The practice is paying off
Pascal Siakam’s jump shots are a testiment to his work ethic,
For hours he’d do the drills: easy shots right at the basket to get mechanics etched in his mind and body, foul shots to work on that form and develop consistency, and the easiest three-pointers an NBA player can get.
Every day — maybe 1,000 shots in all, working on all aspects of shooting — because if there’s one thing Pascal Siakam knows, it’s that nothing comes without hard work.
Of all the astonishing and rapid improvements to Siakam’s game over the last NBA season and a bit, it’s his ability to consistently make jump shots that stands out. It’s amazing, really, that a guy who was such a shooting liability before last season has become one of the Raptors’ most effective long-range gunners.
“I keep saying this: When he went to work on it, he went to work on it,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said after Siakam’s latest gem, a 31-point night against the New York Knicks on Wednesday.
Nurse and his staff laid out a specific plan to extend Siakam’s range and efficiency: Working on balance, a consistent release, the right amount of backspin, all of the minutiae of getting the ball in the basket. They’d map out a workout — maybe 150 or so shots from close range, about 100 free throws, another 150 or so corner three-pointers — and send him on his merry way.
“I know when he first started doing it we gave him a daily workout, and about three days in he started doubling that — sort of doing it twice a day,” Nurse said. “And that was a lot of shots that we were requiring him to take early on. So he’s worked at it.”
He worked at it because that’s what you do if you want to be great.
“It’s always something I’ve been able to do: make sure I work on my craft every single day,” said the 25-year-old Siakam, who didn’t take up the sport until age 16. “That’s my mindset. I have to find a way to catch up to all the people that started playing when they were like five years old. I have a long way to go and every single day I know that, so I have to work double.”
Siakam’s improvement has been as startling as it has been rapid. He was a brutal three-point shooter his first two seasons in the NBA — 14 per cent from beyond the arc as a rookie, 22 per cent in his sophomore year — but his last two seasons have been revelatory.
He shot 37 per cent with just over two attempts on average per game last season. This year, he’s firing at a 39.3 per cent clip and averaging more than six attempts. He shredded the Knicks with five made threes, tying his career high, as teams continue to give him far too much space to operate and pay dearly for it.
“(Taking) whatever the defence gives me,” he said. “That’s something I’m learning to do, and not forcing it and taking whatever the defence gives me. That’s the next part of my game.
“Sometimes they’re going to fall and sometimes they’re not. The most important thing is understanding that … whatever they give you is what you’re taking, and you live the results.”
The trickle-down effect of Siakam becoming such an adept shooter is that he isn’t always taking a pounding from double teams and trying to score in the paint. If he can get up quick shots in transition, or early in the shot clock, it plays perfectly into the early offence Nurse craves.
“I think he’s ultra-aggressive — lots of catch-and-shoot threes, which I love,” the coach said.
“Those are easy possessions. He doesn’t have to get pounded on, or make three spin moves to get a shot up or anything. It’s nice that he gets to come down and take some of those.” And make a lot of them. “His confidence is certainly at a high, high, high level and that’s a big part of shooting,” Nurse said.