Everything Pascal Siakam

[golden]

I feel like the measuring stick for Siakam, in regards to the "star" level development fans want to see from him, has become the match up with Jaylen Brown. Pascal has been playing well heading into this match up too, so we should get a pretty good idea of how legit this recent streak has been.

Definitely. Pascal has been bullying slow and small defenders in the paint on drives or post-ups. If he can do that tonight against Brown, Tatum and Theis... that would indeed say something about his new approach to play inside-out. Apparently Brown is battling tendinitis, so that should be an advantage.

[planetmars]

I feel like the measuring stick for Siakam, in regards to the "star" level development fans want to see from him, has become the match up with Jaylen Brown. Pascal has been playing well heading into this match up too, so we should get a pretty good idea of how legit this recent streak has been.

Pascal wasn't bad last time out against Boston. He had 22 points on 7/15 shooting. And hit 2 3's. He was -13 and had 5 fouls though. He's cleaned up his fouling a lot lately, and is become a positive not a negative when out there.

It's a bit of a measuring stick game for sure for him since he's been awful for most of the year and only really rebounded against bad defensive teams.

[LJ2]

I feel like the measuring stick for Siakam, in regards to the "star" level development fans want to see from him, has become the match up with Jaylen Brown. Pascal has been playing well heading into this match up too, so we should get a pretty good idea of how legit this recent streak has been.

[S.R.]

3/4 from deep last night and now back up up to 29.2% for the season.

His confidence is coming around but also he's taking better shots. It's such a fine line between trying new offence because you're working on your development and losing your efficiency because you're moving too far away from what works for you. Siakam started off the year with too much of the latter, he's clearly refocused on getting to the rim, getting to the FT line, scoring inside on drives when he actually has space (pushing the ball), then taking spot up 3's (mostly) as the floor opens up. And his numbers overall are really coming around as he does that.

He can still work on some off the bounce step backs, inside and at the 3 pt line, just a lot less of them in-game until he actually has those shots down. Think he started off the year trying to do way too much of the new stuff, stuff he doesn't have down yet.

[Rudy Bargnani]

Going into last night Pascal was shooting 23% from 3 on the season. He went 5/8 last night bringing him up to 27%. He was 35% the last two season. If he can get that back up it would make a massive difference.

3/4 from deep last night and now back up up to 29.2% for the season.

[LJ2]

The defenses he's been playing lately have been pretty bad.

Memphis, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Orlando, Orlando, Sacramento were the last 6 games.

Once he faces a guy like Bam, Brown, Giannis, Simmons, etc.. it won't be easy to get to the rim. So I'm not sure this level of play is sustainable because of the level of competition.

He should do well against the Wizards again (I mean he'll be going up against Len and Bertans). But after that the competition gets tougher and defenses much harder (Boston, Milwaukee x2, Philly x2, Miami coming up).

I'm hoping for the best here.. but it's too soon to say he's back to form unfortunately.

That pretty much describes what we became used to with DeMar's offense. Great against poor defenses, but when the playoffs rolled around and the competition was better the offense wasn't reliable. The plus with Siakam is that his own defense is usually top notch and like others have noted his offense is still evolving.

[Maury]

I think there's still a good chance he becomes a really solid and consistent three-point shooter. At the end of the day, the three-point shot is what will take his game to the next level. We can all moan and groan when he takes them, but the way he played the first half of last season to me signals that it can be done. Let's hope he's busted out of his rut. I suspect he won't be completely himself until he's playing in front of a crowd. Just the way it is for him.

[planetmars]

Yep. Obviously small samples, but Pascal's efficiency (ORTG) has been skyrocketing with each passing month:

Dec (89) / Jan (114) / Feb (130).

Anything above ~ 115 ORTG @ > 25% USG is star level offensive production. Obviously his February ORTG of 130 won't be sustainable, but that's great to see.

The defenses he's been playing lately have been pretty bad.

Memphis, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Orlando, Orlando, Sacramento were the last 6 games.

Once he faces a guy like Bam, Brown, Giannis, Simmons, etc.. it won't be easy to get to the rim. So I'm not sure this level of play is sustainable because of the level of competition.

He should do well against the Wizards again (I mean he'll be going up against Len and Bertans). But after that the competition gets tougher and defenses much harder (Boston, Milwaukee x2, Philly x2, Miami coming up).

I'm hoping for the best here.. but it's too soon to say he's back to form unfortunately.

[LJ2]

Yep. Obviously small samples, but Pascal's efficiency (ORTG) has been skyrocketing with each passing month:

Dec (89) / Jan (114) / Feb (130).

Anything above ~ 115 ORTG @ > 25% USG is star level offensive production. Obviously his February ORTG of 130 won't be sustainable, but that's great to see.

What's Freddy's month by month ORTG look like?

[golden]

Yeah but the only thing I'd add for all these guys: Siakam, OG, Fred, Norm, is that they aren't done developing yet. Why are we going to say "this is who Siakam is" now? I mean it might be, or he might keep getting better. Same with all those guys.

Siakam does seem a bit fragile mentally/emotionally. No knock, it's just who he is. An emotional player who needs to be feeling good and having fun to play well. When his confidence is gone his game is a mess. Mind you, even that is not uncommon a thing for young guys to work through. He may become more consistent & reliable yet. I'm not writing any of these guys off considering the insane development curves we've seen from Fred and Pascal already. Just incredible.

Up until last night, after the horrific start, it looks like he made a conscious decision to screw the 3-ball and try to play bully ball inside with his length and quickness. Playing inside-out seems like the right approach for him, since he's not a natural shooter. He will really need to work on his body to make that sustainable.

[golden]

The problem was that we had bubble P that primarily cost us the series against Boston. Then we had a couple of months off for him to get his head on straight.. and he started the new season as if bubble P never left.

Remember how many fouls he was getting earlier in the season? He got DQ'd and went crying to the locker room.. only to get benched the next game. The very next game he played, he played like trash again. He was averaging less than 25% from 3, but was chucking them.

He's getting so much better because for the past few games he's been working hard to trying and scoring in the paint. He hit his 3's last night which is awesome. He's slowly turning into 2nd team All-Nba P. We want more of that guy.. and that guy doesn't have to be a #1 option.

Pascal's come a long way.. but it was pretty ugly early on.

Yep. Obviously small samples, but Pascal's efficiency (ORTG) has been skyrocketing with each passing month:

Dec (89) / Jan (114) / Feb (130).

Anything above ~ 115 ORTG @ > 25% USG is star level offensive production. Obviously his February ORTG of 130 won't be sustainable, but that's great to see.

[S.R.]

The problem was that we had bubble P that primarily cost us the series against Boston. Then we had a couple of months off for him to get his head on straight.. and he started the new season as if bubble P never left.

Remember how many fouls he was getting earlier in the season? He got DQ'd and went crying to the locker room.. only to get benched the next game. The very next game he played, he played like trash again. He was averaging less than 25% from 3, but was chucking them.

He's getting so much better because for the past few games he's been working hard to trying and scoring in the paint. He hit his 3's last night which is awesome. He's slowly turning into 2nd team All-Nba P. We want more of that guy.. and that guy doesn't have to be a #1 option.

Pascal's come a long way.. but it was pretty ugly early on.

Yeah but the only thing I'd add for all these guys: Siakam, OG, Fred, Norm, is that they aren't done developing yet. Why are we going to say "this is who Siakam is" now? I mean it might be, or he might keep getting better. Same with all those guys.

Siakam does seem a bit fragile mentally/emotionally. No knock, it's just who he is. An emotional player who needs to be feeling good and having fun to play well. When his confidence is gone his game is a mess. Mind you, even that is not uncommon a thing for young guys to work through. He may become more consistent & reliable yet. I'm not writing any of these guys off considering the insane development curves we've seen from Fred and Pascal already. Just incredible.

[A.I]

The problem was that we had bubble P that primarily cost us the series against Boston. Then we had a couple of months off for him to get his head on straight.. and he started the new season as if bubble P never left.

Remember how many fouls he was getting earlier in the season? He got DQ'd and went crying to the locker room.. only to get benched the next game. The very next game he played, he played like trash again. He was averaging less than 25% from 3, but was chucking them.

He's getting so much better because for the past few games he's been working hard to trying and scoring in the paint. He hit his 3's last night which is awesome. He's slowly turning into 2nd team All-Nba P. We want more of that guy.. and that guy doesn't have to be a #1 option.

Pascal's come a long way.. but it was pretty ugly early on.

Well players struggle. Whatever happened in the bubble, we don't know what happened behind the scenes. He struggled big time, struggled early on this season and now he is getting back to how he played pre-bubble.

[The Great One]

The problem was that we had bubble P that primarily cost us the series against Boston. Then we had a couple of months off for him to get his head on straight.. and he started the new season as if bubble P never left.

Remember how many fouls he was getting earlier in the season? He got DQ'd and went crying to the locker room.. only to get benched the next game. The very next game he played, he played like trash again. He was averaging less than 25% from 3, but was chucking them.

He's getting so much better because for the past few games he's been working hard to trying and scoring in the paint. He hit his 3's last night which is awesome. He's slowly turning into 2nd team All-Nba P. We want more of that guy.. and that guy doesn't have to be a #1 option.

Pascal's come a long way.. but it was pretty ugly early on.

Thank you. That's why you're my favorite poster here.

[planetmars]

Thank you. Its annoying when people trash him because he may not be that main guy. Newsflash, not many players can be that main guy and actually be successful at it.

Problem isn't if Pascal can be that main guy, problem is how do we get that elite main guy?

The problem was that we had bubble P that primarily cost us the series against Boston. Then we had a couple of months off for him to get his head on straight.. and he started the new season as if bubble P never left.

Remember how many fouls he was getting earlier in the season? He got DQ'd and went crying to the locker room.. only to get benched the next game. The very next game he played, he played like trash again. He was averaging less than 25% from 3, but was chucking them.

He's getting so much better because for the past few games he's been working hard to trying and scoring in the paint. He hit his 3's last night which is awesome. He's slowly turning into 2nd team All-Nba P. We want more of that guy.. and that guy doesn't have to be a #1 option.

Pascal's come a long way.. but it was pretty ugly early on.