at the rim (30.4%), 20th in three-pointers attempted (34.4%), and sixth in mid-range shooting frequency (35.1%)

“We probably look towards managing that now that we know what we have, managing that a little back closer to philosophically what we believe,” Nurse said of this season’s shot profile.

For context on what a Nurse offensive shot profile that more closely matches his philosophy looks like, search no further than the 2019-20 season when the Raptors finished third in shot profile efficiency by ranking third in frequency of shots at the rim (39%), sixth in three-point frequency (38.9%), and 29th in mid-range frequency at 22.1%. That’s a drastic difference from where the Raptors are right now.

How can Nurse get it closer to what he believes is optimal?

One of the biggest talking points of the season from an individual perspective was Siakam’s elevated playmaking. With all the attention he drew from opposing defences, he very frequently made the right reads to create good scoring opportunities for his teammates. The problem? The Raptors have only three knock-down volume shooters from deep on their roster in VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., and OG Anunoby, four if you include Precious Achiuwa’s final quarter of the season. If the ball wasn’t finding those players, it was a chance the opponent was more than happy to take. Throw in the fact that VanVleet only shot 29.1 percent from deep after the all-star break and Anunoby featured in six regular season games after the break and it only exacerbated the problem.

When looking at teams that are in the top 12 teams of the league in three-point shooting, they possess an average of six players who attempt at least four 3-pointers per game while shooting at a solid clip. Teams at the very top like Miami and Atlanta go seven or eight deep with the majority at 36 percent or better. Expecting the Raptors to get from where they were to tops in the league is unrealistic, but getting close to the Top 10 should be seen as something feasible.

This is where the individual summer work aligning with the team needs comes in. If Achiuwa can maintain or hover in the vicinity of what he did in his final 24 regular season games where he averaged four 3-point attempts per game while shooting 40 percent, then the Raptors are at four players they can rely on from deep when healthy. Even if the percentage drops a bit but he can maintain or up the volume, that’s a win.

Where does the fifth come from? It could very well be Chris Boucher if he is re-signed. The 29-year-old finished the season shooting 29.7 percent from deep and so much of it came down to his shooting from above the break. He shot an outstanding 46 percent on corner threes but only made 22 percent of his non-corner attempts. This could be considered an anomaly since he made 40 percent of his shots from above the break last season and 34 percent two seasons ago. If he can regain that stroke on non-corner attempts, he should look to get to that average of four attempts from deep after three attempts per game this season.

The sixth option or perhaps even more could come down to one of if not a combination of Siakam, Barnes, and how the Raptors use the mid-level exception. Siakam attempted just over three 3-pointers a game this season, his fewest since the championship season. In the 2019-20 season, he made 35.9 percent of his six attempts per game and in Tampa that number dropped to 29.7 percent on 4.4 attempts per game. So much of his success as a scorer this season came down to how much he focused on his bread and butter in and around the basket but in order to take his game and the team’s to an even higher level, showing his three-point shot needs to be respected — especially from above the break — could go a long way.

Barnes was challenged to do more of everything over the course of the season including expanding his range and for a stretch between November and December it looked as though it may be happening sooner than anyone could’ve hoped. By season’s end, for the many aspects of his game he did advance, the three-point shot was not one of them. He made 27.4 percent of his attempts after the all-star break in an elevated offensive role and was 2-for-12 from deep in four playoff games. There is a long way to go for Barnes to command gravity at the three-point line and it should be considered a bonus if he can get there.

In some ways, this does crystallize how important it is that the Raptors use the mid-level exception on a player who can help improve the spacing on the floor. Adding another long, athletic player with limited range shooting the ball would provide no real benefit to the roster, especially if Thad Young returns. In case you were wondering, Young shot 39.5 percent from deep on 1.7 attempts per game and that’s exactly it, despite the efficiency, he’s not going to be someone who commands defenders to extend out to him on the three-point line. Adding a consistent volume shooter should be a must in the off-season.

By virtue of improving the outside shooting, there should be a carryover effect to how well the Raptors can attack the rim as improved spacing will force teams out of packing the paint the way they did many a time this season and perhaps even dissuade opponents from turning to a zone defence as much as they did against Toronto. The Raptors don’t have an abundance of players who naturally create rim pressure and so the best path to opening up driving lanes may be by improving the spacing on the floor.

With the injuries to VanVleet and Anunoby significantly impacting the spacing on the floor after the all-star break, Achiuwa not being a three-point threat prior to the break and Boucher similarly as well, the Raptors never really got a true picture of what their spacing would look like with more than two or three volume shooters at best. It was going to be bad relative to the league regardless, but the gains that could be made through their work in the summer along with just being healthy could be more significant than we give credit for. That also shouldn’t take away from the need to bring someone in who adds to it as well.

Toronto’s next growth stage will primarily be about increasing their margin for error in finding ways to win. By focusing on shooting the ball better from the outside this off-season, it could put the Raptors on the inside track to the finish line they envision.

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Develop From Deep

Precious Achiuwa joining the Toronto Raptors made few happier than Masai Ujiri. The Vice Chairman and President of the team first came to know about his fellow Nigerian when Achiuwa was an eighth grader attending Ujiri’s Giants of Africa basketball camp and has been tracking his progress ever since. Ujiri’s first words to Achiuwa after the trade was complete?

Ujiri doesn’t play favourites, though, and his hyper competitive drive wants to see the Raptors do well every time out. So, early in the season when Achiuwa was struggling to come to terms with his increased role, Ujiri grew impatient. He saw the on-court mistakes and implored head coach Nick Nurse to explain why Achiuwa was being given the freedom he was because Ujiri simply couldn’t understand it.

“I was like, ‘Why is he doing that? Why is he doing this?’” Ujiri recalled. “He explained it to me… it’s the patience of getting them to make mistakes sometimes.”

That patience has since been rewarded as Achiuwa’s exponential growth rate has been one of the best under the radar stories of the Raptors’ season. It also gives insight into the freedom Nurse has to run the team as he best sees fit. There is a level of synergy between Ujiri and Nurse that allows their partnership to flourish.

When Ujiri elevated Nurse’s status with the Toronto Raptors from assistant to head coach, he did so with the belief the Iowa native had the type of creativity that could not only consistently adapt to the times but be a leader in having other teams follow suit. What also came with the package is a wealth of knowledge about getting the best out of his players because of the variety of experience he accumulated since having first become a head coach at the age of 23. If you’re going to try and think outside the box, you have to give yourself the time needed to take in the unfamiliar surroundings and be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Nurse is now four seasons into this job and, after having his box-and-ones and triangle-and-twos spread like wildfire, his task this season was to make Vision 6’9” in vogue. On paper, all signs pointed to this team struggling to put up points in the half court and struggling against size. Nurse’s job, though, is to find solutions. With all those expected misses, the flip side was to find a way to dominate the offensive glass and put back as many of those misses as possible. Prevention is better than cure, too, and the Raptors had a lower percentage of their possessions be played in the half court than any other team in the league, per Cleaning the Glass.

Defensively, instead of having one big rim protector who can intimidate, the Raptors looked to deny shots near the basket by having multiple bodies regularly in position to force kick-outs before racing back out to the perimeter and scrambling from there. When they could deny dribble penetration courtesy switching from one lanky wing to another or turn the ball over through tremendous ball pressure, even better.

By season’s end, what started as an experiment is now clearly a path forward. 34-17 to finish the season is a 54-win pace. During that time, the Raptors went 23-10 against teams with a record of .500 or better, so, this was not a case of just taking advantage of beatable teams. After Dec. 31, they had the sixth best defence primarily because they led the league in forcing turnovers, ande despite one of the worst effective field goal percentages, hung around league average in offensive efficiency courtesy the second-best offensive rebound rate, being fifth-best in taking care of the ball, and getting out in transition more often than anyone not named the Memphis Grizzlies.

It’s not quite making lemonade out of lemons when considering the talent level of the core but the passion and commitment the organization has for winning from top to bottom constantly has them seeking solutions and new ways to improve. How do you build on that? That’s what both Nurse and Ujiri addressed in their respective end of season media availabilities so here are the main takeaways:

It wouldn’t be true to the Raptors’ identity if the team didn’t prioritize internal growth and development. Even with the leap made mid-season, Nurse pointed to there being plenty of room for this team to find the next level.

OG Anunoby played just 48 games and Fred VanVleet was a shadow of himself after the all-star break. Gary Trent Jr. was challenged with playing defence at a higher level last summer and he’ll be asked to take it up another notch this time around. Precious Achiuwa has a leap from role player to starter in him while Pascal Siakam could well go from fringe All-NBA to superstar with his first full off-season since 2019 on the cards.

Then, there is of course Scottie Barnes, who wouldn’t surprise many if he went from Rookie of the Year to all-star. He was the team’s second-best player after the all-star break with 17.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.2 steals while shooting 53.3 percent from the field. Ujiri sees room for all of them to grow.

“Pascal needs to make a jump, Fred needs to make a jump, there is plenty (to do),” Ujiri said. “OG needs to play more games. He needs to make a jump. Precious, Boucher, all these guys need to make a jump. Scottie? Who used to say it best? Coach Casey. You told on yourself, that is what he used to say. You tell on yourself, they are coming at you and that’s where you want to be. That’s why I love that they had that six-game [playoff] experience…

“This is what this summer is for. We have had that discussion with all of them at length. We are going to continue those conversations. What did Pascal say? He said he’s going to get better. He’s going to work on his three-point shot to get better. You saw he worked on his mid-range game, got better. All of them have something at stake to grow as a player in this league. These guys are prideful guys and they love the game.”

VanVleet finished tied with his running mate Siakam for the league lead in minutes per game at 37.9 this season and finished third in that category a season ago. He huffed and puffed until his body could take no more, missing the Raptors’ final two games of the post-season due to a left hip flexor strain to accompany his already sore knee. Toronto can ill-afford to continue going all-in on the demands of his six-foot, 200-pound frame.

“He’s a competitive guy, he likes to play,” Nurse said. “We played him a lot of minutes this year, for sure. Trimming that here and there would probably be advisable, for sure, as we did with Kyle (Lowry). It’s always easier said than done. Usually it was always easier to manage it in the first half so that first halves don’t end up at 21 or 22 [minutes] because when you get to there it gets hard to keep it down to 35 or 36 [minutes], which is where we want to be rather than the upper 30s the way it ends up.”

When Ujiri was asked about VanVleet’s minutes needing managing, he offered a straightforward, “Correct.”

Nurse pointed to Siakam and Barnes’s ability to run the offence as possible ways of reducing the load on VanVleet’s shoulders and the X-Factor in all this is what Malachi Flynn could possibly bring to the table next season. He has now made a noteworthy impression in the latter end of each of his first two seasons and while Nurse credits the progress made in being able to run an NBA offence as well as his active hands on the defensive end, it’s the shotmaking and hustle that will prove the biggest factor in seriously cracking the rotation.

“I keep saying he’s got to get a little dirtier,” Nurse said on the subject of hustle. “Take more charges, come up with more loose balls, dive on the floor more even if it’s just for inspiration, he doesn’t have a great shot to get the ball, but he’s throwing his body around to provide a spark with that kind of stuff. Lastly, he’s going to have to make shots. He’s going to have to be a shot maker like he comes off in a certain coverage and he’s open, he’s going to have to be able to knock them down.

“If it goes to other guys and he’s a spacer on the three, he’s going to have to be a great catch-and-shoot player. He’s got to do that for us because that is a role we could use. I think that is one area he has to get better [at].”

As versatile as each individual of the core Vision 6’9” group is, the versatility of the roster as a whole could use some addressing. Ujiri said there’s no discrimination in terms of considering non-prototypical wing players and Nurse was clear in expressing that depth was lacking this year, especially in light of the way COVID and injuries hurt the roster and even got into specifics.

“The more quality players you have, the better chance you’re going to have to win,” Nurse frankly stated. “We could probably use some catch-and-shoot. I’m still after some more wing players, some more athletic wing players so we can continue to come at you in the style of play we want to come at you with.”

While Nurse didn’t explicitly express the need for a big man, he did note that a lob threat could help alleviate some pressure off not only VanVleet, but Trent Jr., and Anunoby when it comes to getting better corner three-point looks due to the pressure being applied on the rim on the weak side.

Just as growth and development is a 12-month-a-year process for the players of this organization, the same applies to the coaching staff. The first part of getting better for Nurse is digesting the Sixers series in full and letting all the strengths and weaknesses that emerged from it sink in.

After that, Nurse will be looking at the advanced metrics of what the team did well over the course of the entire season, what the team didn’t, understanding why those things happened, and how they can be improved or maintained. It’s impossible to be at the top of every single category, but recognizing — based on the roster available — what are the best strengths to target and what are the weaknesses that need to be minimized is all part of the process.

Nurse also has some small, more specific projects that are both team and individual focused, either to make him or his players better or both. For example, last off-season, it wasn’t just Trent Jr.’s defence that was addressed, but rather that he wasn’t much of a catch-and-shoot player and that alongside Siakam and VanVleet, those opportunities were going to present themselves and it could help make Trent Jr. better if he was ready to take advantage. There’s still room for those isolation opportunities, but identifying how a player can get better within the context of what makes the team better is always a focus. When the time comes, Nurse will fly out to wherever the players are working out to meet with them and review these next steps in their development. There will be some Team Canada responsibilities in late June to early July.

In short, there are no distractions. There were some rumours connecting Nurse with the Los Angeles Lakers but both he and Ujiri shot them down, clarifying that he is very much focused on the Raptors and that the only other team he thinks about is the Canada’s men’s senior team, which he also coaches.

“Masai and I have a great relationship, I think mostly because we want to win championships,” Nurse said. “It's about trying to figure out how to win it all. That's what I sense he's trying to do every day and that's what I'm trying to do every day. And that's really important, I think that that goes a long way in synergy for me. He has conversations with me about my coaching and I have conversations with him about the roster… We're going to make some moves to go forward. How can we coach better? How can we play or develop better and how can we get the roster better? How can we get better and get to where we want to go?

“It was a great season but a first round exit is not what we want to do.”

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Time to Work

It was a weird season. Take a minute to enjoy some of the best moments from the 2021-2022 season

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Rundown's Greatest Hits l Raptors Rundown pres. by Coors Light

It's Game 6 and if the Raptors win they will be on the verge of making history. Plus, see the Raptors faithful in Philly from Game 5.

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Let's Make History  l Raptors Rundown pres. by Coors Light

Scottie Barnes becomes the third player in franchise history to win Rookie of the Year. The news is broken to him by the Raptors last player to win Rookie of the Year, Vince Carter

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Rookie of the Year

With just over 10 minutes remaining, the Raptors were in dangerous territory. Philadelphia had just cut the lead to one on a pair of James Harden free-throws and handed the same test to Pascal Siakam that they did in Game 3: Be The Man.

The fourth quarter of Game 3 was a tough pill to swallow, after leading by as many as 17 points Toronto found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with Siakam failing to score a single point in the second half or overtime. Upon reviewing the film, the Cameroonian was surprised to learn he only attempted five shots and so the biggest takeaway was that he needed to be more aggressive.

He certainly started Game 4 with the right mindset, but the real test was here, when the Raptors were down to 10 minutes to save the season. At first, he drove to set up a Precious Achiuwa three-pointer that clanked off the rim, and after an offensive rebound, did the same to tee up an OG Anunoby attempt that fell short.

Selfishness is most often considered a negative trait, that any display of it is inconsiderate or sometimes even harmful to others. Within the context of team sports, though, there are times when it is actually unselfishness that can harm. Knowing that one is the best scorer on the team but excessively deferring to teammates because that is what the defence is tempting you to do can make one unselfish to a fault. In uncertain times, people generally look to their leaders for guidance. When the night is as dark as an 0-3 series deficit in a best-of-seven, you need a hero.

On the Sixers’ next possession, Siakam stuffed Harden at the rim and then took the ball down the court, recognized a mismatch with Tyrese Maxey in transition and went right at him towards the basket. He knocked a free throw, then had the second make revoked for a lane violation. Philly came down the floor and now looked to go at Siakam through a Tobias Harris post-up, Siakam drew an offensive foul. Now facing another opportunity to attack matched up against Georges Niang, Siakam went to the basket again and not only made the shot but drew the foul as well. Another Philly possession, another moment where Siakam stamped his authority by helping Achiuwa with a double-team on Joel Embiid and forcing another turnover. In transition, Siakam bolted towards the basket before laying the ball off to Achiuwa for a layup.

Philadelphia called timeout, but it was too little, too late to escape from this Siakam tornado. All told after those Harden free-throws with just over 10 minutes remaining, Siakam scored or assisted on 20 of the next 24 points before exiting with a little over a minute remaining and the Raptors up 12. The only four points he didn’t account for were an Achiuwa free throw after a foul at the basket courtesy a pass he made, a technical foul shot by Gary Trent Jr., and a spectacular individual move by Achiuwa pulling off an audacious in-and-out dribble with his left hand before finishing at the basket with his right.

This was a game that featured several teammates including Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes returning from a left ankle injury being stars in their role for the Raptors but was ultimately going to need its biggest star to shine brightest and he found a way to score a playoff career-high 34 points that included a season-high 15 trips to the free-throw line to go along with eight rebounds, five assists, a steal, and his usual stellar defence.

“I was probably more assertive and not a lot of looking around,” Siakam said after the game. “Taking whatever’s there, like I talked about earlier, just attacking and taking advantage of whatever I feel is an advantage and making the right play or at least trying to make the right play.”

Siakam has steadily risen to every challenge thrown his way this season so why should we let it surprise us that he was able to take the lessons of Game 3 and apply them immediately to Game 4? As we’ve seen with his ascension to this point, just as the spin move is his trademark on the court, it’s his ability to speed learn that is his most impressive trait off it.

The championship run showed that this isn’t a player who shies away from the spotlight. It almost feels as if what Siakam did in the NBA Finals doesn’t get enough credit because of Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry’s exploits and the main thing people talk about when remembering his performance is the championship clinching shot over Draymond Green in Game 6. Quick reminder: He also finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds in that game while shooting 59 percent from the field. In Game 1 of those Finals he had 32 points on 82 percent shooting to go along with eight rebounds and five assists and he tacked on another 37 points,15 rebounds and seven assists across Toronto’s two other wins in the series. In the dramatic seven-game East Semis against the Sixers that year he scored at least 20 points in five of the seven games. Yet, the recency bias of the series against the Boston Celtics in the bubble in a new role he had in that series still reigns supreme. Oh, by the way, he was still on his rookie contract that season.

Yes, it is absolutely a completely different challenge to thrive as a secondary or tertiary scoring option than it is the No. 1, but he is now in just his second year of the rookie max contract extension he signed which shouldn’t be confused with a veteran max contract. The easy, even lazy answer is to conclude that when someone doesn’t do something it’s because they can’t. The truth, sometimes — and especially when they’re young — may just be that they can’t… yet. For someone like Siakam who has proven himself to be amongst the league’s quickest learners, the answer as to when that might be may come sooner than expected, too.

There are those who may wonder if 28 in a sporting context can be considered young, and sports science would lead us to believe that’s an overwhelming yes. 30 no longer spells doomsday the way it once did, and Siakam is reasonably looking at another five to seven years of high level play as long he maintains his current level of dedication to fitness and nutrition. Placing an imaginary ticking time bomb on him because of his age would be shortsighted.

All season long, Toronto’s theme has been growth and development, giving young players the room to make mistakes and learn from them with the hope that it could accelerate their learning curve. For some it clicked sooner than others but, on the whole, the season has been a huge success because of the lengthy strides that have been made. Perhaps lost in this shuffle is the fact that the ones leading them are themselves experiencing certain aspects of life in the NBA for the first time, namely getting their first full crack at being at the forefront of taking a franchise forward after the iconic Kyle Lowry departed in the off-season.

Siakam and Fred VanVleet have put that perspective in the rear-view mirror through their stellar play over the course of the season, the former likely on course for an All-NBA Third Team selection and the latter earning his first All-Star selection back in February. When the younger ones were struggling to come to terms with the defensive principles and the nightly requisite intensity and effort, VanVleet was the biggest reason the team stayed afloat. When VanVleet and OG Anunoby both struggled with injury after the all-star break, it was Siakam who did the heavy lifting in helping the Raptors earn a direct playoff berth and extend the learning opportunities not just for the youngest members of the roster, but himself.

“A lot, definitely a lot,” Siakam said of how much he still learns. “What I was two years ago, it’s not the same thing I am now as a player. I think you command a lot more and, for me, I feel like as long as I go out there and I take the shots that I feel like I should be taking and I keep being aggressive, I'm okay with that. Everything's always gonna balance out and I think that the experience from just being in the playoffs, we all learn from it.

“I think that even players that’s been in the league for a long time, that's been in many playoff games, I'm sure that there's some serious way to learn something about themselves or about their game or how they can evolve and I think that we all continue to grow as players and the playoffs are kind of like the perfect time for that to understand different things about your game.”

What Siakam mainly needed to learn was that aggression doesn’t always come in the form of attacking the basket. With the Sixers selling out on packing the paint in Game 3, they dared Siakam to show intent with his jumper and that he was comfortable taking that shot. Instead, he kept looking for the drive and missed out on some opportunities to take a shot that he’s taken and made time after time in the regular season and when he did end up taking them it came as a last resort with the shot clock winding down rather than the blueprint. In Game 4, he took six jumpers in the fourth quarter alone but he also got to the line 11 times. Siakam showed in the regular season he’s become a player who can do it all but it’s a process in carrying over that mentality from regular season to playoffs.

Siakam was overly passive in the second half of Game 3, and that’s a big part of why Toronto fell into the impossible hole that 0-3 has proven to be in the NBA playoffs. He’s just as big a part of why that deficit has been cut to 1-3, and now he’ll have to dig even deeper, that’s life as the man. The key is in taking the lumps that come with it and coming back better the next day. That’s what Siakam did on Saturday.

Under the bright lights of the post-season, it is the stars who bear the biggest burden and so it becomes easy to be blinded by the ebbs and flows that come with each win or loss. In a season that has been all about growth, and in a series against Mr. Process himself, there’s more trust to be had in a player who’s still very much learning and improving.

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Win Some, Learn Some

Come down to Raptors Tailgate and enjoy the best views from The Coors Light Mountain to support your Toronto Raptors for Game 4 Saturday at 2:00pm and if you cant make it down to Raptors Tailgate then support at a Bar North event near you

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Rally Time l Raptors Rundown pres. by Coors Light

The Raptors find themselves in a familiar position. Big picture, yet again, the franchise trails a playoff series 1-0. Zoom in on the themes of this season, and once again they have to make do with very likely being short handed.

After elbows to the mouth and getting stepped on (completely inadvertently), Toronto has to find a way to punch back.

“We’ve played without guys all year,” Fred VanVleet said at practice Sunday. “Obviously, this time of year you would like to have all your best players but we’ll see what the situation is, find out in the morning who’s in, who’s out, and then it’ll be time for somebody else to step up.”

There may be those on the fringes of the rotation between Dalano Banton or Malachi Flynn or Yuta Watanabe who may be called upon to fill in for what currently look likely absences of Scottie Barnes, Gary Trent Jr., and Thad Young. Among those at the forefront of what the Raptors need to do, it is OG Anunoby’s moment to remind people of just how central he is to this core group.

Let’s rewind for a moment to his rookie 2017-18 season when the 13th game of his career became his first NBA start and the reward was a matchup with James Harden. That’s asking plenty. Anunoby played close to 30 minutes that night, spending 23 of them opposite the man who went on to win MVP that season and used the majority of those minutes to showcase an intimidating combination of strength and length. Harden shot 2-for-15 from the field including 1-of-6 beyond the arc, had six turnovers, and committed five fouls in his minutes with Anunoby on the court (6-of-10 with him off), and Anunoby has only expanded on his defensive portfolio ever since.

After high expectations coming in, Anunoby has played in just 48 games this season after a variety of injuries. There has been growth despite the limited time, though, and it’s the offensive side of his game that he’s tried to expand. After 71 post-ups in 2020-21, Anunoby has more than doubled that total to 143 while improving from shooting 35.7 percent on them last season to 48.1 percent this season and has made subtle improvements in his passing. After attempting 30 pull-up threes in 43 games last season (making just six), Anunoby has attempted 75 in 48 games this season and converted at 26.7 percent. Not all growth is linear, this is a shot Anunoby has to build comfort in taking first before he gets accustomed to making them.

Despite the work being put in to improve elsewhere, Anunoby remains very effective catching and shooting, converting 39.6 percent of those attempts from deep to trail only Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. in volume-adjusted efficiency. There was an offensive identity established in the unofficial second half of the season with him having only played six games after the all-star break, but with the likely absences in Game 2, Anunoby will need to be ready to take on a scoring load closer to what was expected at the beginning of the season when Pascal Siakam was out injured.

A player who provides what Anunoby does to a team can easily go underappreciated by those outside of who share a locker room with him, especially as he’s expanded his repertoire steadily rather than speedily. Some of that stems from the heightened expectations pinned on the player ever since Kawhi Leonard’s departure. Some of it stemmed from Siakam facing the biggest challenge of his NBA career and the hope that Anunoby might ascend to stardom. All of it is because, in the desire to see the Raptors win another championship, what players aren’t and what they are perceived as needing to be have garnered a larger lens than what they are.

Take Mikal Bridges of the Phoenix Suns for example. With pieces like Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, and strong bench options, Bridges can just be. Averages the last two seasons of 13.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.1 steals on healthy shooting efficiency and all-world defence can be appreciated for what they are because the Suns are clearly championship contenders. Even in this series against Philadelphia, someone like Matisse Thybulle only faces questions of making just enough shots to stay on the court rather than anything more because of the presence of Harden, Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Tyrese Maxey.

Anunoby averaged 17.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.5 steals this season while providing strong defence and 36.3 percent shooting from deep. Over time, his role can gain further appreciation on the path to championship contention as it steadily crystallizes courtesy Siakam finding another career surge, VanVleet an all-star, and Barnes’ tantalizing future in front of him. In the here and now, it needs to be framed within the context of this series in front of them. The Raptors are on a phenomenal ride this season and in order for it to extend during the post-season, Anunoby will need to be more in the bigger ways while continuing to bring what he does around the edges.

In the clutch, Anunoby has shown just how much his ancillary support can mean. In late March, the Raptors trailed by seven against a Boston Celtics team without the services of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams III, and Al Horford. This was shaping up to be a bad home loss despite a Herculean effort from Pascal Siakam who finished with 40 points and 13 rebounds on the night.

After Daniel Theis knocked down a mid-range jumper with 4:12 remaining in the game, Toronto was on the ropes. Most of the team struggled, and with that type of effort from Siakam, any kind of assistance would do on this night. Coming down the floor, Siakam ran a pick-and-pop action with Thad Young, who missed an open three-pointer. As the shot went up, Anunoby swooped in from the corner to beat Mr. Hustle Marcus Smart to the loose ball and kicked it back out to Siakam. He found Fred VanVleet, who received a screen from Young and pulled up for three himself. Another miss followed, and Anunoby once again snuck in from the right elbow three-point area and grabbed yet another rebound over Smart. Instantly processing the space on the outside with three Celtics bodies in the paint, Anunoby then passed to VanVleet and screened Payton Pritchard to give his teammate a clean look. VanVleet knocked it down and the Raptors were alive again.

Toronto came back to win in overtime and while VanVleet came alive from beyond the arc at a most crucial time and Siakam was the superstar the team needed, Anunoby’s work around the edges kept the team alive when they were just about dead and buried.

“He’s such a versatile player, he can do it on both ends of the floor,” Siakam said after the victory. “Him just crashing [the glass] and doing all those little things, I think it’s only gonna help his game. We already know what he can do on the floor, spacing the floor, handle, post-ups, and all those things and now just being able to crash and get more plays for us is definitely gonna be good for us.”

Anunoby has made a habit of attacking the offensive glass late in games this season. While those two rebounds as well as the assist to VanVleet against the Celtics didn’t qualify as clutch stats as the game was beyond a five-point margin, the 24-year-old finished the regular season second only to Barnes in offensive rebounds in the last five minutes of games within five points or fewer despite the limited action this season. Until Feb. 16, after which he only played six games, Anunoby was second in points, third in three-pointers made, second in rebounding, second in steals, and first in blocks in the clutch.

While the wins have come in bunches since the all-star break, those numbers show just how much more he could add to a team that’s rolling. Siakam will continue to see plenty of bodies around the rim on the offensive end and James Harden’s performances may prove the ultimate barometer for the Sixers’ success, so Anunoby’s presence in this series looms ever larger with Toronto’s current health issues.

In the top tier of defenders in the league, an extremely capable floor spacer, and a core piece who’s been through some huge playoff battles, Anunoby’s season looks set to finish the way it started, with the Raptors ready to take everything he can bring. The last time Toronto faced Philly in the post-season, his length and spacing was sorely missed. Now, in theory, he’s one of many as another 6-foot-8 player with long arms, but for all practical purposes, he can very much be singular in what he provides.