Toronto Raptors: Who has benefited from Norman Powell’s injury?

Pascal Siakam

After 47 Toronto Raptors games, with an appearance from Pascal Siakam, the young forward is averaging 23.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game.

Interestingly enough, Siakam has been a major benefactor to Norman Powell’s injury. Since the injury, Siakam’s minutes have increased by 4.4 minutes and have been given 1.5 more shots per game. With this increase in minutes, the first time All-Star has increased his points per game by 2.2, rebounds by 0.5, and assists by 0.7.

Siakam has been struggling with his long-range shot since the new year with his percentage fluctuating anywhere from 75 to 0. Since coming back from the All-Star break, this trend has continued with two games of 55.6 percent from long-range and the other two consisting of a 0 percent and 25 percent distance shooting night.

At the same time, Siakam has been looking solid when operating inside the three-point line. He has been beating his defender off the dribble and looking to back down smaller defenders into the post. This is something that seemed to have disappeared from his game in the month of January.

While still being a fairly young player, at 25-years-old, there is a need to trust and allow him to shoot through the slumps such as these. With more shots going around, this is an opportune time to let Siakam get into a more consistent groove offensively before the playoffs.

He should be encouraged to continue to get looks on the interior where he can use his size, explosive first-step, and post-moves to get easier looks. He is someone that should not be looking to ‘live or die at the three’ but instead should be looking to use his diverse offensive toolset to put points on the board and stabilize his game.

With Powell out, Siakam has been able to pick up some of the shooting load but there is a need for him to get into a rhythm offensively to allow his shots to fall on a more consistent basis or else the shots he’s picked up will soon be redistributed.