Toronto Raptors: What is Pascal Siakam’s ceiling?

Basketball IQ, desire, and athleticism allow Siakam to raise his ceiling

When Pascal Siakam first played for the Toronto Raptors back in the 2016/17 season, it was obvious to the naked eye that this young man was athletic, played with a motor that never quit, and had great leaping ability.

Now into his fourth season, it has also become apparent that he has a good sense or IQ about what to do on the court and a desire to get it done.  These intangible talents or abilities allow him to play at a very high level in the NBA.

There are not many third-year players in the NBA who can boast being their team’s second scoring option in the NBA Finals, for example, as Siakam was last June for the Toronto Raptors. In his and the Raptors’ inaugural NBA Finals’ appearance, it was amazing to watch game one against the Golden State Warriors and realize Siakam posted 32 points on 14-of-17 shooting.

Basketball reference.com posted the following on Twitter during that game:

To be mentioned in the same breath as Dwyane Wade and Kawhi Leonard is very impressive and is just a further illustration of the career trajectory that Siakam is on. His ceiling is indeed high to be considered in this company.

Players who are mentally fragile or lack confidence talented or otherwise do not come up with these types of performances and Siakam has all the tools to be a star and he keeps showing us why.

In an article in the Toronto Sun back on October 21st, 2019 head coach Nick Nurse spoke about when Siakam first got to the Raptors he had to change his shooting stroke. According to Nurse, the team put him on a training regimen of 350 shots per day with the new shooting motion.  However, by day three Siakam was hoisting those 350 shots twice a day.  Nick Nurse went on to say :

“That’s kind of an example showing you that he was, like, ‘if this good for me, it’s going to be doubly good for me if I do it twice a day,’” Nurse said.

Its this mentality that made Michael Jordan a great player having the ability to take constructive criticism to understand what has to be done to improve and then accelerate that improvement by working extra hard so that your thoughts and muscle memory become one motion in the course of a game.

Its a drive and desire to be better. The ceiling on Siakam’s talent is high because he understands what he has to do to be better and then does the work.

His shooting efficiency from year one up to year three has improved percentage-wise. This season, after 14 games, Siakam is shooting over 46 percent but he is also more involved in Toronto’s offense at 21 shot attempts per game.

Also, the hard work he does in practicing his craft is highlighted in the fact his three-point shooting has jumped from 22 percent in his sophomore year to 36 percent last year and to this point this season he is shooting it at 35.6 percent.