Toronto Raptors: 3 Keys to OG Anunoby winning Most Improved Player

After finishing with one of the worst records in the NBA last season, the Toronto Raptors are looking to climb back up the Eastern Conference standings in 2021-22. That will require a number of players to step forward and assuming a larger role as the post-Kyle Lowry era begins. At the top of that list is forward OG Anunoby.

The 24-year-old continued to progress in 2020-21, when he put up career highs across the board, but was limited to 43 games because of COVID-19 issues and a calf injury.

Heading into his fifth season, Anunoby is being talked about as a favorite to win the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award in 2021-22.

A recent HoopsHype poll of 15 NBA executives placed Anunoby fourth in the NBA for potential breakout players. He received 14.67% of the vote, trailing only Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland, big Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Grizzlies, and Spurs forward Keldon Johnson.

Toronto Raptors stud OG Anunoby still has room for growth.

It speaks volumes about Anunoby’s ceiling that many feel he still has that much more room to grow. He is regarded as one of the best defenders in the NBA, but the other parts of his game are starting to take shape.

Anunoby is now contributing more offensively as he becomes more of an outside threat, averaging 15.9 points and 2.4 three-pointers per game in 2020-21. Both of those figures are close to double his career averages coming into last season.

Winning the Most Improved Player award would validate Toronto’s belief in him. Since drafting the Indiana alum 23rd overall in 2017, the Raptors have invested a lot into Anunoby, who himself has been putting in the work.

But considering he’s already a pretty good player, who can’t really get that much better than he is now on the defensive end of the floor, it’s going to take a special season for Anunoby to make even further substantive advances in his game.

3 factors that will determine if Toronto Raptors star OG Anunoby wins MIP.

1. Consistency in an elevated scoring role.

With Lowry now in Miami, the Raptors have lost one of their primary offensive threats for nearly a decade. The All-Star point guard ranked top three on the team in total points scored each of the last nine seasons and was either first or second every season between 2013-14 and 2019-20.

Toronto will also begin the season with forward Pascal Siakam sidelined as he continues to recover from offseason shoulder surgery. Siakam, who has led the Raptors in points per game each of the last two seasons, is likely out until November.

Speaking to the media on September 27, Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said that Spicy P is not yet cleared for contact.

OG Anunoby will have a bigger role in the Toronto Raptors offense.

Suffice to say, there’s a void on the offensive end of the floor, and Anunoby would seem the likeliest of candidates to get additional shots and have an increase in plays run for him.

Anunoby, like all Raptors, should benefit from returning home to Canada and settling in for an 82-game campaign. Anunoby was affected more than most last season by the pandemic., He wasn’t just displaced to Tampa, for a time he was displaced from Toronto’s lineup, missing more than two weeks of action due to COVID-19 protocols.

The athletic forward missed half a dozen games in that stretch alone. He also dealt with a calf injury from January onwards, which ultimately led to the Raptors shutting Anunoby down for the last couple of weeks of their schedule.

Despite these fits and starts, Anunoby managed to put up career highs while being in and out of the lineup. After the first month of the season, he never suited up for more than 10 consecutive games.

One can imagine what Anunoby’s numbers might have looked like if he had been in the lineup consistently last season. Should he stay healthy this season, we just might find out.

2. Expanding his scoring bag on offense.

Anunoby set a career-high in 3-pointers per game last season and surpassed 100 three-pointers made in a single season for the first time, despite playing a career-low number of games. He attempted 6.1 three points per game, way up from his previous career-high of 3.3 in 2019-20, indicative of Anunoby’s focus on expanding his repertoire.

It’s fair to expect further strides in his productivity from beyond the arc. While his three-point percentage of 39.8% last season was a personal best, it’s still below standard for legit consistent outside shooters and can get much, much better yet.

OG Anunoby needs to expand his offense.

Now he needs to add other dimensions to his ability to score, particularly creating his own shot and improving his mid-range game between the three-point arc and the paint.

Thus far in his NBA career, a lot of Anunoby’s looks have come off the catch-and-shoot, but he was starting to take players off the dribble more often as last season wore on, an upshot of his improved ball-handling.

This coincided with an increase in his scoring. Over Anunoby’s last seven appearances, he averaged 22.5 points and shot 51% from the field, showing flashes of a more complete game.

He can also benefit from getting to the line more often. He only attempted 2.4 free throws per game, which is far below the higher scoring players in the association. His free-throw percentage has jumped significantly to 78.4% this past season, so the more he gets to the charity stripe, the more capable he is of cashing in those free points.

3. Becoming more of a playmaker.

Considering he set a career-high by averaging just 2.2 assists per game in 2020-21, Anunoby’s playmaking might be the area of his game that has the most room for growth.

This is mutually inclusive with an increased role in the Raptors offense. As Anunoby draws more attention from opposing defenses, he can create shots for others, hitting open teammates while driving off the dribble.

With more experience in this role, there’s plenty of reason to believe Anunoby can become a facilitator. He possesses a high basketball IQ and has demonstrated court vision with some slick feeds out of the post amid collapsing defenders.

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OG Anunoby is starting to develop some handles.

As pointed out, Anunoby’s ball-handling has improved, and while his usage surged to 19.3% last season from 14.3% in 2019-20, his turnover percentage increased by a smidge, 11.7% from 11.5%.

Anunoby dished out a career-high six assists twice in his last 10 games last season. He registered five assists three times in his final 20 contests of 2020-21, which is equal to the number of five-assist games he’d recorded previously in his entire NBA career.

Handing out even just four assists per game would be a big jump for Anunoby, and a perceptible indication of an improving player to voters that may not be tuning into the Raptors every night.

It’s worth noting that Anunoby has improved in just about every major statistical category each year of his career, so it’s safe to assume he’ll do again this season. The only question is by how much.

If he makes the strides that Raps fans hope and many overserve believe he can, the Raptors forward just might be taking home some hardware at season’s end.