RealGM

How good is Siakam defensively?

Who uses a 100 point scale and 70 is terrible? but he's really good but maybe just a step from truly elite.

I would say his on-ball defense is slightly above average. He's not very strong, doesn't have the best anticipation and can commit bad fouls. But he moves his feet well, and mostly plays with a good motor - he closes out on shooters well. He won't shut down a star but he can make things tough on them. His team defense is better imo - I wanna say that's where he gets most of his blocks.

He’s not going to get targeted nor would he be hidden on the opponent worse offensive player .

mdonnelly1989 wrote:How good is Siakam defensively?

3x better than OG can for certain.

He's 6,5/10, not a difference maker, not a target.

He's in the 80-89 range when engaged. That 2019 Raptors' team was a juggernaut defensively and he was a major part of that. He's not going to be attacked on defense and he has the size to defend big wings like Tatum or Jimmy Butler, something indiana sorely lacks.

He fluctuates from 80-89 imo. Recently closer to 80 but he hasn't had much reason to go hard on D in recent years.

Depends on motivated he is to exert effort on that end of the floor. It's really up to Carlisle imo. When pushed, he is a locked in and engaged team defender.

80-84 overall but given the right environment he can be just short of an elite one.

Seeing him after the title win, he's at best average. He really saw a DPM increase sharing the floor with Kawhi in 2019.

I think he's generally good defender but he really hasn't been so far this year, his rotations have been pretty bad. Hopefully the change of scenery makes him more engaged.

Playoff Siakam was always a really, really good defender.

On IND I expect his effort level returns and he turns back into a high level 2-way guy

He's a guy who can be on the court for a great defense, but he himself is not great.

meekrab wrote:He's a guy who can be on the court for a great defense, but he himself is not great.

Dude got all-defense votes in 2020 when he did not have to expend as much offensive energy.

his individual defense has been declining the last 3 years.

but new team, new system - he may be adequate but not a game changer there.

YogurtProducer wrote:

meekrab wrote:He's a guy who can be on the court for a great defense, but he himself is not great.

Dude got all-defense votes in 2020 when he did not have to expend as much offensive energy.

Kobe got all defense votes regularly.

Votes are a terrible metric of anything.

Used to be elite and has become an average defender overall at best. He was average to above average as a man defender but absolutely horrible as a team defender.

Dude doesn't contest shots around the rim or try to stop guys EVER, which is evident by his 0.3BPG. He is much better on the perimeter but the Raptors didn't understand that for some reason...

74.5.

Siakam is way better than what he showed. I applaud him for being professional while feeling slighted and facing high minute totals/workload but the effort hasn’t been there. He’s going to help Indiana on defense a lot by simply not being obi toppin

Better than most people think. He hasn't been engaged recently with the Raptors being lousy but I'm expecting his defense to show back up in Indiana. His defense is one reason he fits there so well, there is a lot of bad defense to cover up in Indiana.