Swingin’ Wings: OG Anunoby wins our hearts with scarfs

The 2019-20 Raptors are not only defending their championship, they’re also replacing two starters at key positions on the wing. Each week on Swingin’ Wings, we’ll be tracking the progress of those possible replacements.

January 29-February 4

The NBA Trade Deadline is tomorrow, and as you might expect, much of the NBA discourse this week is about off-the-court stuff, rather than actual games. It’s no different here in Raptorland... except it’s totally different! Because our off-the-court noise is all about our top executive, Masai Ujiri (which isn’t the point of this column) and scarfs (which is, as of now, totally the point of this column).

OG Anunoby is a wing player, and he turned fashion icon Serge Ibaka on to scarfs. These are the facts.

Oh, and just to confirm:

Who did What?

If we must discuss what actually happened on the floor... hey, the Raptors are on an 11-game win streak, and as such, went 3-0 last week. Pretty good!

However awesome his appearance on “Avec Classe,” OG Anunoby was kinda meh on the floor, averaging six and four over the three games. But what about scarfs?

Norman Powell was fantastic against Cleveland, with a late dunk, steal and three to help seal the win. Then he went out and got hurt in Detroit, because Dwane Casey has placed a hex on that building.

Fred VanVleet started all three games at the two, and although he was pretty terrible against the Cavs, he was impressive in the next two, averaging 14 points, 8.5 assist and six boards while shooting .545 from the floor.

The Masked Man Patrick McCaw came off the bench all three games, and somehow managed not to shoot the ball even one time against Detroit, in 22 minutes. He was fairly aggressive against the Bulls, though, which was nice to see, and needed, with Powell out.

The guy who really stepped up in Powell’s absence was Terence Davis, who recorded a career high 31 points on 12-of-15 shooting against Chicago, in 28 minutes. This came just two nights after he played a mere seven minutes and did not score against Cleveland.

Matt Thomas got some non-garbage time minutes against the Bulls... and then some actual garbage time minutes against the Bulls. We saw him score off the bounce which was cool to see, and he ended up with seven points in 18 minutes.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson missed all three games with his sprained ankle, and Stanley Johnson and Malcom Miller were relegated to a few garbage time minutes.

Wing Stat of the Week: .857

That’s what our guy Terence Davis shot from downtown against Chicago. 6-for-7! For an undrafted rookie! Just ridiculous.

Wing Highlight of the Week

I wrote about this in the five thoughts on Saturday, but, it’s always fun to watch our guys dunk on Andre Drummond, so let’s watch Norm cock the joint back and bang it on ‘em, shall we?

Get well soon Norm!

What are the Wings Saying?

Terence Davis on his hot shooting:

I was just shootin’, man. The ball was going in, so I kept shooting.

Indeed! More Davis, on his Rising Stars “snub”:

I’d rather be in the playoffs. Not saying I wouldn’t want to play in the game, because it’s a pretty special event. But I’d rather play in the playoffs.

How can you not love this guy?

What’s Coach Saying?

Nick Nurse on Terence Davis’ big night:

I always think of the games that I play him about six minutes, and wonder what the hell I’m doing. That’s the first thing I think when he’s playing like that.

And on Davis’ development:

He’s got a shooting component that’s high level, and you see it on a night like tonight. And that’s usually the toughest component to get in this league right? Lots of other areas of the game that he can improve on, and will improve on, as we continue on here.

Wingman of the Week: OG Anunoby

What about scarfs? It’s OG Anunoby, man, come on.

OG typically seems like a quiet guy, but it’s very clear from the way he’s needling Serge throughout this whole video, he’s got a wicked sense of humour. I’ve watched this thing like 10 times and every time I find something new to laugh at.