Unblievable: Top 3 Ultimate  Raptors players that are outstanding this year.

Pascal Siakam

The past year has been one to remember for Pascal Siakam. From high preseason expectations to an electric start, a well-deserved All-Star appearance after being snubbed, and his own… McFlurry? A cameo for McDonald’s Canada is further evidence that Siakam is the royalty of the Raptors, a guy that has once again proved his worth as a former 27th pick out of New Mexico State.

Evaluating Siakam’s season in just one article is extremely difficult. There are so many factors that make him so dominant on the court, and it’s almost unfair to constrain his season into one write-up. That said, let’s review 2022–23 for Toronto’s primary option.

Before the season, expectations of Siakam were sky-high. In 2021–22, he was back to his 2019–20 best: averaging 22.8 points with 8.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists. The next step was to cement himself as a bonafide number one option.

O.G. Anunoby

If anyone is the epitome of what a Toronto Raptors player is, it’s O.G. Anunoby.

When referring to Anunoby, I always reference possibly my best coinage of metaphor ever. He is a living raptor dinosaur. Always prowling, like the collective noun ‘Raptors’ on the front of his jersey. Except for being one single human being, Anunoby is like a kettle of raptors — hunting for their prey together. Anunoby’s defense has always been elite, and maybe now just All-Defense level.

At the start of the season, Anunoby’s preseason goals were to stay healthy (he only featured in 48 games the season prior) and to become more efficient on offense, returning to his usual self. The 2021–22 campaign saw a dip in his shooting, he was 44% from the field on a career average of 47%, and a 36% from 3 mark which was the second-worst in his five NBA seasons (33% as a sophomore). Health-wise, Anunoby did deal with some wrist issues, but played in 67 of a possible 83 games. You take that.

His offense didn’t start smoothly to open the season, and Anunoby shot 35% from deep, but his 2-point finishing was better. Despite troubles from behind the arc, he was shooting an above-career-average 47.1% from the floor.

It did improve, and from December onwards Anunoby has been a 40 percent 3-point shooter over the four-month period.

Sure, Anunoby’s shot creation has never been ideal. About half of his shots this season are from the catch, with no dribbles. Interestingly enough, the second most frequent shot is when Anunoby takes 3-to-6 dribbles, making close to 43% of his attempts. When the British forward takes more than seven dribbles, his shots are successful only 37% of the time.

Gary Trent Jr.

An unpredictable season that sums up the Toronto Raptors season.

On a contract year, sometimes the best thing to do is just play your role.

Gary Trent Jr.’s role has been inconsistent. He’s been a regular starter, received public grilling from his Head Coach (which Trent Jr. apparently didn’t know was an issue), was benched after a mid-season trade and then concluded the season with a disappointing Play-In game as the bench’s leader. His season was as unpredictable as the Raptors. He didn’t once (publicly, at least) groan about his incalculable function in the roster.

Last season was a step up for Trent Jr. He went through his first training camp north of the border after being traded from the Portland Trail Blazers for Norman Powell in the infamous ‘Tampa Tank’ season. His growth was immense and he flew under the radar as the Raptors bounced back after a depressing 27 wins, winning 48 games and were first-round playoff exit. The shot was there (and always has been), but the most impressive aspect of his game was his hungry… well, starving… defensive effort. His pure endeavor to fight in every play was exactly what Head Coach Nick Nurse wanted, and he swiped 122 steals last season (4th in the NBA). This season he stole the ball 104 times (9th), and his growing defense was the unfortunate catalyst for his downfall and demotion to the bench. It was tough to match how gritty he was on the defensive side of the game, and Nurse was publicly unhappy with Trent’s 1.4 steals per game, compared to 1.7 per night a year prior. In addition to the steals, he was deflecting the ball less. In 2021–22, he had 3.4 deflections per game (5th), and this season the figure stood at 2.7 (15th). “It’s disappointing. We’d like to get him a lot more aggressive on defense this year,” Nurse said (via TSN’s Josh Lewenberg). “I would say that’s been a, well, I don’t know what the word is — it’s been a little bit of a negative. He’s capable of really getting after the ball and getting his hands on the ball a lot, and that’s what we want him to do.