RAPTORS BLOG: Behold O.G. Anunoby the steals and dunks machine who is exceeding all expectations

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The Raptors have quite the luxury up front. Lose Pascal Siakam, there’s O.G. Anunoby ready to step up and play like a two-way star. Not only has Anunoby had to replace a bunch of Siakam’s production on both ends of the court, he’s also had to step up for Scottie Barnes, who is in a bit of a lull, outside of his usual flashes of greatness to come.

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Anunoby’s been the NBA’s best defensive player so far, while also shooting a career-best 40% from three-point range even though he’s connecting from the corners at a far lower rate than usual. He’s attacking the basket more than ever before (with a much higher free throw drawing rate and conversion rate when at the line)

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Against Houston on Wednesday Anunoby and Fred VanVleet basically made sure the Raptors wouldn’t lose a game they really could have, even though the Rockets were completely over-matched talent-wise. Anunoby had 27 points and 10 rebounds and was dangerous whenever he had the ball.

He also threw down a career-high six dunks and is up to 24 jams on the season, seventh in the entire NBA (behind only big men like Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jarrett Allen). Anunoby had 62 dunks all of last season.

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What’s gotten into him, I asked Fred VanVleet. “He just looks good. He looks great. He looks like a guy who has turned into an every possession guy,” VanVleet said.

“The more he gets in shape, and not in terms of his body, or cardio or anything, but just the will and the determinedness to do it play after play after play and not take plays off, it takes a lot and we’re seeing him do it this year for us and he’s been great for us.”

VanVleet is right, giving your all on both ends of the floor isn’t easy. Only a select few dominate everywhere. It’s even more challenging when Siakam is out of the lineup.

Yet, Anunoby is delivering on his immense promise.

It was also noted to VanVleet that Siakam, a league-leader in drives per game, is missed badly offensively because of how he bends defences with his threat to drive.

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“Yeah we need pressure on the rim. It’s one of our keys for our offence and keys for our team is to put pressure on the rim. So to see O.G. be aggressive, show assertiveness, we’ve got to get him those paint touches, for kickouts and get him to the line,” VanVleet said.

“We’re going to continue to need him to do that and once he gets down there he’s so strong that he can make the right play at any time.

I thought he’s making the right reads and he’s learning the right reads and he’s finding his spots.”

Anunoby’s commitment to attack the paint and Barnes’s increasingly common forays there on post-ups are interesting developments.

Some more thoughts:

-I glanced at the scoresheet at one point Wednesday and was surprised to see Anunoby without a single steal. About five minutes later, he had three. That’s how quickly he can take over defensively.

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VanVleet said it feels like Anunoby can steal the ball whenever he wants right now. He’s two games shy of Doug Christie’s franchise record of eight straight games with at least three steals and is averaging three a game, more than twice his average the last three seasons (1.4, 1.5 and 1.5 steals).

Only seven players (including legends Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan) have averaged three steals a night since 1975-76 (original Raptor Alvin Robertson did it an amazing four separate times). It hasn’t been done since Robertson in 1990-91. It’s extremely unlikely Anunoby keeps swiping at quite this rate (his steal percentage of 4.3 is off the charts and again more than double what he averaged the last three seasons), but even 2.5 a game would lock in defensive player of the year, one would think.

-Houston head coach Stephen Silas has his hands full with this young group. They are a long way away from being a factor and need a real point guard, but man do they play hard. Silas was concerned pre-game about how well Toronto turns teams over and sure enough, the Raptors had a 31-13 advantage in points off turnovers, a big reason why they won the game.

THREE STARS:

1 Fred VanVleet

2 O.G. Anunoby

3 Jalen Green