Siakam quickly emerging as star
Calm but speedy 24-year-old named player of the week for Eastern Conference
The iconic John Wooden gave basketball so much during his tenure as the head coach at UCLA, too much to itemize in one place, too many moments and sayings and skills.
But there is one of his truisms playing out with the Toronto Raptors in general this season and with Pascal Siakam in particular that fans might want to take to their hearts.
‘Be quick,’ the legendary Wooden would say, ‘but don’t hurry.’
And now, watching Siakam’s whirling dervish style of play being complemented by a sudden calmness when it comes time for meticulous implementation of the final move, that saying resonates.
All anyone had to do was watch Siakam hit a career-best three three-pointers in his last game out to understand just how he’s taken that advice and followed it.
That shooting display, plus a 20points-per game average in four games on 72.4 per cent shooting, earned the 24-year-old Eastern Conference player of the week honours, the NBA announced Monday.
Siakam set a career high with 23 points in Saturday’s win over New York and was also 15-for-16 from the free throw line over the week.
He watches his teammates, he understands that going100 kilometres an hour isn’t always necessary and it’s added something to an already impressive array of skills.
“Someone I always look at is Kawhi (Leonard) because he seems to never rush himself in anything he does,” Siakam told reporters Monday morning before the Raptors played the New Orleans Pelicans at the Scotiabank Arena. “That’s something that I always try to just look at, and it’s more important for my shot, because I run so fast and it’s like I’ve got to just slow down for a second. “That’s something I’m learning to do.” And learning pretty well.
Speed is always going to be the staple of Siakam’s game and what makes him stand out most nights. He’s in perpetual motion, almost always beating his man down the court for easy transition baskets and when he gets to swirling and twirling with the ball in the lane, good things tend to happen.
That raw speed is a true asset. Whether he knows precisely what he’s doing when he starts making moves is almost secondary because he’s able to adapt to whatever happens when he gets going.
“We have to believe he knows what he’s doing because he ends up finishing most of those, right?” Raptors coach Nick Nurse joked last week.
“I think he’s reading what’s happening. Once he turns his back and spins, it’s usually something good, which is again, for me, is neat to watch.”
That trust that Nurse and his teammates have in Siakam only equals the trust he has in himself. He knows he’s put in the work in each of the last two summers to improve all facets of his game and once he gets on the court, he just reacts.
His long-range shot is still a work in progress – the threepointers Saturday were a welcome sign but he still has to be more consistent from deep – but he’s prepared himself to take the shots, some day he’ll make more.
“I think it’s just when you work, if you feel prepared, it’s like going into a test, right?” Siakam said. “When you prepare going into the test, you feel good, you get in there.
“For me, I just feel like I’m prepared and when I get out there, it doesn’t look like I’m doing something I haven’t done, I’m just doing whatever I do every day.”
Despite Toronto taking an NBA-best12-1record into Monday’s game, there is no real sense of satisfaction yet. Siakam knows he’s got work to do on his game, Leonard has said he’s not really up to speed with his teammates and while the wins pile up, there are areas to improve on all over the court.
They’ve been quick out of the gate but not hurrying to think everything is under control.
“There’s more,” Siakam said. “I mean, it’s the beginning of the season. I don’t know how many games in, but. We all know what matters and I think that’s the mindset of the whole team, we know what’s ahead and that’s what we’re thinking about every game and just trying to get to that level where we’re the last team standing.”