OG Anunoby's NBA dreams became a reality Thursday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, as the Toronto Raptors drafted the former IU forward with the No. 23 overall in the first round of the 2017 NBA Draft.
"That's a great program for him," former IU head coach Tom Crean said on The Vertical's live stream covering the draft. "(Team President) Masai (Ujiri), (head coach) Dwane Casey, Jerry Stackhouse, that whole group. This gives him a chance to develop, it really does."
According to RealGM, Anunoby's three-year rookie contract will be worth a total of $4.9 million.
With the selection, Anunoby became the 25th first-round pick in Indiana men's basketball program history. Additionally, he's the 75th player in program history to be selected in the NBA Draft.
Anunoby also became the first foreign-born Hoosier (England) to be selected in the NBA Draft since Uwe Blab (Germany) in 1985.
Anunoby logged 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in his second season and final season as a Hoosier, adding 21 blocks and 21 steals defensively. He started in 10 of the 16 games he played in before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Penn State on Jan. 18.
The Jefferson City, Missouri native has made progress in that rehabilitation and is aiming to be ready by November, according to multiple reports, but no timeline has been publicly specified beyond that.
"You can’t put a timeline on when he’s gonna be back," Crean said. "It can’t be a rush with him. He wants to rush, but you can’t have that. There’s got to be a real plan for him. There’s got to be real player development for him. I would bet in both cases, that’s the case in Toronto.”
"Big time athlete," ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said on the network's broadcast. "You mentioned the knee injury, (but) when he's healthy, he's a swiss army knife on defense. He can guard anywhere from a 1 to a 4, really."
Offensively, Draft Express Director of Scouting and The Vertical NBA Draft contributor Mike Schmitz said the first development step will be becoming a "knock-down shooter."
"I think he's shown that he has that for sure," Schmitz said. "When he's on balance, he has time and space, I think the ball comes out of his hand nicely, he has nice touch. But thinking on the fly, being able to make quick reads, being able to find guys on the move, I think that's going to be a progression for him. Especially if he's expected to play on the wing, he's probably going to need to get better there.
"But with his size and length, I think he could play a lot at the 4. I mean, he's almost a modern 4 given how strong he his, the plus-seven wingspan that coach (Crean) talked about. The feel for the game and maybe the ball skills could use some work, but building off that shooting will be key for him."
Draft Express had projected Anunoby to go to the Raptors at No. 23, a slot much slower than some of the lottery projections in the weeks prior to the actual week of the draft.
In his post-draft interview, Anunoby acknowledged the injury affected his draft but remained optimistic.
"Everything happens for a reason," Anunoby told ESPN. "I'm happy to be playing to be playing for the Raptors now."
Anunoby was a late addition to the NBA Draft green room, whose attendees typically receive invitations if there's a strong chance they'll be a first round pick, and wound up being the last player from the green room chosen.
Despite the roller-coaster of emotions, he's relieved.
"A lot of excitement, nervousness," Anunoby said. "But I'm happy."
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