The read-and-react offense is basketball’s version of a choose-your-own adventure book. If you want to spend time in the corner and hang out, you can skip to page nine and chill, tossing in some jumpers and vibes. If you want to control the room like your cousin at the party hogging the Spotify account, you can do that too. The Toronto Raptors have an offensive hierarchy, sure. But it’s liable to change on any given possession, let alone any given night.
Much ado was made this past offseason about O.G. Anunoby’s role with the Raptors. Perhaps it was about something, perhaps nothing. But in many ways, his role is his choice with Toronto. He was fourth last season among the starters in shot attempts per game, but he could have shot more had he hunted attempts. One of his pet plays last season was jetting up from the corner to curl around a wide pindown — the same set that earned Norman Powell so many points with the Raptors. But Anunoby often cut slowly, looping his cuts, and not looking to curl tight to attack the rim. He didn’t look to catch and fire very often. There was meat left on the bone for Anunoby last season: points and touches that he chose not to chase.
Anunoby ate and then some in Toronto’s comeback 108-105 thriller win in its home opener against the impressive Cleveland Cavaliers. But he didn’t seize control of the offense and demand touches at the expense of his teammates. He didn’t choose the adventure of the traditional star. Instead, as he has been doing his entire career, he found his own way to dominate the game.
The box score was certainly favourable to Anunoby. He finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. But despite the numbers’ adoration of Toronto’s wing, they failed to show his true value.
Anunoby did not derail the offense. At no point, even with Toronto’s offense sputtering at times, relying on isolations and little else, did Anunoby try to put on his cape and save the team. That meat he left untouched. And that on its own is especially impactful. The Raptors don’t need Anunoby trying to seize control of the read-and-react offense and bend the system to his will. An NBA offense is a delicate ecosystem, especially with a variety of players (Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Gary Trent jr., for example) playing for upcoming contracts. As a general rule that seems to apply less to the Raptors themselves, winning is not every NBA player’s primary priority. Yet for all the discussion of Anunoby’s mindset — with little comment from him beyond “I love Toronto” on media day — he showed an interested in winning and little else to start the season.
Anunoby actually had a few chances to run Toronto’s offense. He ended the fourth quarter in a transitional lineup that saw him as the primary creator. He tried to turn the corner on a drive and spun into a crowd, turning over the ball. He was stripped on a drive later in the game. For all his strength, he’s more Batman in the interrogation booth than Batman in the streets when he’s driving the basketball.
Yet for a man as strong as a bovine, Anunoby was still very successful overall. He was less bull in a china shop than grandmaster at the chess board. (Not this one.) Anunoby’s strength is no bull, either; at one point he cut to the rim and pump-faked, juking Donovan Mitchell into the air, only to land on Anunoby’s shoulders. He landed hard, trying to wrap up Anunoby and hit him with the people’s elbow to make sure he couldn’t get the shot in the air. Anunoby casually lifted Mitchell and the ball to the sky, gently finishing the two points and Mitchell’s dignity in one simple flick of his wrist.
Instead of forcing shots, Anunoby contributed with his passing. He’s long been an underrated passer. Since being drafted in 2017, Anunoby is fourth in assists for the Raptors, behind only Kyle Lowry, VanVleet, and Siakam. Despite that, this was only Anunoby’s 13th game with five or more assists. (His career high is six.) They came in dramatically different ways.
Anunoby threw a wraparound pass from under the basket to the corner for a VanVleet triple. He grabbed an offensive rebound and tossed a bounce pass to a cutting Precious Achiuwa for the layup. He cut from above the break and drove, drawing the defense before dumping the ball to Scottie Barnes for the dunk.
Perhaps the only umbrella under which all of Anunoby’s assists fell was “connective” passing. He didn’t create traditional advantages in any of his plays that ended in assists. In most of them, he allowed others to create for him and turned those advantages into larger advantages for his teammates. The Raptors need connective passing. Anunoby chose the role least traveled — but most needed — to start the season for the Raptors. He didn’t upend the hierarchy as much as solidify it, and the Raptors were the beneficiaries.
It’s significant to note that Anunoby is also Toronto’s most efficient play finisher. Whether he’s taking a triple (he shot 2-of-5 against Cleveland) or a layup (3-of-4), there’s no one on the team who can combine Anunoby’s efficiency in both areas. And thus when Anunoby did score, he did it finishing the plays created by others.
At one point, Anunoby guarded the red-hot Mitchell, sticking with him on a drive and decelerating faster than John Paul Stapp to stop and contest the jumper. Before the ball even bounced off the rim, Anunoby burst to the other end to seal the paint, catch the hit-ahead pass, and toss in the layup. He hit catch-and-shoot jumpers and created contact to draw free throws.
Yet Anunoby’s offensive contributions were minimal when compared to his defensive prowess. He was Toronto’s secret weapon against Mitchell, Darius Garland before his injury, or any other Cav scorer. Anunoby flew from out of the frame for blocks, swallowed drivers, and stunted into the lane to bother Cavs who weren’t even his covers. Of course, all of this is known. Anunoby has been one of the best defenders in the NBA for some time.
In fact, none of Anunoby’s success in the home opener was new. Anunoby has long been a foundational component of Toronto’s franchise. For a team with a huge amount of positional overlap, there is not a whole lot of skill overlap. Between his defensive chops, shooting accuracy, and at-rim finishing ability, Anunoby is completely unique on the roster. This has been the case for some time. But on a night when Toronto frequently fell behind only to roar back into the game behind its manic defense, Anunoby was the fuel in the engine time and again during the comebacks.
Whether or not he is unhappy with his role in Toronto, he fit seamlessly back into the same role he has performed for multiple seasons now. It is how Anunoby impacts the game the most. As with the other Raptors, Anunoby is able to choose his own adventure on any night. And he chose to fit snugly, letting his teammates dominate the ball as he filled in the gaps. Against the Cavs, Anunoby’s retread adventure still shone brighter than any other.
