Raptors launch title defense with little respect, few expectations

Storyline 3: Can Anunoby be this year’s Siakam?

Last year at this time, Pascal Siakam was an unproven commodity with many questions surrounding his ability to become the Toronto Raptors’ full-time starter at the 4 spot.

We know how that turned out. Siakam had a breakout performance, was named Most Improved Player and now has “second-best player on an NBA title team” at the top of his resume.

One of Toronto’s younger players that was not part of the championship run is forward OG Anunoby, who missed the playoffs after an emergency appendectomy the day after the regular season concluded.

Like Siakam in 2018-19, Anunoby is a late first-round pick entering his third NBA season. Also like Siakam, Anunoby was primarily a short-minutes starter as a rookie and took on a reserve role in his second year.

Now the question is whether or not Anunoby can be the breakout guy in Toronto in 2019-20.

He’s likely to start the season coming off the bench behind Siakam and Serge Ibaka at the 3 and 4 spots, respectively. He played in all four preseason games, averagng 10.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals in 23.9 minutes per game, shooting 46.9 percent overall and shooting a solid 6-for-13 (46.2 percent) from deep.

Last season was a mixed bag for Anunoby, who produced bigger counting numbers, but was much less efficient while doing so. He averaged 7.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game over 67 games — six of them starts.

But his shooting took a step back from his rookie campaign. Anunoby shot 47.1 percent as a rookie, a figure that slid to 45.3 percent in 2018-19. His 3-point percentage fell from 37.1 (2.7 attempts per game) to 33.2 (3.0 attempts per game) and his foul shooting was just foul — 58.1 percent after hitting 62.9 percent as a rookie.

He’s got the size at 6-foot-8 and 232 pounds to be a switchy defender at the 3 and 4, but his offensive game is still rough around the edges. But he’s a terrific finisher when he gets to the rim — hitting 69.5 percent of his shots in the restricted area over his first two seasons, but he’s taken the bulk of his shots from behind the arc.

Of his 750 career shot attempts, 399 have been of the 3-point variety, which makes some sense for the modern game. But with his size and slashing ability, his path to a breakout may be paved off the bounce, taking the ball to the rim and getting inside where he can finish through contact because of his solid size.

He has an opportunity to earn big minutes if he’s ready to take that next step.