Cameroon’s Siakam has a few tricks the Raptors like
VANCOUVER — He’s a crafty devil, that Pascal Siakam is.
Sure, he wears his emotions openly a lot of the time, smiling and joking around, but when it comes time for a little trickery, he can pull that off as well.
It’s a trait in the third-year Toronto Raptors big man (sixfoot-nine) from Cameroon that most impresses coach Nick Nurse, and something Nurse thinks will help Siakam take another giant step in his development this coming National Basketball Association season.
“The neat thing about him that I think I’ve been seeing is, when he gets himself in trouble, he’s got this little spin move that gets himself out of trouble and he’s right at the front of the rim,” Nurse said of a veteran-like move that Siakam has come to rely on early in his career. “He’s looking, he’s searching for the pass and, all of a sudden, nothing’s there and (a defender is going to) turn (his) back and he’s at the rim, which is a pretty good bailout play.”
That kind of basketball intelligence — NBA IQ, it’s generally referred to — is unique to a 24-year-old just two years into his career. It can’t really be taught but it can be absorbed by a willing student, which the alwaysintriguing Siakam has been since the Raptors took him with the 27th selection in the 2016 draft.
He’s a bit of sponge and a bundle of potential and you have only had to watch him over two seasons to see endless possibilities. As a rookie, he was lost, as most rookies are, but he learned to survive well enough to start almost a half season’s worth of games for a team that won 56 times. In his second year, he didn’t start but he played even better, adding some ball-handling skills to his repertoire, still showing the hustle and innate sense to be in the right place at the right time as a key member of The Bench Mob that turned many games from close ones into laughers.
He got more responsibility, accepted it and thrived with it.
No, he didn’t shoot nearly as well enough from three-point range as he has to — everyone can see that — but watching him take the ball off the defensive boards, lead the break and make smart decisions was a quantum leap in his skill development.
The key now is to do it often, and more successfully.
“It’s something I haven’t done, so that was my first year,” he said of his transition-leading job last season. “I’ve always liked to handle the ball and do things but I wasn’t able to do it before. Last year, they gave me a little freedom to go out and do it and I feel like the more you do it the more comfortable you get.
“I am definitely going to be better than I was last year and I will continue to get better.”
Where Siakam exactly fits is still to be determined. Nurse is nowhere near deciding on a starting five, or ever roles for backups, but Siakam’s unique skill set should make him invaluable wherever Nurse puts him. Leading the break is one thing fans should get used to.
“Yeah, I think you’re going see him handle the ball. I think, again, we’re there already with him on that,” the coach said. “When he snaps down a rebound he ought to push it and make a play and you guys probably see me (yelling) a lot, ‘Attack! Attack, attack, attack,’ until they collapse and then he’ll make the play. He’s really getting good at finding the next play out there.
“The shooting — everyone could get better. Especially him. Especially him.”
And when it comes to discussing the specifics of his role and what he’d like to be, Siakam reverts to his open-book form.
“Just learning a lot more, thinking about the mistakes I made last year and try and make better reads.”