Toronto Raptors: Top three takeaways from week 20

2. OG Anunoby has found his role as a 3&D specialist

The Toronto Raptors always knew OG Anunoby could be a great defensive stopper. His body type and defensive awareness on the floor made his potential evident, but he just needed time to develop and unlock it. Last year, practicing and playing alongside a two-time defensive player of the year definitely taught him a lot.

This season, Anunoby has taken his defense to the next level. Currently, Anunoby is 13th in the league in defensive rating. He has only missed one game and has considerably increased his steals and blocks output per game. A year ago, Anunoby only averaged 0.7 steals and 0.3 blocks per game, but this season, with nine extra minutes, he has increased those averages to 1.4 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.

Those numbers grew even bigger after the injuries to Serge Ibaka, Fred VanVleet and Marc Gasol as Anunoby took on more defensive responsibility. Over his last 10 games, Anunoby is averaging a monstrous 2.8 steals per game, with two games with six and a career-high seven steals. Just in this week alone, Anunoby has averaged 2.0 steals per game.

What has been even more impressive is his improvement as a three-point shooter. It is a perfect complement to his stifling defense and has allowed the Raptors to space the floor a lot better. On the season, Anunoby has shot 38 percent from three-point range, making ~1.3 per contest, much better than his 33% shooting last year with 1.0 makes per contest.

While there are still other holes in his game, Anunoby has fit in comfortably as a solid 3&D wing player, a playing style that teams in the league have grown desperate for in this new age of three-point shooting. If he can continue to improve on these elements of his game, the Raptors could have a real gem on their hands.