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O.G. Anunoby, Raptors looking forward to facing 'great friend' DeMar DeRozan
"We all looked up to him and he did a good job teaching us."
DeMar DeRozan may have played his last game with the Toronto Raptors in 2018, but his effect on the franchise and its stars is still being felt to this day.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Toronto's play-in game against DeRozan's Chicago Bulls, Raptors forward O.G. Anunoby was asked what kind influence the 14-year veteran has had on his career.
"DeMar was real nice to me. He was a good guy. He's still a great friend of mine. Just a great teammate. We all looked up to him and he did a good job teaching us," Anunoby said.
Anunoby and DeRozan shared the court together in Toronto during the former's rookie season in 2017-18. The 25-year-old admitted on Monday that he learned a lot about how to defend some of the best scorers in the NBA while going up against DeRozan in practice everyday.
"He's a very patient player, and when I came in, I was definitely over-aggressive," Anunoby said. "Just biting on his head fakes and the little tricks he had; I definitely learned from that."
The Raptors have had some success keeping DeRozan quiet this season, holding the 33-year-old to only 14 points per game and 26 field goal attempts over three contests.
Despite this, Anunoby — who led the league in steals per game (1.9) this season — knows he'll have a tall task ahead of him when he lines up across from his friend and former teammate on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena.
"It's definitely difficult because he'll pump-fake 3-4 times, so just be disciplined; keep your hands up, keep your hands out," Anunoby explained. "He's gonna try to get fouls, so just try to force him into the hardest shot possible. If he makes them, it's what he does, so not being mad about that, just move on to the next play."
Raptors guard Fred VanVleet heaped praise on his younger teammate on Monday, making a spirited pitch for Anunoby's candidacy towards the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award.
"Hopefully he gets Defensive Player of the Year, All Defense; he's definitely well deserving of it," VanVleet told reporters. "He's put on a lot of great performances for us anchoring our defence and guarding the other team's best player, so he's more than deserving, for sure."
DeRozan, meanwhile, is as excited as ever to return to his old stomping grounds, and expects the atmosphere to be electric.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll say a joke about it here and there, just how crazy it’s going to be,” DeRozan told The Athletic's Darnell Mayberry. “The atmosphere is going to feel like it’s an Eastern Conference finals game in a play-in game. So it’s definitely going to be crazy. Driving to the arena, walking through the arena, you’re definitely going to feel it. That’s the beauty of that place, those fans. And any competitor would want to be a part of that.”
Toronto will hope to keep its season alive with a win over the visiting Bulls at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday in the franchise's first-ever play-in tournament appearance.
