The Toronto Raptors are hoping that a return to normalcy could help Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and the rest of the squad return to the postseason after their sabbatical in the lottery. With one fell swoop, the Raptors saw their chances of contending take a major hit thanks to Siakam’s shoulder.
Siakam will miss a whole summer of practice thanks to a torn labrum in his left shoulder. If the prognosis is correct, he will be out five months, which means he will not be healthy in time for the start of the season.
Siakam might have taken a step back in some areas next season, but he remains one of the best offensive bigs in the game, and a Raptors team that struggled to field a deep team for large chunks of the season last year didn’t want to hear that their best offensive player in the post will be out for a large portion of the first half.
The Raptors have money to spend in free agency, but it is on the players currently on the roster to find a way to replace Siakam’s production until No. 43 is ready to get back on the court and take games over again.
Raptors star Pascal Siakam underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and expected recovery and rehabilitation time for this procedure is five months.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 11, 2021
These 3 Toronto Raptors players need to replace Pascal Siakam.
3. Chris Boucher
If Nick Nurse wants to keep the positional assignments the same, the natural move with regards to replacing Siakam is promoting Boucher to the starting lineup. After getting some Sixth Man of the Year consideration, Boucher has proven that he is one of the game’s most underrated interior scorers and best shot-blockers.
Still, Boucher being able to dominate second-unit players has contributed to his rapid rise. If anyone on this roster can provide a decent facsimile of Siakam’s skillset, it someone like Boucher that can rise up from 3-point range and finish at the rim.
Chris Boucher needs to play like Pascal Siakam for the Raptors.
Siakam has had some rough nights against players like Julius Randle, and Boucher’s struggles against the best if the best might be even more pronounced than the Cameroonian star’s given how wiry his frame is. If Boucher is going to be a solid Siakam replacement, he needs to work on his inside presence.
If he can do that, all while maintaining his ability to be one of the game’s best perimeter-defending big men and his skill at making 3-pointers in transition, he should help the Raptors feel slightly less sting from this incredibly unfortunate development.
2. Yuta Watanabe
No matter who ends up starting, the Raptors will take a huge hit on the offensive side of the court without Siakam’s blend of size, speed, and feathery touch. Watanabe took advantage of whatever openings he was afforded last season, and he could help the Raptors absorb this blow in 2021.
From April 2 to May 11, a time in which Watanabe saw his two-way deal in the NBA converted to a standard contract, Watanabe averaged 7.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while making 52% of his shots and 43% of his 3-point attempts. Considering how poor his shooting was early in the season, this is a massive success.
Yuta Watanabe must boost the Raptors’ bench.
Watanabe did improve his scoring last year, but are these numbers indicative of a player that has fixed his major flaws and become a quality NBA role player? Or are they outliers from a very small sample size?
Ultimately, while Watanabe will have a role in the rotation next year due to his defensive skills and effort on that end of the floor, his offensive improvement will not only impact how he is perceived on this team. If he struggles on offense, the whole bench could really start to struggle without adequate scoring.
1. OG Anunoby
Even with Siakam on the floor, next year promised to be the biggest season of Anunoby’s career, as he set new career-highs in scoring while taking the next step as a scorer. Anunoby will be in for an even greater workload without the benefit of Siakam to take shows away from him.
15.9 points per game is nothing to sneeze at, especially when last season was so challenging, but those points came during some games when he was the third, or even fourth, option on offense. Will those numbers go down as defenses plan to stop him in particular?
OG Anunoby needs to keep developing on offense.
Anunoby has proven to be a solid shooter and overall scorer, but he could stand to improve his ability to create his own shot. These games could serve as a litmus test that shows how far he has really come on that end.
Anunoby is already one of the best defensive players in the league, so all he needs to really make the leap to stardom is his expanding offensive game to finally intersect with a role as the featured or secondary offensive option. With Siakam on the mend, he will finally have a chance to make good on that potential.