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Siakam is averaging 28ppg/10rpg/7apg through 3 games vs. strong playoff teams (CLE, BKN, MIA) while shooting 53% from the field this season.

Now you might say "that's only a 3 game sample" but he's been putting up these exact numbers for quite some time now dating back to last season...

He averaged 27ppg/9rpg/6apg over the course of the last 20 games of last season, while shooting 52% from the field.



So all together we have a reliable 24 game sample to come to the conclusion that this is the new norm for Siakam. He's quite easily a top 15 player in the league (IMO) and only continues to get better.
It's also worth noting that 15 of his last 24 games (excluding the playoffs) came against playoff teams, so he's been putting up ELITE numbers against ELITE opposition.

These are MVP numbers folks. People laughed at this man when he said he wants to be a top 5 player. I can easily see him finishing the season as a top 10 player in the league.

There's no slowing him down. You can see a bit of a change in his demeanor this season as well.. from crossing his arms after splashing a 3 in the defenders face, as to say it's too easy for him, to yelling "I CAN DO THAT, I CAN DO THAT TOO" to the crowd after hitting some step back Js. We're only a couple games into the season but you can tell Pascal is brimming with confidence right now. He's on the verge of superstardom!

Something Rico during training camp really stood out to me, "Pascal is addicted to being great" and he also said something along the lines of Siakam being a MEAN player now. Rico knows Pascal better than anyone and if there's one man that isn't surprised with how Siakam has been performing, it's him.

Buckle up, this is gonna be one SPICY season. Siakam is on one!!!

TLDR: Siakam is averaging about 28ppg/10rpg/7apg over his last 24 teams (15 of which have come against playoff teams) while shooting nearly 53% from the field.



Scary hours indeed...

This is what people were looking at in the offseason when they claimed he has a chance to be a top 10 player. Those are absolutely top 10 numbers so I really don't get why there was some backlash there.

Pascal appears to have elevated his game once again. He continues to get better. With Scottie looking way better and more comfortable, the timing couldn't be more perfect. We are going to be getting peak Pascal in a year or two with Scottie possibly emerging as an all-star caliber player.

He will get All-Star this year and finally be a respected top 15 name.

yep, pascal is really on the cusp. just gotta keep it up. consistency is what separates the superstars

Brinbe wrote:yep, pascal is really on the cusp. just gotta keep it up. consistency is what separates the superstars

Also big shot taking and big shot making. In high leverage situations like the playoffs. Lots of guys put up big numbers but only a few are like what I described above and those guys imo are in a league of their own.

If Pascal makes all-nba he is eligible for the super max.. which is 35% of the cap. So even if Pascal ends up having a tremendous season.. he's going to get ripped apart by Raptor fans eventually again.

35% of the cap in 2024 (for an estimated $136M salary cap) with 8% raises could be about $53.5M per year of a 4 year contract extension or about $55M per year of a 5 year contract extension.

Super stardom has a price

planetmars wrote:If Pascal makes all-nba he is eligible for the super max.. which is 35% of the cap. So even if Pascal ends up having a tremendous season.. he's going to get ripped apart by Raptor fans eventually again.

35% of the cap in 2024 (for an estimated $136M salary cap) with 8% raises could be about $53.5M per year of a 4 year contract extension or about $55M per year of a 5 year contract extension.

Super stardom has a price

Excellent points - says a lot more about the fanbase though, unfortunately. Pascal has been amazing.

He won't be on the brink of anything until he's the best player on the court in a playoff series.

We all know regular season warriors

planetmars wrote:If Pascal makes all-nba he is eligible for the super max.. which is 35% of the cap. So even if Pascal ends up having a tremendous season.. he's going to get ripped apart by Raptor fans eventually again.

35% of the cap in 2024 (for an estimated $136M salary cap) with 8% raises could be about $53.5M per year of a 4 year contract extension or about $55M per year of a 5 year contract extension.

Super stardom has a price

Imagine

Somebody please add what Kyrie said about Pascal post game here.

I was thinking about what he has shown from the end of last season to know and how in my mind, I have already decided he is a star.

This was a great post to read when I logged in today. Thanks OP!

Live Free wrote:He won't be on the brink of anything until he's the best player on the court in a playoff series.

We all know regular season warriors

Was Tatum the best player in any series last year? KD, Giannis, Butler and Curry.

Los_29 wrote:

Live Free wrote:He won't be on the brink of anything until he's the best player on the court in a playoff series.

We all know regular season warriors

Was Tatum the best player in any series last year? KD, Giannis, Butler and Curry.

All better than pascal in a series

There needs to be a consolidation trade or two to surround him with better shooters.

Pascal is a triple double threat every game , if other players could/would finish better....

He's doing all this without any sorta consistent shooting around him too

Live Free wrote:

Los_29 wrote:

Live Free wrote:He won't be on the brink of anything until he's the best player on the court in a playoff series.

We all know regular season warriors

Was Tatum the best player in any series last year? KD, Giannis, Butler and Curry.

All better than pascal in a series

That doesn't answer my question.

Los_29 wrote:

Live Free wrote:

Los_29 wrote:
Was Tatum the best player in any series last year? KD, Giannis, Butler and Curry.

All better than pascal in a series

That doesn't answer my question.

Yeah he was the best player on the court in the Nets series bucks series and heat series.. Whats your point?

Anyways stop givin asscal passes were here talking about asking him to get out of the measly first round. The guys you've named have all lead their teams to the finals.

Live Free wrote:

Los_29 wrote:

Live Free wrote:
All better than pascal in a series

That doesn't answer my question.

Yeah he was the best player on the court in the Nets series bucks series and heat series.. Whats your point?

Anyways stop givin asscal passes were here talking about asking him to get out of the measly first round. The guys you've named have all lead their teams to the finals.

Wow, this is unbelievable. Let me get this straight, are you saying that Tatum was better than Giannis in the Bucks series? And he was better than Butler in the Heat series?

Siakam has been on the cusp of superstardom since he started to get healthy last year. He had a slow start because he didn't have a typical offseason then was thrown right into the swing of things when most teams/players had 5 preseason games and 10 regular season games under their belts. In his first 8 games of 21/22, he averaged 17.8/6.6/3.4 on 48% shooting with a 1.5:1 AST/TO ratio then he turned it on and put up 23.5/8.8/5.6 on 50% shooting with a better than 2:1 AST/TO ratio in his last 60 games and carried that over into the playoffs as he put up 22.8/7.2/5.8 on 48% shooting with a 2.5:1 AST/TO ratio against the Sixers in the 1st round. He did all of this despite having much offensive talent around him while also being an impactful defender.

The main things holding Siakam back from being considered a superstar are playoff success, consistency and the fact that he plays in Toronto. His playoff "woes" have been largely exaggerated; he was terrible in the bubble against the Celtics and he was mostly underwhelming against the Bucks in 2019, but he has been good (19/6/2 vs Sixers, 21/8/5 vs Nets) or great (20/8/4 vs Warriors, 23/8/3 vs Magic, 23/7/6 vs Sixers) in every other series since taking on a bigger role. Similarly, his consistency last season was very impressive as he scored 20+ points in 2/3 of his games, grabbed 7+ boards in 2/3 of his games and dished out 5+ assists in just under 2/3 of his games and he is off to a great start this season. Most of his bad games last season came at the start of his campaign (2 single-digit scoring games in the first 5 games) or coming out of the all-star break when he was sick (12/6/5 on 29% shooting the first 4 games post-ASB), but he was elite for the other 90% of the year. The last factor (playing in Toronto) is one that will hopefully be less noticeable as the team improves while someone like Scottie (or Siakam himself) continues to impress the NBA and forces more eyes to be on the Raptors.

On a semi-related note, didn't OP state that Siakam doesn't have it in him to be a #1 option after a bad G3 against the Sixers just a few months ago then made a thread about how we should move on from him as well as FVV?

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what are y'all even talking about? we literally don't win a championship without pascal. he literally scored the winning bucket for us. he's already prove himself in that regard.





conflating regular season production/consistency (which is what OP is talking about) with postseason performance is conflating wildly different things and doesn't really make sense in this conversation anyway.

OG was clutch in that Boston bubble series but does anyone care about that now? moments like that don't matter in the grand scheme compartively.

Curry missed that shot in game 6 against us, is he a scrub now?

pingpongrac wrote:Siakam has been on the cusp of superstardom since he started to get healthy last year. He had a slow start because he didn't have a typical offseason then was thrown right into the swing of things when most teams/players had 5 preseason games and 10 regular season games under their belts. In his first 8 games of 21/22, he averaged 17.8/6.6/3.4 on 48% shooting with a 1.5:1 AST/TO ratio then he turned it on and put up 23.5/8.8/5.6 on 50% shooting with a better than 2:1 AST/TO ratio in his last 60 games and carried that over into the playoffs as he put up 22.8/7.2/5.8 on 48% shooting with a 2.5:1 AST/TO ratio against the Sixers in the 1st round. He did all of this despite having much offensive talent around him while also being an impactful defender.

The main things holding Siakam back from being considered a superstar are playoff success, consistency and the fact that he plays in Toronto. His playoff "woes" have been largely exaggerated; he was terrible in the bubble against the Celtics and he was mostly underwhelming against the Bucks in 2019, but he has been good (19/6/2 vs Sixers, 21/8/5 vs Nets) or great (20/8/4 vs Warriors, 23/8/3 vs Magic, 23/7/6 vs Sixers) in every other series since taking on a bigger role. Similarly, his consistency last season was very impressive as he scored 20+ points in 2/3 of his games, grabbed 7+ boards in 2/3 of his games and dished out 5+ assists in just under 2/3 of his games and he is off to a great start this season. Most of his bad games last season came at the start of his campaign (2 single-digit scoring games in the first 5 games) or coming out of the all-star break when he was sick (12/6/5 on 29% shooting the first 4 games post-ASB), but he was elite for the other 90% of the year. The last factor (playing in Toronto) is one that will hopefully be less noticeable as the team improves while someone like Scottie (or Siakam himself) continues to impress the NBA and forces more eyes to be on the Raptors.

On a semi-related note, didn't OP state that Siakam doesn't have it in him to be a #1 option after a bad G3 against the Sixers just a few months ago then made a thread about how we should move on from him as well as FVV?

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I still remember that thread. Legendary thread with epic overreactions.