How O.G. Anunoby would fit on the New York Knicks

Amit Mann and Alex Wolfe discuss how Raptors forward O.G. Anunoby would fit alongside Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and others on the New York Knicks. Listen to the full episode on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed or watch on YouTube.

Video Transcript

ALEX WOLFE: I guess, what do you think? I've said like three times now-- and I said this on my podcast the other day too when I was doing my own research. Like, I don't necessarily think that he's primed to become some, like, untapped gem of a offensive player. You know what I mean? Like, in terms of-- I use Brunson as an example on my pod, right? Brunson--

AMIT MANN: Right.

ALEX WOLFE: --played off Luka for so long. And then you got this glimpse last postseason into, like, what it would look like if he was the guy running the show. And--

AMIT MANN: Right.

ALEX WOLFE: --that was enough to be like, oh, man. I think-- I think there's something here. Like, he might be able to run a team and be the primary, you know, on a team and be one of the primary scorers. OG-- I look at the numbers. And I'm just like, I feel like he wants to be that guy, like he wants to be the breakout candidate. But looking at the numbers, his self-creation numbers are not high. The shots that he does self-create-- the most are the mid-range, and he's actually quite bad at them if you just look at purely the percentages.

He may be good at creating the looks but not good at making them. He's, like, I think, 30th percentile or something among wings as far as percentages there. So if you look at that, what do you think? Do you think that he's primed for that sort of breakout? Or do you think that he's probably better off just eventually settling into, like, being a super role player on offense and being, like, the best defender on a team?

AMIT MANN: I think there is upside to him being more than 3-and-D player. I'll put it that way. He's shown it a few times when Pascal Siakam was injured. He would come in, and he was averaging like, you know, 20 points. He was getting some assists. He was getting like, you know, five rebounds. And it was on a decent percentage-- like 45%, 47%, 48%. The Raptors and just their offense in general has been so clunky for so long.

It's been better lately. To their credit, they've changed some things up. But in the end, I don't think he was in advantageous positions to really explore his offense in a system that really promotes like ball movement and just good offense-- offensive process. At the same time, though, he doesn't have too many counters. And that's a problem for him. But when it comes to just attacking closeouts and creating off the dribble, he can do it, right? And he's shown, again, the glimpses that he can do it at a decent clip.

It's just, like, the ball handling isn't there yet. I think-- in the end, I think he can get to being, like, a number three option on a championship team. I think that's possible. But number two-- I don't know. I think-- I saw the example here in Toronto. Pascal Siakam was number two to Kawhi Leonard, and Pascal is trying to be, like, the Kawhi Leonard. But I'm not sure if OG necessarily is already there to be like a Pascal Siakam type on a championship team.

I just don't know if he has the tools. And he still has-- he's a bit awkward offensively. And I think that is a bit of a problem for him. But, certainly, there's a nose for the ball. There's good instincts. He's a good playmaker. He's willing to make that extra pass. And if you just put him in positions to be successful, I think he could actually be-- there's a lot of upside to him being a really good offensive player-- a consistent 20-points-per-game player but maybe not like a 25 if you get what I'm saying.

ALEX WOLFE: Yeah. It's actually really great. I love how you just described that because it sounds so similar to how we describe Quentin Grimes as far as his offensive skillset. We say all of the-- we've said consistently on our pod, like, he's not a 3-and-D in the traditional sense of a 3-and-D. Yes, he can shoot threes, and he can play defense. But he does have a really good ability to attack closeouts. And he's a very good passer and stuff like that.

So if that's the type of player that OG is, again, I would love to have that type of player. I just hope that he sees himself as that type of player, [INAUDIBLE] necessarily thinking, like, no, I need to go to my next stop and, like, become LeBron or, you know, whoever-- Donovan Mitchell or something, let's say, even. Let's set the bar a little lower, you know? I want to be like the guy that's scoring the ball all of the time.

That would be my main hope-- would be that he wouldn't. And, you know, you want guys have self confidence and whatever. But I think there's certain times that's to a fault. I just worry with-- if there is like a trade demand right now, that that's sort of his motivation-- of, like, well, I want to get out of here so I can, like, blossom. And I'm like, I kind of just love the player he is right now. I'd be pretty cool with that.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.