The Future is Bright with Pascal Siakam
The more time that has elapsed since Kawhi Leonard bolted town, the more and more I’m becoming convinced that there is a path to the Eastern Conference Finals — and, dare I say, a respectable 5% chance that the Raptors can indeed make the Finals.
Hear me out.
That 5% chance I mention, well, that is no more or no less the same percentages I would have assigned the Raptors when DeMar DeRozan was leading the team. As crazy as the Raptors making the Finals in 2020 sounds, I am not going to rule it out. Look, I get it, we don’t have the Finals MVP. We don’t have the best player in the association. He left. But I can still see the path to a puncher’s chance at making the Conference Finals and, if things bounce our way, maybe even the Finals.
I’m not going to rule this out entirely. Why am I so optimistic you ask? Well, I got two words for you: Pascal Fucken Siakam!
I know this might sound like an understatement because the dude is legit good, but I am incredibly high on Pascal Siakam. I’m not talking about future All-Star Pascal Siakam because he’s going to make an All-Star team this upcoming season barring something unforeseen like an injury. I’m talking about this dude being a top-5 player in the Eastern Conference right now at this very moment before the season has even started. When the season starts, and we get to see the new skills that he has gained throughout a summer of working out and being highlighted as the focal point of this Raptors offensive machine, there is no reason why he can’t even be a top-3 player in the East.
He could easily average between 25–27 points per game this season. There I said it! He will be talked about as a dark horse MVP candidate in the same vein that DeRozan was talked about as an MVP candidate. But, in my humble opinion, Siakam has a much higher upside than DeRozan. It’s important to remember that Siakam is just 25 years old — and this is the season he will enter into those rarefied discussions. And as he enters his prime (you know, two years from now), that is when he will be a perennial MVP contender. I am incredibly high on Spicy P as you can tell. I cannot wait to see what he brings to the table as the lead man. From everything I’ve read or heard during this offseason, he is eagerly awaiting his chance to lead the team, to show what an offense built around him can look like.
There also may very well be a part of Siakam that felt slighted when Kawhi said Paul George is the best teammate he will have played with (also, Tim Duncan should be pissed about that statement). I have zero doubt that Siakam wants to show Kawhi that hey, you wanted Paul George? Well, guess what! I’m fucking better than Paul George.
Also, don’t sleep on the rest of this roster. This Raptors squad is still a deep team. Usually when you lose your best player, that signals a rebuild. But you know what? We’ve already done the dirty work. We already unearthed that gem that you can build your team around. Now, it’s just a matter of finding the right pieces to fit around a spinning Siakam. We are going to need Kyle Lowry to score a little bit more; I don’t think he has enough left in the tank to approach 20 points per game like he did during the 2016 (21.2) and 2017 (22.4) seasons. But maybe he can approach 17–18 points per game. We also have Marc Gasol who is going to have to score a little bit more too. Sure, he’s towards the finish line of his career, but there should be no reason he cannot approach his Memphis productivity from before he was traded to Toronto at last season’s trade deadline. With Memphis last season he averaged 15.7 points versus 9.1 with Toronto.
Again, I repeat, this team is still deep. We still have Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell, OG Anunoby, and Fred VanVleet. We added Stanley Johnson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and Matt Thomas. This is a good and deep team. This is not a rebuilding team. We already did the rebuild. We did it while we were winning. Teams can barely handle doing one of those things (winning or rebuilding) at the same time — but this Raptors front office was able to do both at the same time. Now, the goal is finding the right pieces that fit around Siakam and seeing what Siakam can do as the focal point.
I also got my eye on OG Anunoby. There is no reason why he can’t have a breakout campaign. There’s been a precedent for this too over the past couple seasons in Toronto. Two years ago, it was Fred VanVleet (nominated for Sixth Man of the Year). Last season, it was Siakam (Most Improved Player). This season is almost tailor-made for OG to have a breakout season. Kawhi’s minutes are gone meaning there will be more minutes for him.
Don’t get me wrong: OG had an inconsistent second season marred by injuries, emergency surgery, and games missed for personal reasons. But I also bet you that there is a part of him that feels like he didn’t contribute to the championship. Hopefully this means he has something to prove. He’s already an elite defender (he’s going to make a few All-Defensive teams sooner rather than later). We just now need his offense to catch up to where his defense is. To me there’s no reason why OG can’t flirt with 15–17 points per game. That’s my expectation for him in 2020.
OG is going to have a lot of opportunities to shine and the Raptors brain trust is also going to want to see what they have with him because soon enough he’ll be up for an extension on his rookie deal. Alternatively, he can be a piece that is traded (blasphemy I know) for a superstar that becomes available (cough cough Bradley Beal). Essentially, the Raptors are motivated to increase OG’s stock for two reasons: 1) potential trade market 2) They got to see what this guy is. Can he be the second or third best player on a contender? We are going to find out this season.
Also, this team is still so young and this team also now has championship DNA. This season is not one to wave the white flag. Sure, we might have felt like that when Kawhi left but like I said, with each passing day, I look at this Raptors roster and I look at the rest of the NBA, and I’m starting to feel more and more confident that we can go toe-to-toe with Milwaukee in a playoff series. Will we win? I wouldn’t bet on that. But you know what? Stranger things have happened.
Can we go toe-to-toe with Philly? Maybe. We still have Gasol who essentially neutered Embiid during the postseason. Philly also lost Jimmy Butler (their lone player who did not seem overwhelmed by the moment). Are you really afraid of Ben “Shoot You Coward” Simmons? Absolutely not. You’re telling me we can’t go toe-to-toe with Philly? The notion that the Raptors could beat both teams in a hypothetical playoff series is not outside the realm of possibility.
One of the fun storylines I look forward to this season is when those who follow the NBA closely come to the realization that oh shit, the Raptors really are going to defend the throne properly.
Need I remind you that Siakam averaged just shy of 20 points per game in the Finals against the best team of the past five years. This is not going up against East also-rans (no disrespect). He did this for six games against the Golden State Warriors — the team they said nobody could beat. In Game 1, he dropped 32 points on 14-for-17 shooting. Siakam cooked Draymond Green whom many consider to be the league’s best defender. He hung him out to dry with all his spin moves. He bookmarked the Finals with a 26-point outing in the title clincher. He did this on the biggest stage against the greatest dynasty since the 90s Bulls. The question then becomes what is he going to do on a steady diet of East opponents like the Hornets?
On the biggest stage, Siakam did not look shook. Maybe against Philly he did look a little unlike himself — but I ascribe that more to the injury he was battling while also finding his swim legs against the elite teams who could game plan for him. In the Conference Finals, Siakam was part of The Wall that defended Giannis and then he entered the Finals and dropped 32 on Draymond’s head. The conversation after Game 1, if you recall, was that if Siakam continues to play like this, he could make an argument for Finals MVP.
Sure, Kawhi has left. But everything written above about Siakam is still true. Nothing has changed in regards to Siakam’s standing in the league and his unlimited potential. There is no reason to me why Siakam cannot be considered the third best player in the East behind Giannis and Embiid. Look, I know when we talk about the Eastern Conference, it’s almost talent by omission because the Western Conference is stacked. I don’t care. Siakam is an incredible player. He is a one-of-one. There is nobody else in the league who can do what he does.
However, to be fair, there is one other player he does remind of and that is Giannis. Obviously, presently, Giannis is in a tier all to himself. Giannis does everything at an elite level (minus the shooting part just yet). But you know what? Siakam is chipping away. He’s already doing things at a very good level. What’s the next tier after that? His game and his ceiling is essentially Giannis 2.0.
There is no other player in NBA history that Siakam compares to except for the Greak Freak. Need I remind you that Siakam can guard all five positions. He got All-NBA votes and All-Defensive Team votes this season. You know what types of players get both All-NBA & All-Defense votes? The elite players in the league. The players who can put your franchise on their back and lead them to the Finals. There is no reason he can’t be mentioned in the same breath as Embiid and Giannis.
Before I conclude, I want to remind everyone that last season was a fairy tale. Everything good that could have happened actually happened. I also had the privilege of witnessing a lot of these moments live and in-person. I was 10 or so rows behind the basket when Kawhi hit that Game 7 buzzer beater. It seemed like a dream when it happened. Sometimes I watch the replay and I can make myself out in the background jumping up and down — and I don’t even remember doing that! I was there for Game 6 versus the Bucks when it looked like a Game 7 may be on the horizon. But we came back and clinched the East that night. If my memory serves me correct, we were down double-digits in the third quarter and the team just looked flat. But somehow we shut Milwaukee down and stormed back to win the East. These are obviously moments that one cannot predict and these are moments that I never envisioned would happen to us as Raptors fans. Traditionally, we are the team that gets the buzzer beater against us, we are the team that misses the buzzer beater, and we are the team that blows the double-digit lead in the third quarter and eventually the series.
But after this fairy tale run to the title, I am noticing more of a confidence amongst Raptors fans (yours truly included). Not only does the team have championship DNA but Raptors fans now have championship DNA. Our palette and our taste for greatness is there. We are ready for more of those moments. It’s a shame that Kawhi is not going to author those moments but I guarantee you, one year from now, we will look back and be listing more incredible moments that happened during the 2019/2020 season that we never could have imagined happening — and they will happen.
I’m ready for the magic to begin. I’m ready to defend the North! Are you with me?
Until next time…
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