Will OG Anunoby's role expand in the 2022-23 Raptors season?

Raptors coach Nick Nurse has encouraged OG Anunoby to bring the ball up in transition and seek out more offence for himself. With that said, what kind of season can we expect from the 24-year old. Full video projecting the season averages of several Raptors is available on our Yahoo Sports Canada YouTube.

Video Transcript

AMIT MANN: OG Anunoby. This is a fun one. The guy that wanted to be traded, then said on media day that, I'm not really sure where that came from. Never expressed that. I just woke up one day and apparently, I wanted to be traded. Never said that. Didn't tell Nick Nurse that I was dissatisfied with my role. None of that happened. It came from someone. I think we all know who.

Anyway, OG last season, 36 minutes, 17 points, 44% from the field. That was a 4% dip based off the last season, or the season prior. 2.6 assists doesn't really matter as much. 36% from 3, 1.5 steals, 0.5 blocks.

Yeah, same amount of 3 point shots for him based off the season prior. But his 2 point percentage went down a little bit naturally as he has some stretches where he was more of the primary option, the beginning of the season. The Svi Mykhailiuks, all that kind of stuff. He was playing with a lot of players that weren't playing at the end of the season, and some of them aren't on the team anymore. So that affected his numbers a little bit, but yes. OG Anunoby, sir. Your thoughts.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: I think, obviously, one thing we saw was the more on-ball reps for him, which probably upticks his assists a little bit. I could see that happening. The other thing I would say is I think we'll probably see a bit of a percentage dip again in terms of field goal percentage, and just percentages in general. Because if he is getting more opportunities to expand his role, there's obviously going to be these trials and tribulations that he goes through where he might struggle one game. He might be successful in another game. Obviously, a lot of people remember that New York Knicks game where he just went ballistic--

AMIT MANN: On Julius Randle. On Julius Randle

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: On Julius Randle. Yes. Absolutely. And that was a huge game for him, and the success and the strides that he's made as a player. So look, there are going to be games like that. And then there are going to be games where he struggles. And I think that's just the growing pains have to go for a player who's still trying to figure out like, how good can he be?

So I think there will be some percentage dip there. I think especially with his attempts probably increasing, that's something I could see for sure. In terms of role and, is he going to be a catch and shoot guy more? Is he going to be more of a pull up guy? Remains to be seen, right?

If the role that he had in the offense last season, and obviously being healthy is going to be a huge part of this, but if the role that he had last season, which was more of a catch and shoot guy, especially when Pascal came back and Scottie started to get into full form, camp out in the corner, be our floor spacer. If that's his role, I think we'll probably expect a similar type of season, maybe a little bit more efficient.

But if he does get more on ball reps, if he is getting more opportunities, which Nick Nurse talked about in media day in training camp, then yes. I could see a percentage dip, but an increase in the points. So it could be a 25 and three season for OG versus a 17, five and 2 and 1/2 season. I could see something like that.

AMIT MANN: Yeah. And that gets back to again, Fred VanVleet, is like, what is his role? Is it truly going to be like a lot of catch and shoot? How much on ball is he going to have? Does OG get some of those reps? Him averaging 20 points per game, which he did for a stretch last season, obviously, he was higher on the totem pole when it comes to the offense and distribution and things of that nature, but that would be a massive accomplishment for him. And even just his catch and shoot percentage returning to around 42%, which is where I think he should be. That's where his sweet spot is. It dipped down to 39%, and he was even lower for a little while. But his thumb, that thing happened. He was playing through injury and his numbers dipped quite a bit there.

But then just when it comes to scoring in the restricted area, 65%, very good. In the paint, non-restricted, that's where it gets tougher. So we're looking at floaters, jump hooks, your footwork in those small margins, and from there he was at 35%. A huge dip in terms of just like a small fraction of the court, and you go down by like nearly 30%.

Elevation there, improving his finishing ability, his confidence down there, like being stronger with the ball, because I find sometimes when he gets there that's when he just loses his strength, right? Around the basket, like, under the rim, he can bully people. We saw it non-stop.

But in those areas, and again we're talking spacing with the Raptors, it's going to help him quite a bit. I did a video about this a couple of months ago when I was just like, what the hell do I talk about? The offseason's here. What do we do? And I looked at how can the Raptors help OG Anunoby improve his game, reach a new ceiling? And that was one of the things that came up obviously, is just like more on ball reps, more time with the second unit along with a few shooters, Thad Chris Boucher, Otto Porter Jr., Precious Achiuwa, and then just letting him cook a little bit. That's your cooking time. That's your window. That five minute stretch beginning of the second quarter.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Take over.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, whatever the case is, show us can do it. And I think that's going to help them actually be a much better team come playoff time too.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah, I agree with you. I absolutely agree with you here. And I think the one thing with OG to keep in mind is he was such a good post player last year.

AMIT MANN: So good.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Samson has written about that a bunch. You guys should go check that out. But he was playmaking through the post. He was obviously bullying in the post a lot. If that's something they want to access more, as him, as this strength-based creator, as this guy who can kind of strongarm people and get into position, if they can leverage that more into easy opportunities for him, then I think it's very clear.

It just, again, it depends if that's something that is an area of focus, and if they want to give him more opportunities as a post player. Because if that's possible, then yes, let's run with it. That's going to be an incredible in an area to double down on. Kind of like I mentioned with Pascal, where it's like, look, the mid-range area was something he was really proficient in last season. Let's double down on those things. And if, for the post play, if OG can do the same, then hey, sky's the limit, man.

AMIT MANN: Exactly. And then you think about, again, if they're going to really expand their offense and we talked about Pascal Siakam's corner 3 point percentage, not bad from there. How about we run some empty corner stuff for OG? Let's see him get some actual space around him to create. And then he can just bully people. He can make those kick passes to the people in the corner. You get the defense moving. That's where we're really talking about. How he can elevate his game and his numbers, is that what is he very good at? He's extremely strong and he can just bulldoze through people. And he's very good at it. And also he can make the right pass and make the right reads in those moments, right?

Pascal Siakam in the corner, he can hit those shots. This is how you help a player reach their ceiling, and improve their numbers. And I think, again, the roles aspect, right? This is how can you get OG there? He's very close. I see in between-- the in-between game, the mid-range, that's one of the hardest areas to score in basketball. I'm sure he's going to keep on working on that. But skewing his percentages more towards 3's and just rim attempts, ball handler in the pick-and-roll, screener in the pick-and-roll, love seeing that. Talked about it with OG, Pascal, Scottie Barnes, more pick-and-roll. It's going to help all of them.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm just excited to see more pick-and-roll with this team in general. Can we just get a little? Because that is the bread and butter of any NBA offense nowadays. Not running it as much as you didn't run it last season, it was going to hurt your halfcourt offense, and obviously there were 26th last year. There's a reason for that. You're not running pick-and-rolls as much. It's going to be hurting your play, right?