SIAKAM EAGER TO STEP IT UP AFTER LONG LAYOFF FROM COURT
Pascal Siakam’s rough estimate is that he went somewhere around three months during this NBA shutdown brought about by the coronavirus pandemic without shooting a basketball.
It’s easily the longest he’s ever gone without getting shots up since he started playing the game seriously.
Were he anyone else, that would be cause for concern. There’s no question Siakam is the focal point of Toronto’s offence, and coming back from his longest personal absence from a basketball court isn’t exactly ideal. But that conclusion ignores two factors.
One, the rest of the league (for the most part) was also without a place to take shots for three months.
Two, Siakam is a guy who can overcome such an absence.
Siakam is the player he is today because he’s a tireless worker. It’s not like he forgot how to shoot the ball. But listening to him yesterday, you could almost hear him admit how far he is from getting back to where he was when the season screeched to a halt on March 11.
Again, that’s the case for 90 per cent of the league.
Even those players who had access to a basketball court or a hoop in their driveway haven’t been playing the game the way they normally would, so even those fortunate souls will be playing some catch-up.
It’s going to mean extra hours before and after practice once the team gets to Orlando next Thursday. That won’t be an issue for Siakam.
“I think for me, after sitting around for a long time and not being able to shoot the basketball or play basketball, it’s just being able to get out there on the floor, just run a little bit, make sure I get my shots up, work on things
I’m going to see in the game,” Siakam said.
Fresh off a workout at the Raptors’ pre-training camp site in Fort Myers, Fla., Siakam is well aware his role in a potential championship run will be quite different than a year earlier, when the team’s first offensive option was Kawhi Leonard.
The step up this season is welcomed with open arms by the Raptors forward.
“I just felt like it’s been a really good season and a learning experience for me, being able to be out there on the floor, seeing different things and adapting,” he said. “And just for my journey and who I am as a person and as a basketball player, that’s something that always kind of excites me and will help me reach new heights, and I’m excited about the challenge.
“I love it. I love going through the struggles — and obviously you want to win and be the best you can — but I really appreciate just being out there on the floor, knowing that I struggle, knowing that I’m going to miss a lot of shots, knowing that I’m going to make mistakes, and also knowing that I’m going to work really hard to rectify those mistakes and be the best player that I can be.”
Through three-quarters of a season, it’s been far more good than bad. The only real bad for Siakam was an 11-game absence due to a groin injury that kept him out of action in late December and early January.
Over 53 games he averaged a team-best 23.6 points per game, was second on the team to Serge Ibaka with 7.5 rebounds per game, and logged an average of 35.5 minutes a night, third on the team behind guards Kyle Lowry and Fred Vanvleet.