Pascal Siakam's 6.7 assists per-game are by far the most in franchise history for a non-PG.
Previous highs were 5.3 (Siakam last year), 5.2 (DeMar 17-18), 4.8 (Vince 03-04), and 4.5 (Siakam 20-21).
Barnes also on that list with 4.6 right now.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) January 1, 2023
No change to the Raptors’ injury report for tomorrow’s game in Indy. VanVleet and Achiuwa are still questionable, Porter still out, Banton still with the 905.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) January 1, 2023
NBA Power Rankings: Nets stay hot; Luka lifts Mavs; 2023 New Year’s resolutions – The Athletic
21. Toronto Raptors (Previously 17th) | 15-20 | -0.1 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss to Clippers, Loss to Grizzlies, Win over Suns
New Year’s resolution: For the love of Zan Tabak, please make some shots. It still doesn’t make sense that this level of talent is this bad at making shots this season. And they have a good offensive rating, so imagine if their shots fall. They’ll be lighting everybody up. The Raptors just can’t possibly be this bad at making shots with as healthy and talented as they are.
Raptors star Pascal Siakam’s real superpower is his elite conditioning – Yahoo
Siakam ranks second in the league in minutes per game this season with 37 and has ranked in the top-11 in minutes per game for each of the past four seasons, averaging 36.4 minutes per game over that stretch, only third behind guards James Harden and Fred VanVleet. He has also ranked in the top-10 in miles traveled in each of the last four seasons, averaging 2.66 miles per game over that stretch, the second-most in the league behind only VanVleet (2.74).
Combine the minutes played and miles traveled with a usage rate of 28.7 percent over the past four years and an average of 18.2 field goal attempts per game, and it’s hard to imagine a more taxing workload in the league — not to mention the fact that Siakam is doing it on a 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame.
“He can run all day. He’s one of the top guys in the league running and playing,” teammate Fred VanVleet told Yahoo Sports Canada about Siakam. “I think he’s just gifted. He’s just gifted but he works his butt off everyday to put his body through the ringer to go out there and sustain that, not only through a game but through a season, and to still be strong at the end of the year. So he’s been great with that his whole career.”
“I think it’s fair,” Siakam said about VanVleet’s assessment of him being naturally well-conditioned. “I’ve felt like I’ve always had that, and I just want to continue to. I feel like I’m pretty special in terms of that. I can do a lot of things on the floor, and that comes with being in great shape. And it’s something that I try to work on.”
Siakam’s heavy workload does not come in vain. Because while the Raptors are struggling as a whole this season, they have actually been very good with Siakam on the court, but terrible when he sits. The Raptors need every second of time Siakam can give them, because when he sits on the bench for roughly 11 minutes each game, the Raptors completely fall apart.
In 767 minutes without Siakam this season, the Raptors are -5.3 points per 100 possessions. Their offence without him on the floor would rank second-last in the league and their defence would rank fourth-worst. However, in the 961 minutes Siakam has played this season, the Raptors are +3.7 points per 100 possessions, by far the best mark on the team. In that time, their offence would rank second-best in the league behind only the historically good Boston Celtics, while their defence would rank 20th.
In other words, the Raptors go as far as Siakam takes them. And watching his two-way play, it makes sense: Siakam almost always has the ball in his hands, orchestrating the offence as a point-forward who is relentless in his approach, rarely settling for subpar shots. Instead, Siakam hunts mismatches on every possession, taking slower bigs off the dribble and pushing small guards under the basket until a double-team comes. Defensively, Siakam plugs holes for the Raptors chaotic scheme, often switching from being a rim-protector to a perimeter-stopper in the very same possession.
All of that takes a lot of energy and effort. And Siakam’s teammates have taken notice of the one-of-a-kind conditioning he demonstrates in order to do all that on both sides of the ball.
“I don’t know how he does that s***, to be honest,” former Raptors teammate Justin Champagnie said about Siakam. “For someone to do that 40-plus minutes almost damn near every game, it’s tough, you know what I mean?”
Tough love will determine whether Raptors rebound or tank | The Star
He spent much of training camp fighting against them, doing his level best to get them corrected, and now head coach Nick Nurse has taken up VanVleet’s cause.
“I used all my bullets up in training camp. Everybody couldn’t figure out why I was running around like a madman in training camp, cussing everybody out,” VanVleet said Sunday after the Raptors’ morning practice. “I just saw some looseness there … and it came back to bite us, but we’ve got some time to clean it up.”
That “looseness” that VanVleet saw manifested into a disappointing start and a struggle to remain competitive in the bunched-up Eastern Conference.
Nurse saw it, too. He felt it, and has become a bit more forceful than usual in pointing out repeated mistakes. It’s tough love, and it’s hard to pull off in this era of player empowerment in the NBA, where dealing with fragile egos and fighting against outside influences tugging at players takes a delicate balance.
But it has to be done.
“I’ve got plenty (of bullets) this year,” Nurse said Sunday. “I’ve got some saved up from years past. They don’t expire.”
The 28-year-old VanVleet was quite comfortable lighting into teammates when he needed to — his voice should resonate, given his place in the franchise’s hierarchy — but it’s nice to have an ally on the coaching staff, too.
“What would you rather have? Somebody rubbing your shoulders and telling you everything’s going to be OK? No,” VanVleet said. “We’ve got a standard around here that we try to play to, and it’s not even results based. It’s based on performances, and the last couple performances where we just don’t show up to play, that’s unacceptable.
“It looks bad on us as players, it looks bad on coach obviously, and it’s just not what we’re about around here. I’m rocking with coach, whatever he wants to do. I’m standing behind him, and it’s uncomfortable for guys at times.”
It’s not like the Raptors’ season is swirling the toilet bowl, but 16-20 heading into a Monday night game in Indiana is unacceptable. Injuries have been an issue, and the roster is woefully thin on experienced big men or proven three-point shooters, but this group should be better than four games below .500 as the calendar turns.
Everyone connected with the team knows it, and if it takes constant harping and exposing unacceptable play from one of the team’s leaders or its coach, so be it. It will become obvious who can handle criticism and build on it, and who will cower and look for excuses.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bullet to be tough coaching,” Nurse said. “It’s like I said the other night: I will show them things that I don’t think they are doing right, try to correct them, show them improvement areas every day. Every day.”
The tipping point on the season — whether to pack it in and look for major tweaks in the coming off-season — has not yet arrived. The Raptors feel they have the talent and will to become factors, even if they haven’t shown it very often so far.
But they also need to respond to harsh truths, which include the fact that not playing hard every night is a recipe for disaster. That will cost players money in future contracts and surely bring about substantial roster churn, and no one has the appetite for that.
What they need to have an appetite for is listening to leaders such as VanVleet and Nurse when they — harshly — lay out what has to happen.
It’s not easy. It is necessary.
The Raptors will try to ring in 2023 with a win against the Pacers – Raptors HQ
The Raptors are not out of the woods yet, though. Monday night’s game in Indiana will be important, for a few reasons. First, it will determine if their performance on Friday was a one-off, or if the team as currently constructed has some hope of success. Second, it could set the tone for the next important stretch of games.
Now that we’re in 2023, it’s crunch time. The February 9th NBA trade deadline is fast approaching, and the Raptors seem to be a team that has a high chance of making some moves. Knowing the front office, they often like to wait until the last moments to make deals, so we’ll have to wait and see what they are planning.
Beyond that, now is the time that the standings start to separate a little more. Will the Raptors make a push to the playoffs, similar to last season’s late-season run of success? Or will they find themselves in a similar position they were a few years ago, competing for a high draft pick in the lottery?
All of this speculation may be getting ahead of where we currently are, so let’s focus on tonight’s game.
Don’t Underestimate Indiana
The Pacers may have spent the past couple of years being a lottery team, but they’ve bounced back quite well this season. They made a huge trade with the Sacramento Kings that brought Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield onto their team, and it seems to be working out for both sides.
They also used the sixth pick in the 2022 NBA draft to bring Canadian Bennedict Mathurin onto the team. Projected to be more of a 10-12th pick in the draft, Mathurin has been proving that the Pacers were right to pick him that early. He is making his case for a chance to be the 2023 Rookie of the Year, averaging 17.2 points per game.
With a record of 20-17 on the season so far, the Pacers sit in sixth place in the East. Obviously, with the East so close, anything could happen from now until playoff season, but they are making a great run for the playoffs so far.
So, while in recent seasons you may have written off an Indiana game as an easy win, I regret to inform you it will not be like that this time around.
