When you look back through the history of the NBA, we often talk about the star(s) that carried their teams to postseason success. In recent history, this talk revolves around Curry, Durant, LeBron, Dirk, The Big Three in San Antonio, Kobe, The Big Four in Boston, Wade, Shaq, etc.

But what doesn’t get mentioned often enough is that glue guy on the wing that keeps everything - and everyone - together. For me, a glue guy on the wing needs to have a majority or all of these attributes:

• Doesn’t need the ball - doesn’t demand touches
• Good at cutting and moving off-ball
• Knocks down his open threes more often than not. Almost always catch and shoot
• Decisive with the ball. Either catch and shoot or catch and pass - either or immediately
• Competent to lockdown defender - no matter what he usually guards the other teams best wing or guard
• High energy
• Physically strong
• Usually not vocal
• Truly understands and accepts his role on the team
• The casual fans won’t talk about him, but he is so crucial to your teams' success
• Every once and awhile he’ll have a big scoring night out of nowhere

You look up and down through the seeding of this years’ playoffs and you can find the glue guy on each roster:

Boston: Jaylen Brown (21-years-old) *With Boston injuries as they are, however, he’s surpassed the glue-guy role*

Philadelphia: Robert Covington (27-years-old)

Cleveland: Jeff Green (31-years-old)

Indiana: Bojan Bogdanovic (29-years-old)

Miami: Josh Richardson (24-years-old)

Milwaukee: Tony Snell (26-years-old)

Washington: Kelly Oubre Jr. (22-years-old)

Houston: Gerald Green (32-years-old)

Golden State: Andre Iguodala (34-years-old)

Trail Blazers: Maurice Harkless (24-years-old)

OKC: Corey Brewer (32-years-old)

Utah: Jae Crowder (27-years-old)

New Orleans: Darius Miller (28-years-old)

San Antonio: Danny Green (30-years-old)

Minnesota: Taj Gibson (32-years-old)

As you can see, these “glue-guys” come in all different shapes and sizes, and live in various homes within the 3-and-D spectrum. Bojan, for example, is quite close to the pure three-point side, whereas Jeff Green is quite close to the pure D side.

But what about Toronto? I’m sure you’ve guessed it, but our glue guy on the wing is undoubtedly OG Anunoby. At only 20-years-old, the 23rd-pick of the last offseason has become the crucial, often underappreciated cog in the Raptors machine.

The roles’ of glue-guys change depending on the surrounding talent. A guy who would be a great glue guy on a championship team may look overwhelmed on a lottery team, where the scheme asks him to perform outside of his current comfort zone and ability. It’s safe to say that OG has found a perfect role as a starter on the #1 team in the East.

Rating guys based on what their role would be on a championship is actually a really good way of rating players in general.

What Does OG Do For Toronto?

As mentioned in my list of, “needs for a glue guy”, OG fits every single one. When I crafted the list I obviously made it with OG in mind, but he fits the mold of almost every other glue guy on that list of players.

The crucial difference is that OG is just 20-years-old. Why, and how does this seemingly raw prospect fit so well into the Raptors’ scheme?

Well, like any glue guy, he finds a way. Lowry, VanVleet, Wright, and DeRozan tend to dominate ball-handling duties while they’re on the floor - as they should. If you were to slot a “better” small forward in OG’s role, the team may look better on paper, but with a bigger name comes a hungrier mouth to feed.

The NBA is an ego-driven league, which isn’t a bad thing (for fans); it’s what can make the games so entertaining. But we’ve all seen that “super-team” falter and pay the price against teams that play the game with all 5 members engaged and playing unselfishly.

Getting “upgrade X” sounds nice, but now you'll have another guy who has an agenda; touches, stats, personal expectations, etc.

So why is OG so direly important to Toronto’s success?

Well, in his debut as a starter against Houston early this year, he held Harden to 8 of 25 shooting in a huge Raptor win on the road. If that isn’t baptism by fire, I don’t know what is, and OG never looked back.

OG plays the game with an unselfish, defense-first mentality; the perfect disciple for Dwane Casey and his staff.

Kyle and DeMar can operate without having to think about getting OG his touches, because OG embodies the mindset that he needs to earn them by making smart cuts, knocking down his jumpers and playing pestering defense. His defense is so good that it can make up for a lot of the Raptors mistakes. He switches perfectly, he fights through well when he needs to, and he's always active with his hands and feet.

So far, through three games, OG has been all that and more.

He’s averaging 11/2.7/0.7 with 0.7 blocks and steals per game, respectively. More importantly, he’s shooting with a supreme slash line of 64.7/55.6/85.7. As mentioned, those numbers are accompanied by his hyperactive defense and a series of deadly, secretive backdoor cuts that have caught a handful of Wizards’ defenders with their heads directed towards the ball-handler.

If you’re a ball-dominant guard like Kyle and DeMar, is OG not the perfect small forward you’d love to play with?

Going forward, closing out this series will be a challenge. The Wizards got their legs underneath them in game 3, and their home-court advantage proved to be a huge factor. OG has been doing his part, but it’ll need to continue to be a team effort to bring the series back to the ACC 3-1 (hopefully a return from Freddy will help).

I can’t stop obsessing about OG, though. He’s just the perfect guy to slot into a roster already loaded with talent.

Like every glue guy, he won’t make a bad team good, but he’ll surely help a good team be great. This is exactly what the Raptors needed this season.