With 6 losses in a row and the Raptors struggling to string together performances – not even game to game, but quarter to quarter – Pascal Siakam has continued to plow ahead as a star. So much of the Raptors success on the court has been tied to his presence there, and it’s because of his all-purpose excellence that enhances everything they like to do. He is one of the ultimate development stories in the NBA. He is without compare. A lot of good things, but his team is still losing games.
Over a third of the way through the season, the Raptors are 13-18. Many teams have turned seasons around, and many will continue to do so, but the current situation for the Raptors is one where they have underperformed significantly. The Raptors continue to juggle above-average offensive performances and above-average defensive performances – horribly. As if they had cognitive dissonance, the moment they turn their attention towards either side, they forget the other exists. They are the baby behind the hands in peek-a-boo, watching their world collapsing and being rebuilt in real time. Surely, they have the capacity to do both? But, they just… aren’t.
“Obviously, winning is the cure of everything.” Siakam said at practice last week, regarding how to change their outlook. “People can hate you or whatever, but it’s like, winning just makes everybody smile and makes everybody be happy. So, that’s natural. And it’s the easiest thing to do. I think the harder thing is trying to have a positive outlook on things when they’re not going right. Cause, again, there’s nothing you can do to change it.”
He was all smiles and shrugs, as he often is. Never too high or too low. Siakam often preaches process above all else, and his is typically elite.
“Whatever, however you act is not gonna change the outcome of what’s already happened.”
Pascal Siakam
The playmaking numbers have dipped just a bit recently, but that’s not the result of less shots created. It’s a byproduct of the Raptors extremely poor shooting from the outside, where they are last in the NBA. In spite of all of that, he remains one of the league’s premier playmakers. Cleaning the Glass organizes players under 5 roles (Big, Forward, Wing, Combo, Point) based on their statistical profiles. Among forwards, Siakam is number two in assist-percentage. Second only to Giannis Antetokounmpo. He has a higher assist-percentage than anyone not-named Nikola Jokic among bigs, and were he classified as a wing, he would be first. He is one of the NBA’s truly elite players in the middle of the floor, and his playmaking is a huge factor in that.
While Siakam has struggled a smidge at scoring in the in-between realm the past couple games, it’s that toolkit that makes him so hard to game plan for – and we saw it bounce back in a big way vs. the 76ers. Teams are inclined to allow room to operate in the mid-range, and that’s because they like to incentivize less efficient shots. With Siakam, he shoots well enough from these areas of the court, hardly turns the ball over despite all the traffic, and will playmake extremely well from these positions. 70-percent at the rim, 46-percent in the short mid-range, and 35-percent in the long mid-range; with hardly any of these buckets coming in the assisted variety. It’s hard to become comfortable in that part of the floor, but Siakam has stretched his legs there and it makes him well-equipped to grind out offensive possessions. “Go get us something” is a core tenet of the Raptors offense, and Siakam is the best at enacting it by far.
This is why the Raptors halfcourt offense goes from worst in the NBA, to a middle of the pack team when he steps on the floor. He has a profound, and positive impact on what they do. Few players in the NBA have as large a swing in points per play as he does. Even in transition, their most desired state, they are significantly better with him on the floor. Basically, the rule is this: put Siakam on the floor, have good things happen, win your minutes.
With Siakam on the floor? The Raptors shoot significantly better from everywhere on the court. Not a few spots here or there – everywhere. If it has been identified by the NBA as a location on the court, the Raptors are watching that spot improve when Siakam is handling the ball, making decisions, or roaming off of it as a cutter or shooter.
This is why his efficiency numbers can’t be compared across the board to other stars – well, they can, but the context is important. Being a shot-creating forward or wing isn’t always about efficiency in scoring numbers, but rather how you bend the floor for your teammates. And furthermore, how often your teammates bend it for you. How difficult are your shots? What recourse do your coach and teammates provide for you to get easy looks? And in Siakam’s case, have you proven that you can be hyper-efficient when you have great creators alongside you? Yes, to that last one. Few players of Siakam’s size have his skillset. The few that have his skillset? They don’t playmake and minimize turnovers like he does. We don’t have to hyper-fixate on true shooting or anything like that when you can watch him command the offense to success, and then identify the overwhelming correlation in the numbers.
Even in playstyle, you have to admit that Siakam has adapted to his roster. How many assists can he realistically get if he’s not generating wide-open threes or layups at the rim? His team has hardly any presence on the roster in the form of pump-fake drive guys (think Donovan Mitchell at the top end, Norman Powell as a step below that etc.), so little advantages yield… nothing. Siakam creates big advantages, and his game, his efficiency eats the back-end of that process. Probing from the middle with teams locked into you can create many different playmaking looks, but it can also leave you in the middle of the floor to hit the difficult shots. As stated above, Siakam does so at a very respectable clip, but you have to look at the surrounding info and what his presence is correlated with to get the full picture.
Defensively, he is the Raptors ultimate problem-solver at the back end of things. He’s certainly not as good as O.G. Anunoby, who can be launched at many different players and gums up primary actions with the best in the league; but, Siakam continues to be the man who takes account of where rotations are and aren’t being made. Floating into lanes, shooting the gap for closeouts, and yes, still making time to switch out on the stars of the league, Siakam is somehow managing to provide a lot defensively while providing even more on offense.
And truthfully, maybe the defense should be considered the most impressive given what we know. It’s been bad. The point of attack defense has faltered tremendously, rotation is asked of everyone, and still on many occasions it’s their star — among the crumbling infrastructure — trying to rebuild it. It’s no secret that the Raptors ask a lot from their forwards/wings/6’9″ guys defensively; guard the rim, close out possessions on the glass, rotate from corner to corner, step up on a switch – you get it. Siakam continues to demonstrate the way to move and act for his fellow vision 6’9″-ers, even as things fail around him.
Unfortunately, the defense continues to dictate what happens for the team as a whole. So, it’s not just one side of the floor where things fail around Siakam, but everything. He’s as good as ever, truly. Maybe one of the best to ever do it in a Raptors jersey. But, these things aren’t catalogued as prolifically, or with as much care when the team isn’t good alongside you.
Let’s hope the team catches up. Whether that’s through a renewed commitment, or through new players.
Have a blessed day.
