Top five reasons to keep watching the Toronto Raptors this season

The development of OG Anunoby

The hot new pick to win MIP in Toronto is OG Anunoby. Just like Siakam, he was picked in the late first-round but quickly proved to be a rotation player in the NBA. Anunoby also showed defensive chops early in his career but was still raw offensively. And like Siakam last year, Anunoby is heading into his third NBA season.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Siakam’s improvement last season was a rare leap from fringe rotation player to star; it’s unfair to expect anyone, Anunoby included, to make that same kind of transformation. Furthermore, Anunoby simply hasn’t shown the ball-handling and playmaking potential that Siakam flashed even from the start of his career.

Still, there are encouraging signs with Anunoby. He looked aggressive in the preseason, attacking off the bounce with a ferocity rarely seen in his first two NBA seasons. As a rookie, he held his own as a starter for 62 games on a Raptors team that went 59-23, showing his chops as a 3-and-D specialist at the very least. In the 2018 postseason, he was one of the few Raptors who seemed unfazed by LeBron James, showing admirable effort despite the losses – and shooting nearly 45-percent from beyond the arc in 10 playoff games.

Anunoby may be facing unrealistic expectations, but it will be great to see him back on the floor with plenty of opportunities, after injuries and personal issues derailed his 2018-19 campaign. As long as he stays on the floor, watching his progress will be plenty of fun.