Watch this man: OG Anunoby is making up for lost time

OG Anunoby missed the Raptors championship run but he’s hitting shots, playing swarming defense and making up for lost time.

OG Anunoby received his championship ring on opening night. The crowd was buzzing to celebrate the team climbing to the top of the mountain. A true Cinderella story that still had the air of defiance as the Raptors prepared to start their season without the player that led them to that title.

Anunoby should have played an important part in that championship run. But like so many other parts of his career, his body threw him a curveball.

A few days before the Raptors opened their playoff series against the Orlando Magic, Anunoby was ruled out after an emergency appendectomy. There was hope he would return. But by the time he might have gotten back, the Raptors were already knee-deep into their second-round series and there was little time to re-integrate him into the rotation. Especially with how well Norman Powell was playing.

That has been how Anunoby’s early career has gone. He entered the draft after two seasons at Indiana after he injured his right knee. That caused him to slip from a lottery-level pick to the Raptors at No. 23.

His basketball career to this point has been missed opportunities.

With Leonard vacating his spot in the starting lineup, Anunoby had a chance this year. Pascal Siakam would have to take on the bigger scoring load Leonard left vacant. For the Raptors to maintain their swarming defense, they needed Anunoby and his 7-foot-2 wingspan (the second-longest among wing players measured at the 2017 Draft Combine).

In other words, this is his chance. There is nothing to stop him and Anunoby is going to take advantage.

Anunoby fits the ideal for the Raptors perfectly. His size and wingspan allow him to switch onto every player. He uses that long wingspan to disrupt plays. Then he flies to the rim, cutting into open space and finishing with force. Leave him open for 3 and he will hit it.

This is who the Raptors are. Constantly swarming defensively and forcing turnovers. Every mistake turned into a fast-break basket, where the Raptors lead the league in fast-break points by almost 0.5 points per game.

With the Raptors’ cavalcade of homegrown lengthy wings, Anunoby can still blend into the scenery. He is a perfect cog in the Raptors’ machine. The kind of guy the Raptors seem to pluck late in the draft and make the most of. The Raptors have a lot of those guys — Norman Powell and now even undrafted rookie Terrence Davis.

Anunoby is one of many. But he might also be the best of many. The one with the most versatile skills. He is the one who has taken the most significant step up in his game at a time when the Raptors are trying to reset their identity after losing Kawhi Leonard.

The Raptors are a stellar defensive team anyway. But with Anunoby playing largely with the starters, the team has a 101.3 defensive rating with Anunoby on the floor and a +10.4 net rating. Anunoby has certainly benefited from playing with the Raptors’ elite starting unit.

That has also caused him to fade into the background offensively.

It is still difficult for Anunoby to get too many touches or notice. The third-year forward’s usage rate still is below 20 percent. The Raptors still use Anunoby offensively as the fourth or even fifth option at times. Most of his shots from the outside come from spot-up opportunities — 74 of his 165 field goal attempts are spot-up opportunities according to NBA.com’s stats database.

The breakthrough in his game is in his 3-point shooting. He has taken those chances and has become a real weapon for the Raptors. Another place where he fits in perfectly.

Anunoby has turned himself into a reliable 3-point shooter, jumping from 33.2 percent last year to 42.7 percent overall through Saturday’s games. The growth of his game — and even his physical profile — mirrors the Raptors’ great project in Pascal Siakam.

Anunoby probably will not need to reach that level. The Raptors probably do not need that. Their project post-Leonard is to stay the team they were. This Raptors team resembles last year’s team in so many ways. But that only works when the role players commit defensively and hit shots from the outside.

Anunoby was not a part of that team last year in the playoffs. If anyone on this team can keep the Raptors hungry it is Anunoby. Not that the Raptors need that. Everyone has seemingly stepped up and taken defending their championship seriously. They were not rolling over.

Anunoby is there as a big part of it. Helping the Raptors stake their place defensively and feed their offense. Anunoby is still on the quiet side. He blends into the team, fitting perfectly within them. But it is this ability to fit exactly what the Raptors need that makes him worth plenty of notice.