There was no tournament program with his name, no first name even among the starters at the scorer’s table.
More than a decade later, Tom Crean still blends shock and awe at the first impression of OG Anunoby, then an unknown, lightly recruited three-star prospect, per 247Sports, not inside the nation’s top 200 in the 2015 class.
“We saw him for the first time in Atlanta, at an Under Armour tournament,” Crean told USA TODAY Sports. “We didn’t know his name; wasn’t even in the program.
“We go see the book, it just says ‘Anunoby.’”
Crean remembers thinking, “… we had to find out his name.”
Now, the entire NBA knows the Anunoby name — from rookie-year starter to eventual NBA champion with Toronto to current glue-man for the surging New York Knicks.
Anunoby is coming off a 17-point performance in New York’s upset win at San Antonio on Wednesday, June 3, in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 12th straight postseason win, and will again be an X-factor Friday in Game 2 in San Antonio.
“He’s a product of when the ball is moving at a high level, like New York is doing, he can score, he can finish, he can do all that,” Crean said of Anunoby, one of the 16 NBA pros with contracts totaling more than $1.4 billion to hone their crafts under Crean in college.
“What separates him defensively are these four things: his remarkable intelligence, excellent instincts, he’s a very good anticipator and is always on-balance. He can absorb contact because he’s got great contact-balance.”
Those are all elements Crean remembers lurking near the surface but hardly unlocked during that summer recruitment, featuring Crean’s attendance at every one of Anunoby’s summer-circuit events in an Indiana Hoosiers class to feature three eventual pros: Anunoby, Thomas Bryant and Juwan Morgan.
OG Anunoby #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers dunks the ball during the game against the Delaware State Hornets at Assembly Hall on December 19, 2016 in Bloomington, Indiana.
“He’s from (Jefferson City) Missouri, University of Missouri didn’t even recruit him,” says Crean, a college basketball analyst for ESPN also doing work for NBA Radio. “Once we saw him in Atlanta, and once I saw the film… I was intrigued in person and sold off the film and the phone call we had.
“We went everywhere he was that summer. I personally went to every one of his tournaments.”
Still wistful, Crean knows Anunoby’s Indiana career is a bit paradoxical. There are just 50 career games, injuries robbing 18 from Anunoby’s 2016-17 sophomore campaign, and a mere 10 career starts.
“He has unbelievabe intelligence and basketball intelligence to go with great competitive stamina,” says Crean, remembering his Hoosiers beat out George Mason, Georgia, Iowa and Ole Miss to sign the 6-8, 220-pound Anunoby. “He doesn’t wear down.
“He grew into that with us, but we didn’t get to see the best sides of it. But his freshman year, he really came on in January and was a huge part of why we won the Big Ten championship and went to the Sweet 16.”
Today, Anunoby and Crean still talk.
In the hours Thursday morning after the Knicks’ near wire-to-wire win in the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance this millennium. They swapped phone calls and texts.
Routine, Crean explained.
“Our conversations aren’t always basketball-driven,” Crean says. “I send those guys a lot of stories or articles I read about life. OG is in the top three of people in my life of who if he sees something interesting, he sends it to me. He’s a very introspective, loyal, thoughtful person. Always trying to get better. He does the same for me.
“Then, we might discuss it over text or a call. I always end a call with praying for him, I do that with all these guys (Crean coached and with whom he maintains relationships). Ultimately, that’s what it’s about more about than anything else. Anthony (Edwards) is the same way; we don’t see each other as much but when you talk to them, you pick up right where we left off.
“I love OG and love his family and love how much he loves my family.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: OG Anunoby went from unknown prospect to Knicks NBA Finals X-factor
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