Everything Pascal Siakam

[Puffer]

"And according to Nurse, the best is yet to come for the athletic forward who won last season’s most improved player award.
“I say it all the time, with Pascal, he shoots the ball pretty well. But he’s still 18 months or 24 months away from being really good,” Nurse said.”

And he has five months left in this season (excluding the playoffs) to get better based on additional experience. I wonder what his production will be like in the playoffs this year. Looking forward to finding out.

[golden]

"SCHOENE found the typical peak to be about 25-27, and I know of at least one other study that found 28 to be the "peak". General consensus is that a player's PRIME is about 25-28, which seems reasonable; most players best seasons will be one of those four."

Considering Pascal's late start, plus his lower weight (less wear and tear on the lower body joints and ligaments) I would definitely agree his peak is likely to be at the older end of that spectrum. Given that experience is a huge factor and more reps allow a player to play "smarter" I wouldn't be surprised if 28/29 is when he reaches his prime. He could continue playing at a high level for another couple of years after that, maybe starting to decline 31/32.

Exciting times.

Yep. Pascal is about 1 year away from being 1 year away....

And according to Nurse, the best is yet to come for the athletic forward who won last season’s most improved player award.

“I say it all the time, with Pascal, he shoots the ball pretty well. But he’s still 18 months or 24 months away from being really good,” Nurse said. “There’s some years that go into it ... you guys have seen a lot of guys that have come into this league and all of a sudden they’re 30 years old and they’re unbelievable.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...-at-early-age/

[Puffer]

Siakam will likely won't begin to peak for another year or two considering how late he started playing. It doesn't seem like it but this is only his 4th year in the league.

"SCHOENE found the typical peak to be about 25-27, and I know of at least one other study that found 28 to be the "peak". General consensus is that a player's PRIME is about 25-28, which seems reasonable; most players best seasons will be one of those four."

Considering Pascal's late start, plus his lower weight (less wear and tear on the lower body joints and ligaments) I would definitely agree his peak is likely to be at the older end of that spectrum. Given that experience is a huge factor and more reps allow a player to play "smarter" I wouldn't be surprised if 28/29 is when he reaches his prime. He could continue playing at a high level for another couple of years after that, maybe starting to decline 31/32.

Exciting times.

[LJ2]

One thing i was hoping we would see from pascal this was a pull up jumper off the dribble. He seems to be hitting them at a pretty good rate. theres a couple time this season where he come down the court and gets that shot off he looks like durant. I know some just want to see him post up but that jumper is going to a big step in his game. If the defense has to worry about him pulling up for a jumper and driving the lane then their in trouble. If you have a guy his size coming at you and your not sure if he's going to pull up in your face or hit the burners and drive on you, it's almost impossible to guard. All in all really happy with what we have seen from pascal thus far

Siakam will likely won't begin to peak for another year or two considering how late he started playing. It doesn't seem like it but this is only his 4th year in the league.

[Maury]

DeMar definitely had the physical tools and the work ethic to be a much more complete player, but we built around his flaws instead of forcing him to improve them at an early age. Those habits are too deeply ingrained now that even the vaunted Popovich can't change them.

I still believe that if he weren't traded in Nurse's first year, although we wouldn't have won the chip, he would have been vastly improved. Nurse planned on making him guard the other team's best player, something I was advocating for before he was traded. He probably would have continued to launch threes and just gotten better at it. He would still have a ceiling and I'm not sure how it would have worked out in the playoffs, especially with Lebron gone, but I think he would have been better than when he played for Casey.

It's ok though, I'll take a championship.

[golden]

Hes clearly a different tier of player than peak DeRozan. And hes not a finished product.

DeMar definitely had the physical tools and the work ethic to be a much more complete player, but we built around his flaws instead of forcing him to improve them at an early age. Those habits are too deeply ingrained now that even the vaunted Popovich can't change them.

[S.R.]

I'm not ready for a world where NBA writers make player/Pokemon comps, even if it is on The Ringer.

[KeonClark]

One thing i was hoping we would see from pascal this was a pull up jumper off the dribble. He seems to be hitting them at a pretty good rate. theres a couple time this season where he come down the court and gets that shot off he looks like durant. I know some just want to see him post up but that jumper is going to a big step in his game. If the defense has to worry about him pulling up for a jumper and driving the lane then their in trouble. If you have a guy his size coming at you and your not sure if he's going to pull up in your face or hit the burners and drive on you, it's almost impossible to guard. All in all really happy with what we have seen from pascal thus far

Hes clearly a different tier of player than peak DeRozan. And hes not a finished product.

[bertarapsfan]

One thing i was hoping we would see from pascal this was a pull up jumper off the dribble. He seems to be hitting them at a pretty good rate. theres a couple time this season where he come down the court and gets that shot off he looks like durant. I know some just want to see him post up but that jumper is going to a big step in his game. If the defense has to worry about him pulling up for a jumper and driving the lane then their in trouble. If you have a guy his size coming at you and your not sure if he's going to pull up in your face or hit the burners and drive on you, it's almost impossible to guard. All in all really happy with what we have seen from pascal thus far

[KeonClark]

More Siakam loving from a different Ringer blogger, cuz ya don't hate ta see it..."Mega Siakam" is the next evolution...I could come around to that

Is Pascal Siakam a Legit No. 1 Option?


Siakam popped during the first week of the season for the Raptors: He averaged 27.5 points, a huge leap from 16.9 last season. The numbers remain high one month in, at 25.1 points to go along with 8.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Even with Kyle Lowry out nursing a fractured left thumb, the Raptors keep winning, thanks in large part to Siakam.

Siakam is one of four players averaging more than 20 shots and 36 minutes. James Harden, Bradley Beal, and CJ McCollum are the others. And not many of Siakam’s shots come easy; he’s usually battling in the post or attacking the rim. Stylistically, Siakam is a totally different player than he was last season. Spot-up 3s and cuts have declined, while isolations and pick-and-rolls have increased.
Play Type Last year-This year-Difference

Isolation	15%	25%	10%
P&R Ball Handler	8%	15%	7%
Post-Up	19%	22%	3%
Handoff	4%	5%	1%
Off Screen	2%	2%	0%
P&R Roll Man	11%	8%	-3%
Cut	9%	4%	-5%
Spot-Up	32%	20%	-12%

Half-court possession data via Synergy Sports. Offensive rebounds excluded. This is an updated version of a chart from an October 30 article.

The Raptors are utilizing Siakam like a star, and he’s producing. He has also improved as a ball handler and extended his shooting range to above the break. Siakam has had his share of growing pains, though. He’s had issues generating offense against lengthy defenders, such as Magic forward Jonathan Isaac. Siakam’s worst game of the season came last week against the versatile Mavericks. At times, he’s looked exhausted—which is no surprise given his immense workload. There will be more games in which he’s fatigued or overwhelmed by so much defensive attention, so the next step will be improving his playmaking and drawing fouls.

As I recently said on The Ringer NBA Show, Siakam has evolved from a Charmander to a Charizard. But there’s another level for a Charizard to reach in the Pokemon world: Mega Charizard. As great as he’s been, there’s still a Mega Siakam to come.

[bertarapsfan]

I'd rather have these bad games from pascal in game 12 of the season then in the playoffs. Ya sure id love to see him drop 30 a night but a young guy learning how to be the number 1 option is going to have games he has to learn how to deal with certain defenses. I'm actually surprised how well he has been doing so far this season, i expected him to struggle more.
We are still going to see at least 5+ games like this from pascal as we go forward this season. I welcome the struggles pascals the type of guy who takes bad game like this personally and im sure he watches the game tape and figures out what to de better next time. He had a stinker in Milwuakke and came out little a animal the next games.
I welcome games like these its only going to make him better

[Maury]

Pascal is in his first full season of being the offensive focal point for a successful team (or any team for that matter since college), he's going to have rough games. I thought he was settling a little bit early on but that's what the defence was giving him and if he wants to be the best player he can be he's gotta be a guy that you can't gap like that as a default, or he'll turn into Giannis from last year (obviously not as good but the point stands) so I'm OK with him taking these shots basically whenever they're there. The only way he can get better is to actually step out of his comfort zone. It may be ugly once in a while, and it may seem like he's the next Kevin Durant sometimes too.

[golden]

After that dud in Dallas, Pascal's ORTG has dropped to 106, so he's well below the 110 ORTG, minimum star threshold. He's gonna need a bunch of 14 for 17 type games with lots of FTs to boost his efficiency.

It loooks like he really misses Lowry, who gave him like 3 or 4 easy buckets a game. Fred just doesn't have the same ability to create easy looks for teammates.

[planetmars]

5 is pretty impressive.. could be 4 once Boston starts losing a few games. Harden and Giannis will be tough to beat as they will always have the numbers. Lebron is an interesting one. I'd say Davis is carrying that team right now. Yet he's 11th in the rankings.

[bertarapsfan]

Siakam made the top 5 in the MVP ladder:
https://www.nba.com/article/2019/11/...dition-2019-20

1. Giannis
2. Lebron
3. Harden
4. Kemba
5. Siakam

Is this the highest a Raptor has ever made the rankings? I don't remember Kawhi getting in the top 5 last year (but could be wrong).

Demar was up there that one season he started off the season scoring like 30 for the first 10 games.