Siakam earns praise in complementary role
TORONTO — It is not like the Toronto Raptors needed to see something more from Pascal Siakam to seal picking up the fourth-year team option on his deal, but the power forward has been putting on a show nonetheless.
Toronto announced on Wednesday that it had exercised the third-year team option on OG Anunoby’s contract and the fourth-year option on Siakam’s deal, guaranteeing their spots through the 2019-2020 National Basketball Association season. The Raptors declined Malachi Richardson’s fourth-year option; he will become a free agent in July.
Per team policy, the financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. Siakam is expected to collect about US$2.3 million next season, up from $1.5 million this season. Anunoby’s salary will jump from $1.9 million this year to $2.2 million next year.
Siakam, who many observers predicted was in for a breakout year, has made his mark in the early going, averaging 10.9 points, seven rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.7 steals per game. He had a career-high 22 points on Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks and took down a careerhigh 15 rebounds on Tuesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He means everything to us,” teammate Kyle Lowry said after Toronto beat Philadelphia. “I think he’s underappreciated by fans and people but not by us. He’s unbelievable, honestly, the things he’s doing and the things he can do on that basketball floor. The pace he plays with, the energy, the skill work. I give him all the credit because he’s just continuing to get better and he’s still young.”
As Siakam has refined his overall game, he has made the greatest strides with his ball handling and passing, the ability to create good looks for his teammates. The 24-year-old native of Cameroon is shooting 59.4 per cent from the field this season, but is only 3-for-13 from behind the arc. But there are shooters around him on the floor, particularly the likes of fellow starters Kyle Lowry, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Serge Ibaka. So long as Siakam keeps getting the ball to teammates in good spots and they return the favour, the points will come for him.
“He’s P-Skills,” said Jonas Valanciunas. “He’s handling the ball. Sometimes I don’t know, he’s trailing, he’s handling, I get confused because he’s all over the place. He’s good. He’s just enjoying playing basketball.”
The 24-year-old earns high praise for the energy he bring to the game from teammates such as Lowry and Valanciunas and coach Nick Nurse. His liveliness keeps the game moving at both ends of the court, Nurse said.
“You’ll see him get the ball and go one way and fake a handoff and spin back and go the other way,” Nurse said. “Guys are cutting around him and it’s giving us some good movement on the offensive end ... Defensively it’s the same. He’s getting deflections, he had a great night rebounding (on Tuesday), really was in the right place and went up and snapped them. That’s advantageous to us because when he snaps down a defensive rebound, we’re out with him bringing it.”
For Siakam, the focus is less on things like career highs: “OK,
OK, OK. I did?” was his reaction to news of his new personal best for rebound. He is instead figuring out playing with Toronto’s starters and what he can do to help the group perform better overall.
He likes the space that teams are affording him on the perimeter, even if the threes aren’t falling, which allows him to keep moving.
“And having the ball in my hands and being able to handle also helps,” Siakam said. “And the guys trusting me to have the ball in my hands and do different things so I can find ways to score and ways to dish for anybody else for an assist or whatever. So just picking my spots and finding a way to have an impact.”
Like on defence, where Siakam, who is averaging 26 minutes early in the season compared to 20.7 minutes over the course of last year, likes to be aggressive.
“I mean I like to run so whenever we can get stops and run I think that’s a better game for all of us,” he said. “So the more we can do that, the better we look.”
Running hard, playing hard, being active; they might seem like straightforward qualities for a professional athlete but it is those fundamentals which make Siakam vital to the team and its success, Lowry said. “He never really asks for the ball. He just always puts himself in a good position to be successful. And we really love him being successful.”