Norman Powell becoming a leader for Raptors' bench unit

Powell has become a leader for the Raptors' second unit, Nurse was impressed by the 'jumbo lineup,' and Anunoby is getting chance to develop offensively

Toronto Raptors' practice has been pretty business as usual inside the NBA's Walt Disney World Bubble. While there are certainly some new things the team is doing to prepare for the NBA's restart, the team isn't really planning for any anomalies when the post-season rolls around.

"I think we're looking at approaching it just like we would any other playoffs," Raptors guard Norman Powell said. "I'm not really focused or worried by injuries and things like that. You really can't focus on things that you really can't control, all you can do is go out there and lay it on the line and give your all to your team."

Practices have been intense, by all accounts, with the second unit working hard to push the starters for playing time.

"I just think we have a very hungry group of individuals that wants to go out there and prove themselves," Powell said of the Raptors' bench unit. "We want to be able to go out there and make sure that the coaches and the starting unit know that we're not going to have no dip off in performance or intensity."

Powell is no stranger to this position. Now in his fifth year with the Raptors, he knows what it's like to come off the bench and contribute for a team in those crucial minutes when the starters need a breather. For the younger guys at the back end of the rotation, he's been an important voice pushing them to show the coaches that they deserve more playing time.

"I've definitely taken a more vocal approach to in talking to them," Powell said. "Especially yesterday in practice, telling them that we've got to go at these guys because we want their spot, they're in the position that we want to be in, so we're not going to take it easy on them in these drills, we're not going to let them feel like they can just do whatever they want to take it easy and just go through the motions, we're going to go out and we're going to compete and show them that we're here."

On the court, this season has been a major growth year for Powell. He's seen his True Shooting percentage jump to 62.9%, the sixth-best in the NBA for guards, per NBA stats, and his Offensive Net Rating has jumped by five points, to 110.7, the fifth-highest on the team. It's come all while he's been asked to take on a bigger role, with his usage rate increasing and his minutes per game jumping ten minutes since last year.

That growth this season earned him recognition on Sports Illustrated's Most Underrated Players list earlier this week.

"Powell is more than a solid third guard," SI's Michael Shapiro wrote. "He’s a key to Toronto’s Finals hopes."

Fortunately for the Raptors, Powell has looked "locked-in," according to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. And while the Raptors aren't planning for any health issues in this strange year, Powell could be the difference in a deep playoff run or an early exit if the Raptors are forced to weather a storm of injuries when the season returns next month.

Jumbo Lineup:

Raptors coach Nick Nurse has toyed around with the idea of a 'jumbo lineup' with one of either Kyle Lowry or Fred VanVleet on the floor alongside OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol.

It's a lineup that didn't play very much this season, but one Nurse was impressed with it in limited action.

"Defensively, right away it was awesome," Nurse said. "That the size can handle the speed, the quickness, you know, that kind of stuff, the shooting. Usually, when you're too big you can't keep up, or you can't get back, or you can't guard all the pick and roll actions, or whatever, but it didn't, that's the one nice thing about some of our size and length, from OG to Pascal to Rondae, these guys can go out, move their feet and guard a good majority of the perimeter players. So there's the plus. I don't know what the drawback is."

Nurse did say that there are probably some guys who are a little bit less comfortable playing with such big guys around them, but he'd like to get Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby more acquainted with some of the two-man action they could run in a bigger lineup.

Anunoby's development:

While OG Anunoby has certainly turned into a bonafide defensive stud and one of the league's most intriguing 3-and-D players this season, there is still some concern about his offensive game when the playoffs start.

He's still mostly a transition and catch-and-shoot threat for the Raptors, with the majority of his shots coming without putting the ball on the ground, per NBA stats. And while his 38% 3-point stroke this season should scare most opposing defenses, it's possible teams decide to sag off him, opting to help on some of the Raptors' more consistent and skilled offensive weapons.

For Nurse, that consistency is something he's hoping to work on with Anunoby as the Raptors head toward the playoffs.

"It's like all the guys you've seen kind of grow offensively over the years as Raptors and how do they grow? They grow with repetition and chances to do it," Nurse said. "We certainly try to get him some freedom, similar to him to Pascal a couple of years ago, where we'd like OG to bring it up the floor some and try to attack in transition and make plays. It just gives him a chance to see the floor, see the offense, move around, get it to the rim, work on the timing of what it looks like in a pick and roll, see the roller, see the weak side pass, et cetera. [It] just makes for a better basketball player and develops the scoring ability. Yeah, we try to try to encourage that a lot in the practices and these early games we'll try to do as well."