PerfectJab wrote:pingpongrac wrote:PerfectJab wrote:
I wouldn't say it's just his shot from range. In the past he was able to create his own shot with his spin move which has long been figured out. He was able to get easy buckets on the fast break that helped with his efficiency. Despite these being taken away, he's shooting at the same volume without the efficiency that warranted it. He definitely forces his shots.
He needs to add additional offense to his arsenal. As a number one option there is no excuse to having nothing automatic.
Also... 22/7/4 is a decent stat line until you see that it is on 17.7 per (81st in the league) at the forward position.
51 out of 68 at the PF position in terms of TS%.
As it stands right now, he really needs to improve.
Except it really is just his outside shot that fell off last season and he was very good everywhere else. If he gets the outside shooting touch back, he's a top 20 player again.
Siakam in 2019/20: 64% in the restricted area, 38% in the paint (non-RA), 31% in the midrange, 36% behind the arc
Siakam in 2020/21: 63% in the restricted area, 43% in the paint (non-RA), 39% in the midrange, 30% behind the arc
If Siakam shot the same percentage on his 3FGA as the two seasons prior (~36.5%), he would have finished last season averaging 22.3/7.2/4.5 on 57 TS%. Suddenly his numbers look like that of a sure-fire all-star and even without that improvement he's still a top 5 PF for sure when considering both ends of the floor.
The hate is ridiculous. So many people on this board talk of Siakam like he's not even a top 40 player.
I don't know if you can call it hate, more basing what he is on what he has done vs what he may potentially do. As it stands right now it is arguable that he is a top 40 player and if he is it's right at the 40.
There are a lot of stats we can throw at each other (yours.. raw stats, mine.. advanced stats based on efficiency) but I would say PER is pretty indicative of what a player is, especially with high usage. He hasn't cracked over 20 (playoffs or reg season) once in his career even as the number one option for 2 years. That's not good.. I can't think of a single player with a usage % over 25% in the forward position that is less efficient can you? If you can, what type of player is he? Probably not very efficient.
I'll end it by saying I think it's amazing what he has done. He was supposed to be a scrub. Just calling him for what he is, a fringe allstar that has been given the keys to a franchise due to lack of options and his stats are inflated as a result.
As a Rap's fan I want him to be as good as you say he is, I just don't see it. He needs to improve.
PER isn't the end all be all for determining a player's ranking in the league. It paints a bit of a picture as to how productive a player is, but there are a lot of "top" players from last year that stick out like a sore thumb in the top 25 (Zion at 4, Robert Williams at 9, JV at 14, Capela at 15 and Harrell at 22) and there were plenty of all-star level players that didn't even crack the top 50 (Brown at 52, Randle at 53, Booker at 59, Simmons at 69, Murray at 70, Middleton at 71, Siakam at 81, etc.). Also, Boucher led Toronto with a 22 PER (28th) while FVV and Lowry didn't even crack the top 100 in PER last season.
When looking at USG% and TS%, it's true that Siakam doesn't grade out very well among high-scoring forwards. That being said, Siakam (26 USG% and 55 TS%) was pretty comparable to AD (29 USG% and 56 TS%), Randle (29 USG% and 57 TS%) and Tatum (30 USG% and 58 TS%) last year while he had a better AST/TO ratio than all 3. When you continue to dig deeper into the stats (on/off rating, defensive versatility, etc.) and consider the fact that Siakam was affected by the pandemic more than anyone else -- because he couldn't work out for months during the first shutdown, had to play on the road for ~80 games straight and actually tested positive for COVID at one point -- he's really not that far off at all to those 3 players last season. Why are two of those players (Tatum and AD) universally considered to be top 10-15 players in the league and the other (Randle) is already rated higher than Siakam after one outlier shooting season (2.3 3FGM on 41% after averaging 0.4 3FGM on 29% in his first 5 seasons) despite laying an even bigger egg in the playoffs against the Hawks than Siakam against a far superior Celtics team?
It seems to me that a lot of people on this board just have an agenda to belittle players on our own team while propping up others, or their expectations are just way too high. With all of the struggles Siakam went through in the past 18 months, he still put up 22/7/4 while being a very good defender the past two seasons. For someone getting paid 2.3M in 19/20 then as the ~30th highest earning player in the league last season, that's good value. Obviously he can improve in some areas and as fans we should hope for improvement, but it's unfair to expect him to be putting up 25/8/5 type numbers on 60 TS% while still being a very good defender. There are no more than 5 players in the entire league putting up similar numbers while still having a positive impact on the defensive end.