Playoffs Mode Siakam

[Anticon]

It's amazing what a guy with his talent can do when surrounded by players who are actually legit threats to make a three more than 25% of the time. I've been saying for years how his game was negatively impacted by the dearth of outside shooting on the raptors but I guess it's easier to say "he's a great no. 2 or no. 3 but can't be relied upon for anything more".

He is still a great number 2 or 3 though. He depends upon having a more dominant offensive option he can play off of to be successful at this level.

It's great to see him being back that 2019 form when he had that type of roster. But as we saw in 2020, 2022 and 2023, he isn't viable as a first option.

Now whether the Raps should have gotten a better return or built differently around him is a separate question .

[Los_29]

There was no reason to trade him then. 48 wins and the ROTY.

Ever heard of contingency planning? Obviously not. There's always a reason.

If you love Siakam that much then you re-sign him. If you think he's overrated then you don't waste years building around him and look to trade him prior to his contract year. It's really that simple but the homers can't take off their kneepads lol.

They didn’t build around him.

Man, no offense to you but you take this stuff way too seriously. You need to calm down and realize this is just a sport. “Homers can’t take off their kneepads.” How old are you man?

[Los_29]

Dude is a great player. Always has been. We got a bag of chips for him because he was expiring this summer. Masai waited too long to trade him. Had we traded him two seasons ago when some of us wanted to, we would have gotten a similar haul that Utah got for Gobert or Mitchell.

There was no reason to trade him then. 48 wins and the ROTY.

Ever heard of contingency planning? Obviously not. There's always a reason.

Not a good reason. That’s the point.

[TorontoBarneys]

Siakam could have worked out in Toronto but the situation was clearly unfavorable for that. Bad timeline between him and Scottie, bad roster construction not maximizing his skillset and Scottie's. He's gone and the roster has changed dramatically but it's still not close to fully utilizing Scottie's skillset alone, nevermind both of them on the same team. The Poeltl trade was narrowminded and idiotic.

I'm glad he's in a better situation now and I'm rooting for him because the Bucks are easy to dislike these days. Gonna be fun watching him next year with a full season under his belt and a (hopefully) fully healthy Haliburton who's unlocked more of his potential.

Anyway I do find it funny how the thread is just the Raptors forum still airing out their various grievances with each other. Bitterness never rests.

[ItsDanger]

There was no reason to trade him then. 48 wins and the ROTY.

Ever heard of contingency planning? Obviously not. There's always a reason.

Not a good reason. That’s the point.

It is a good reason. Several more also. But just from a planning perspective, didn't they know if they were willing to extend him beyond 2024? You prepare for various outcomes. They didn't. Unless finishing 6th last without your 1st round pick guaranteed was part of it.

[Tor_Raps]

Ever heard of contingency planning? Obviously not. There's always a reason.

If you love Siakam that much then you re-sign him. If you think he's overrated then you don't waste years building around him and look to trade him prior to his contract year. It's really that simple but the homers can't take off their kneepads lol.

They didn’t build around him.

Man, no offense to you but you take this stuff way too seriously. You need to calm down and realize this is just a sport. “Homers can’t take off their kneepads.” How old are you man?

They obviously didn't do anything around Siakam as evident by what we got back for him. And I'm really not that serious... it's actually funny when I read the views of people who support what we got back for Siakam. Just shows the delusion loll.

[ConSarnit]

Siakam is a good player but dear lord how much context is being missed here.

Playing with Hali and Turner is far more ideal for Siakam’s game than anything the Raptors could have put on the floor. It shouldn’t be shocking a guy plays better with one of the best point guards in the league and a floor spacing C.

Also, here are Siakam’s shooting stats for the first 2 playoff games:

Rim: 78%
Midrange: 61%
3pt: 50%

So yeah, if Siakam has suddenly become the greatest shooter of all-time then the Raptors got ripped off. Call me crazy but I feel like his shooting is due for a regression.

I like Siakam but he’s in a way better situation with the Pacers and he’s shooting unbelievably hot right now.

[dickfox]

Sigh...we got robbed by the Pacers didn't we?

Raps knew what they were giving up. Would have been nice to have that Pacers pick turn into 15th instead of 19th but were they really going to pay Siakam the max when he's over 30? Nah.

Barnes, Barrett, Quickley are pretty decent moving forward with. Maybe they can turn Bruce Brown into something this offseason and they luck out with that 19th pick.

[oldncreaky]

Siakam could have worked out in Toronto but the situation was clearly unfavorable for that. Bad timeline between him and Scottie, bad roster construction not maximizing his skillset and Scottie's. He's gone and the roster has changed dramatically but it's still not close to fully utilizing Scottie's skillset alone, nevermind both of them on the same team. The Poeltl trade was narrowminded and idiotic.

I'm glad he's in a better situation now and I'm rooting for him because the Bucks are easy to dislike these days. Gonna be fun watching him next year with a full season under his belt and a (hopefully) fully healthy Haliburton who's unlocked more of his potential.

Anyway I do find it funny how the thread is just the Raptors forum still airing out their various grievances with each other. Bitterness never rests.

Re: the bolded: brilliant! This should be the subtitle for the Raptors forum!

I too am glad that Siakam is in a good place, and showing out. I'm happy for Pacers fans as well.

And I'm still a little bummed that Toronto's FO never tried putting a real C and more than 1 NBA-level guard with the Siakam_OG-Barnes trio. I think the trio had some potential, but it's history now and we'll never know if it was workable.

[Slimjimzv]

I hope this helps put the Masai Ujiri conversation to rest. He's awful. Has been for years.

[phanman]

He's really done a great job integrating himself into that team and if you know his make-up you knew that he was always going to make it work. The Bucks just don't have the personnel to cover him. Lopez and Portis lack the foot speed to stay with him and Crowder is just too small. He now has an ideal supporting cast around him to accentuate his strengths as a finisher with real playmakers in Hali, TJ and Nembhard along with a plethora of guys able to space the floor for him. In Toronto, he was just relied to do too much and without the spacing that Indiana provides him now teams were able to just load up.

With all that said, what he is doing now is unreal. His moves look quick, decisive and his movements overall look fluid. You know Pascal is really in groove when you he is getting double digit rebounds. 13 and 11 rebounds is sort of an anomaly but him initiating the fast break has always been a fruitful strategy to jumpstart the offense. With Hali clearly still struggling, he's been a god-send for a team with a real chance to upset the Bucks if Giannis can't return soon.

On the Raptors front, it is what it is. The front office screwed up building around the previous core and a change needed to be made. The Pascal we see today is not the same one that would have finish the season in Toronto. If you can't see that, then you really need to get a grip on the reality of the team. Was the package we got from Indiana ideal? - No, but you take what you can get from a guy the team wasn't going to extend and going to leave anyways with his less than ideal fit next to Scottie.

[rockmanslim]

Siakam when he sees any Buck other than Giannis trying to guard him

[yoadknux]

Siakam is a good player but dear lord how much context is being missed here.

Playing with Hali and Turner is far more ideal for Siakam’s game than anything the Raptors could have put on the floor. It shouldn’t be shocking a guy plays better with one of the best point guards in the league and a floor spacing C.

Also, here are Siakam’s shooting stats for the first 2 playoff games:

Rim: 78%
Midrange: 61%
3pt: 50%

So yeah, if Siakam has suddenly become the greatest shooter of all-time then the Raptors got ripped off. Call me crazy but I feel like his shooting is due for a regression.

I like Siakam but he’s in a way better situation with the Pacers and he’s shooting unbelievably hot right now.

I also don't think the Raps were ripped off, what if he leaves Indy in the summer - Were the Raps ripped off then? He's a 30 years old expiring contract.

[MadDogSHWA]

I’ll be the first to admit that I did not think Siakim had this level of play in him. We’ll see if he can keep it up!

I'd be a lot more impressed if he wasn't resting on D.

[Quattro]

There was no reason to trade him then. 48 wins and the ROTY.

Ever heard of contingency planning? Obviously not. There's always a reason.

If you love Siakam that much then you re-sign him. If you think he's overrated then you don't waste years building around him and look to trade him prior to his contract year. It's really that simple but the homers can't take off their kneepads lol.

Or maybe some people aren't "hindsight GMs" where everything looks so simple two years after the fact.

[Quattro]

There was no reason to trade him then. 48 wins and the ROTY.

Ever heard of contingency planning? Obviously not. There's always a reason.

If you love Siakam that much then you re-sign him. If you think he's overrated then you don't waste years building around him and look to trade him prior to his contract year. It's really that simple but the homers can't take off their kneepads lol.

Or maybe some people aren't "hindsight GMs" where everything looks so simple two years after the fact.

[Tor_Raps]

Ever heard of contingency planning? Obviously not. There's always a reason.

If you love Siakam that much then you re-sign him. If you think he's overrated then you don't waste years building around him and look to trade him prior to his contract year. It's really that simple but the homers can't take off their kneepads lol.

Or maybe some people aren't "hindsight GMs" where everything looks so simple two years after the fact.

Feel free to go check my reaction to the Siakam trade and how Masai handled his situation beforehand. Nothing hindsight about common sense sir lol.

[nikster]

There was no reason to trade him then. 48 wins and the ROTY.

What you want to do is trade your best players in the middle of decent contracts as soon as they are exactly at their prime. And you just keep doing that over and over so you can continue to win 48 games.

Yeah it’s pretty shocking that people think that’s what you’re supposed to do. lol.

Yeah its a funny reaction to him playing well. "You see how great he is? we should have gotten rid of him ages ago"
Maybe the reaction should be "can see why Masai wanted to hold onto him, especially since he loves Toronto"

[YogurtProducer]

And Portland won the coin flip and lost Wemby. And probably/likely out tank the Raptors anyway?

This thread is about Siakam, not Poeltl, tanking, unreal expectations of Wemby, how the Raptors finished, what they wanted to accomplish etc. I'm sure there's 100 places for those same old complaints. I'm not going to continue and get into 5 different arguments here about your FOMO that don't really apply, sorry.

I was explaining the offers for Siakam were never great, explaining how it makes sense, and talking about how he's playing. Because you have people assuming there were great offers on the table and the Raptors just derp gave him away instead.

Yeah I dont get why people point to Portland as some success story.

Ending up with Scoot currently to me seems like a nightmare. Literally one of the worst players in the NBA this past year.

would you rather have Scoot or the 19th pick this year, Agbachi and a 2026 pick? I would take Scoot.
also we didn't even give ourselves a chance by gunning for the play-in (who knows why). Raptors jumped in the lottery and got Barnes. We intentionally tanked that year just to give ourselves a chance. Yea, you may not get the #1 pick but if you gun for the play-in, you don't even give yourselves the chance.

But that is not even a reasonable hypothetical.

The question is would you rather have Dick + Agbaji + #19 + 2026 Pick + Bruce Brown OR trade in 2023 Siakam for whatever you could get in 2023 and MAYBE move up the #2

[YogurtProducer]

Siakam is a good player but dear lord how much context is being missed here.

Playing with Hali and Turner is far more ideal for Siakam’s game than anything the Raptors could have put on the floor. It shouldn’t be shocking a guy plays better with one of the best point guards in the league and a floor spacing C.

Also, here are Siakam’s shooting stats for the first 2 playoff games:

Rim: 78%
Midrange: 61%
3pt: 50%

So yeah, if Siakam has suddenly become the greatest shooter of all-time then the Raptors got ripped off. Call me crazy but I feel like his shooting is due for a regression.

I like Siakam but he’s in a way better situation with the Pacers and he’s shooting unbelievably hot right now.

Even more context is missing that Toronto Siakam this year pre trade was putting up these #'s already.