Raptors’ Siakam all-star on way
If Pascal Siakam doesn’t make the NBA All-Star Game this year, he will do so next year or the year after that.
He knows it. His coach knows it. His teammates know it and anyone who is aware of his work ethic and determination to be great knows it, too.
The fact that he is up for consideration for the 2019 all-star game in this, his first year as a Toronto Raptors starter and just third year as a pro, is probably even a little ahead of schedule. Siakam conceded that Wednesday.
But don’t misinterpret that as a lack of confidence or anything close to that.
“Obviously, when you come in you want to be the best player you can be and I put the work in to be the best player I can be,” Siakam said. “So if it happens it would be great. If not, keep going.”
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse acknowledged also that even all-star consideration at this point for Siakam is a bit of a surprise considering his meteoric rise from rotation player last season to a starter in this one, but he had no problem at all making the case that Siakam is deserving of the honour now.
“He just goes into a group of guys and as I was looking at it, I would say he has a shot here,” Nurse said Wednesday, with the seven Eastern and seven Western Conference reserves to be announced just after 7 p.m. Thursday and just before the Raptors tipoff against the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I think the strongest case (for Siakam’s) inclusion is the team’s success and he has been a big part of that,” Nurse said. “And listen, he has been a part of a team that has had a lot of success missing a lot of their key guys. He has been the one guy that has been there the whole time. You have to pay really close attention to know all of that stuff, but those are the facts.”
The signs were there in the pre-season when Siakam was turning heads at offseason workouts at UCLA. But suggesting all-star is one thing. Proving it is another and Siakam has been every bit an all-star this season.
As a starter, he’s playing more than 10 minutes a night this year than he was a season ago and has more than doubled his scoring output to 15.2 points a night. In fact, there is not an area of his game that has not improved. His shooting percentage is up, both from twopoint and three-point range, his rebounds are up, his assists are up and he’s a significantly better free-throw shooter this year than he has been in his first two seasons.
Most of all, he has had a major impact on his team’s success. Only Kawhi Leonard with a win share total of 6.6 betters Siakam’s 5.7 among Raptors players. Leonard is ranked 10th in the NBA in that statistic. Siakam is tied for 17th with LaMarcus Aldridge of San Antonio.
Siakam, though, displays a very mature approach to the whole all-star question.
“I want to get to the point where I’m not worried about if I’m going to make it or not,” Siakam said. “I want to get to where there’s no question that I’m there.”