Toronto Raptors 2020-21 season award winners after disappointing year

The Toronto Raptors 2020-21 season is finally coming to an end with a small handful of games remaining on their schedule.

The 2021 season, as we all know, really hasn’t been the best of seasons for this franchise as they were forced to play their “home” games down in Tampa. Essentially, they played 72 road games, which is absolutely ridiculous. The team was also hit with the injury bug as well, and COVID-19 ravaged this squad.

The season was basically a disaster since the opening tip in game one of the season against the New Orleans Pelicans, when they lost that game 113-99 and they really never found their footing after that “home” loss.

With that being said, although it was a very stressful, annoying and ugly season for the Toronto Raptors, let’s take a look at who deserves to win what award for this team with their play during the regular season this year.

Which Toronto Raptors players won team awards last season?

MVP: Pascal Siakam

To be honest with you, this one was pretty hard to pick because it could’ve gone to three different players in my opinion. For the three potential candidates for the Raptors MVP award this season, there really wasn’t one player out of the small handful that jumps out to me as a player who elevated his game tremendously this season compared to last season.

However, I’m picking Pascal Siakam, and he’s had a pretty good season nonetheless for this Raptors team. He’s averaging north of 20 points per game for the second straight season and despite being inconsistent at times this season, Siakam has ultimately put together a solid season given the current circumstances with the Raptors in Tampa.

He’s also improved his playmaking ability a ton this season compared to seasons past, with him dishing out the ball very often for a big man that plays the four and sometimes the five when they’re going small ball.

Pascal Siakam is improving for the Toronto Raptors.

With that added ability, Siakam made his offensive game even better, however, the only thing offensively he’s struggled with is his three-point shooting as it’s been downright terrible since the start of the season.

This season he is currently averaging 21.4 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game, and 4.5 assists per game. On the defensive side of the ball, he’s averaging 1.1 steals per game and 0.7 blocks per game.

The reasoning behind me choosing Siakam as the MVP this season for the Toronto Raptors is because he ranks top three in points, rebounds and assists per game while shooting the ball pretty good from the field too, besides his shooting from three because we all know it really hasn’t been there all season long.

Other than that flaw, he’s had a pretty good season despite the circumstances this team has been faced with since the very start of the 2021 season.

DPOY: OG Anunoby

This one shouldn’t really be up for debate in my opinion. You just have to give it to OG Anunoby.

OG has quickly formed himself into one of the best versatile defenders in the entire NBA, and it’s honestly a treat to watch given he’s only 23 years old and still has more room to develop and grow into an even better player than he is right now.

He was originally a player who would give you great defense and had barely any offense to his game. However, fast forward to 2021 and Anunoby could be looked at as a complete offensive player given the improved three-point shooting from him this season as well as his ability to score in different ways.

OG Anunoby remains a tremendous defender.

But enough of his much-improved offense this season which is also amazing, let’s talk about his defense and how good it has been this season. He’s currently averaging 1.5 steals per game, which is a career-high, and 0.7 blocks per game which ties a career-high that was set last season.

Anunoby can easily defend all five positions on the floor, and with that ability, it easily makes him one of the more versatile defenders in the entire league and simply the best defender on the team.

His height and length play a huge factor in his game, and with the addition of the scoring he’s brought into his game, it just makes him an even more dangerous two-way player on the court for this team going forward.

6MOY & MIP: Chris Boucher

These two awards, Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player, goes to one man. Chris Boucher, despite his injury, deserves both awards after his stellar play this year for a Raptors team that was struggling since the very start of the season.

Boucher signed a two-year contract extension with the Raptors in the off-season at a pretty cheap price. With that extension, people immediately knew that he was going to be given a big opportunity to showcase what he has because Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol left the team in free agency.

However, Boucher came off the bench, proving that he’s worth every penny of that contract. It was awesome to see, especially for someone who kind of bloomed late in their career given he’s already 28 years old.

Chris Boucher made his mark with the Toronto Raptors.

Boucher just simply played how he always plays. He can score down low, his three-point shooting was a treat to watch this season, as every time he cocked his arms back high it always seemed like he was going to drain a shot from deep. Of course, his shot-blocking ability made him even more valuable.

With coming off the bench 46 times this season and starting in 14 games, Boucher averaged a pretty solid 13.6 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 51.4% from the field and 38.3% from deep.

On the defensive side of the ball, Boucher averaged 1.9 blocks per game which currently sits him fifth in the NBA in blocks right behind players like Clint Capela, Nerlens Noel, Rudy Gobert and Myles Turner. He’s also averaging a career-high with 0.6 steals per game.

ROTY: Malachi Flynn

This should be a no-brainer as well given that Malachi Flynn is basically the only rookie that has played a good amount of games for the Raptors this season. After being the Raptors first-round pick from this past NBA Draft, Flynn showed fans what he’s capable of doing at the NBA level during the preseason and it honestly got fans excited about him.

He was then sent down to the G League to play for Raptors 905 for a bit, but then got the call up back to the Raptors due to multiple injuries to the team including guys like Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry.

Despite not seeing a lot of playing time on the floor at the beginning of the season, Flynn has still managed to put together some good games with limited minutes on the court.

Malachi Flynn is proving the Toronto Raptors right.

This season he is averaging 6.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game while shooting the ball not the greatest from the field, but from deep he’s shot the ball pretty good in my opinion.

Although you may be thinking a player averaging that stat line might not be the greatest, his numbers in games where he started are much better. In 11 games he’s started in, Flynn has averaged 11.8 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game, and 5.4 assists per game while shooting the ball 40% from the field, 40% from three, and 82% from the free-throw line.

The ROTY Award for the Raptors should go to Flynn, and it’s a no-brainer at this point. It’s definitely going to be exciting to see what he’s capable of doing in his second year in the league with potentially more playing time next season. Hopefully, the team is back in Toronto too.