The Toronto Raptors find themselves in quite a sticky situation at the moment. While they have won their last two games, coming to 18-23 at the halfway point of the season, the sharp decline from last season’s 48-win peak has brought about a new avalanche of vitriol directed at certain players and trade rumors galore.
The Raptors’ start to the season is a good litmus test to see what sort of Raptors fan you are. The positive ones might choose to look to the fact that many of Toronto’s best players have stepped up in recent weeks, while the pessimistic ones will point to how many winnable games have slipped through their fingers.
The Raptors need to take large chunks of the first half of this campaign, throw them in the trash bin, and start from scratch. The team still has five players capable of being the most impactful leader on the floor in any given game, making them a team that could potentially do some damage.
While a few Raptors players can hold their heads high after a strong start to the season, quite a few are trying to overcome some gnarly numbers and performances on film. Which ones should be applauded for their efforts, and which ones should have their feet held to the fire by Nick Nurse?
Toronto Raptors: Winners and Losers from the first half of 2022-23.
Winner: Pascal Siakam
Amid all the chaos around him, Siakam has put together a year that very few in the NBA have been able to equal. If he sustains this performance, he will likely be named All-NBA for the second season in a row and the third time overall in what has become an illustrious Raptors career.
Siakam has averaged 25.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per game with some impressive efficiency numbers. Siakam is firmly in supermax territory, making him the type of player that Toronto will likely build their next half-decade of basketball around.
The Toronto Raptors have a superstar in Pascal Siakam.
What makes this even more impressive is the fact that the Raptors rank near the bottom of the league in many half-court offense categories, per Cleaning the Glass (subscription required). Essentially, Siakam has found a way to be one of the toughest players in the league to defend with minimal support from those around him.
There are times when Toronto can’t get anything going on offense except for Siakam creating moments of individual brilliance. The Raptors may be firmly in the Victor Wembanyama hunt if they didn’t have No. 43 continuing to blossom into an unquestioned star.