O.G. Anunoby spent several seasons as one of the Toronto Raptors’ best play finishers. Any possession that ended with him as the player firing the ball at the rim — whether from deep or at the rim — was about as good as Toronto could muster. Among rotation players, he led the team in effective field goal percentage in 2021-22, was third in 2020-21, and was second in 2019-20.
For much of this year, Anunoby’s efficiency had slipped. He was cold from deep to start the year, finishing November at 33.8 percent on triples. While his driving improved over time in terms of process, the results never reached the level of success that meant it was a benefit to Toronto’s offense. Among rotation players, he has been the seventh-least efficient player shooting out of drives in the league.
Even though he was never elite creating for himself, he could always be counted on to finish plays created by others. For stretches of this season, that wasn’t the case.
That turned around in a big way over the month of March. Anunoby has exploded — not just to the level he’s been at prior, but to a whole new level of success that he’s never touched before. As a result, he’s now above his career average in 3-point percentage on the season.
It’s been a hot streak beyond hot streak. This is obviously an arbitrary series of numbers, and it’s a whole lot of bench marks, but it’s a short list of players who’ve ever been as hot as Anunoby in the same areas as Anunoby. In league history, only 12 players have averaged 18 points and 1.5 steals per game while shooting at least 50 percent from deep (on over 5 attempts per game) and 60 percent from 2-point range over nine games. (The list is also a who’s who of Hall of Famers, including Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Manu Ginobili, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen, and Klay Thompson.) Only really good players ever get this hot! Also: He’s the only player ever to do the above while shooting over 70 percent on 2s. (He’s at 71.4 percent over the last nine.)
Anunoby has certainly been succeeding by returning to his roots of play finishing. Since Feb. 28, he’s been the seventh-hottest shooter in the league. And he’s been the 24th-most efficient player around the rim, too. It’s not just makes; he’s up to 19th in the league in total dunks this year, already the highest total of his career. And those dunks? They’ve recently been audacious expressions of creativity and violence.
So, yes, he’s been finishing plays. But just as impressive is how he’s creating shots for himself — something he hasn’t done for meaningful stretches for a long time. Since Feb. 28, the Raptors have been scoring at least 1.1 points per possession on any possession that features him running a pick and roll or cooking in isolation or posting up. Only Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, De’Aaron Fox, Damian Lillard, and Ben Simmons (!) are at those marks in all three areas on the season. Anunoby has been stretching his legs.
I wrote only a week ago in doubt of that exact possibility:
“The Raptors are likely best served limiting Anunoby as a shooter, second-side driver, and cutter. He has absolutely thrived in his smaller role over the last six games. Yet it offers a ceiling to Anunoby’s game, opening up a chicken-and-the-egg situation: He can’t improve as an initiator until he gets in-game reps, yet he can’t get in-game reps until he improves as an initiator.”
Obviously nine games doesn’t change the long-term outlook for Anunoby. (Even if his season averages have somehow skyrocketed as a result of only a few games.) But perhaps most meaningful is that Anunoby’s usage in those initiation plays is down, not up, during this hot streak. He’s really only running 1-2 picks, isolations, and post-ups per game for the Raptors. Success there is meaningful! But the Raptors aren’t transitioning added responsibility to Anunoby. (That has perhaps allowed the team’s efficiency, when he does run those plays, to remain slightly higher.)
One thing that’s helped enormously, perhaps more than any other single factor, to boost Anunoby’s ability to create for himself? He’s shot 8-of-12 on pull-up jumpers since Feb. 28. Secondarily, he’s also shot 10-of-15 on drives, albeit with a high turnover rate. The pull-up accuracy is especially unsustainable, but the aesthetics of the things matters. He’s on balance and taking his time. He’s not barreling people over but reading the defense and reacting to opponents’ choices. He’s thrown euro-steps, complex gathers, and sustainable footwork at defenders. He’s not just scoring; he’s looking good doing it.
Hot streaks come and go, and it’s important to note that this is a brief streak compared to the amount of time this season he spent playing slightly worse than the year prior. But it’s significant that Anunoby is establishing a basis of success when it comes both to play finishing (of course, that was already well established) and play creation. The Raptors are starting to know what success looks like with Anunoby initiating. That’s valuable because it gives Toronto more options in terms of how to run plays and organize its offense, as well as a feasible path forward for a shared vision between player and franchise for what their future together looks like. But it’s also valuable because outside of the sample size and the numbers, Anunoby is looking different. He’s succeeding on individual plays that in the past gave him trouble. And as a result, he’s never been so involved and so impactful on the offensive end.
