I get a perverse sort of satisfaction when a young player whose team’s entire fabase claimed was going to be really good turns out to be… not so good. Don’t feel like I’m hating on Raptors fans in particular; every single fanbase does this, with it happening more or happening less based on how many young players they have.
In this case, I don’t think we ever heard the end of it about OG Anunoby. How good he was going to be, what a smart player he was, what a steal he was, Masai does it again, how does he keep getting away with it, just on and on. People were conditioned to expect a big leap from him, a player getting so much hype surely should be a two-way monster who will only get better, right?
Wrong. Well, half-wrong. He’s still a good two-way player, definitely playable, but I’m not seeing much improvement over last year. If any. And that’s fine, really. Young players don’t always get better at a linear rate. Things take time, and that’s seemingly what the Raptors have right now. They can win (sometimes) without Kawhi, with Anunoby playing decent minutes starting or off the bench.
Raptors fans, if you’re still feeling a little hurt, feel free to make fun of me for thinking D.J. Wilson would ever be good.