Pascal Siakam: "Toronto.. thank you for everything" - Player's Tribune

[ash_k]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

With a good coach 55 wins at the least, easy

[2019nbachamps]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

With a good coach 55 wins at the least, easy

We tried this with Scottie and couldn’t make the playoffs. Dame wouldn’t account for 15-20 more wins than Scottie. Also this team wouldn’t have depth so one injury could torpedo the season. Dame also had good supporting casts in Portland and made the WCF once.

Dame didn’t want to come here and it wouldn’t make sense to trade every asset we had for a bare bones roster. You need 8-10 good players to compete in the NBA.

[Los_29]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

With a good coach 55 wins at the least, easy

We tried this with Scottie and couldn’t make the playoffs. Dame wouldn’t account for 15-20 more wins than Scottie. Also this team wouldn’t have depth so one injury could torpedo the season. Dame also had good supporting casts in Portland and made the WCF once.

Dame didn’t want to come here and it wouldn’t make sense to trade every asset we had for a bare bones roster. You need 8-10 good players to compete in the NBA.

That would've been the best team Dame would have ever played on. He never had a good supporting cast in Portland.

I agree, they would lack depth and don't think it was the right time to make a trade like that.

[Hero_Panda]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

I was open to it but skeptical that core would be championship material

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

It's such a relief not having to witness his non-existent effort on defense while shrieking for foul calls every time he drives, super annoying player and between that and being force-fed a completely unqualified commentator in Alvin Williams on the broadcasts it would make you want to lose your mind some nights.

[YogurtProducer]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

I was open to it but skeptical that core would be championship material

I wanted to do it just because now we have a team where we again, are looking for a #1 option and probably will be for years.

We took the low risk route which is fine, but we are in a tough spot to get to a better place than we potentially could have been

[YogurtProducer]

It's such a relief not having to witness his non-existent effort on defense while shrieking for foul calls every time he drives, super annoying player and between that and being force-fed a completely unqualified commentator in Alvin Williams on the broadcasts it would make you want to lose your mind some nights.

Pathetic post.

Do you ever have anything good to say?


Personal attack, derailing discussion

[Clutch0z24]

I just think that if you could not see that Pascal was a net positive and a one in a generation talent, then why are you even following this game? How much better can we get, if we could not recognize someone like Pascal?

Wanting one player to do well, Barnes, while dumping all your high tier talent is not exactly a winning strategy. I just don't think Barnes is that player. I don't think he has the mental make up, nor the talent to carry a team on his back.... Pascal actually had that talent, OG had top 3 in the league specific talent. Barnes is not even that well known outside of Toronto... lots of fanbois jumped on his band wagon and are scratching everyone that plays better than him. As if that is the best way to teach a young player. If he can't shine himself, getting rid of more talented players than himself is only going to make him look good in comparison to mediocrity.

Barnes wasn't ready to step up when we had OG and Pascal and Poltl healthy, what makes you guys think he will be ready in 3 years?

Generation talent is a little much....Generation is a LeBron/Kobe/Magic/Kareem/Jordan/Shaq type....Siakam is in the Lowry/DeRozan/Stoudamire/Bosh/Gasol bracket of All stars...Guys who were good team players but can never lead your team even with a pretty good supporting cast around him....He could only be the guy who helps...Which the direction of our team the last few years we are not a team that could win with Siakam as the lead guy so for us to keep trying to do the same thing over and over post Kawhi with very minimal if any good results would be a idiotic move by Masai and would just be wasting years...

Again Siakam is a very good player...If we had Kawhi here still and a supporting cast similar to the cast we had in 2019 maxing out Siakam is a no brainer...He would be in the perfect role for him to succeed in...

But it was looking grim for a Kawhi level player to be available to us so holding onto a core of Siakam/OG/Yak/Barnes for many more years would just be pointless with no real chance at being contenders.

[DutchCanuck]

It's such a relief not having to witness his non-existent effort on defense while shrieking for foul calls every time he drives, super annoying player and between that and being force-fed a completely unqualified commentator in Alvin Williams on the broadcasts it would make you want to lose your mind some nights.

Pathetic post.

Do you ever have anything good to say?

Despite the negativity to be fair Alvin Williams is absolutely brutal. Nothing but basketball cliches adds absolutely zero entertainment value to the broadcast. Loved him as a player but he makes me fall asleep as a commentator.

[Clutch0z24]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

I was open to it but skeptical that core would be championship material

Dame can't lead a team to a title...Hes in the perfect scenario right now playing with a legit first option and an all time great in Giannis...Siakam is not on that level...So a Dame/Siakam pair is 2nd round exit at best imo.

[bape_lovers]

The board so bad now that posters would criticize commentators. What so bad about Alvin? He actually tell the viewers, raps ran this play etc. I thought it was pretty cool

It's such a relief not having to witness his non-existent effort on defense while shrieking for foul calls every time he drives, super annoying player and between that and being force-fed a completely unqualified commentator in Alvin Williams on the broadcasts it would make you want to lose your mind some nights.

Pathetic post.

Do you ever have anything good to say?

[Tha Cynic]

Just led the Pacers to wins over the Sixers and suns without Hali and has put on huge performances with style and flair. Scottie will never reach his level. And don't worry, I'll keep bringing this up for the next 4-5 years as Pascal continues to be All NBA

have you been watching this team for the last couple of seasons? We're here to try to make the team better not see how individual players put up stats while we go nowhere

That’s what players are doing now. Putting up stats while not coming close to winning. That is literally the definition of stat padding. Two years ago we won 48 games and last year we were a .500 team. Right now we stink. lol.

You all over the place lol.

First you supported them trading for Poeltl, then you thought it was terrible. Now you're mocking rebuilding and apparently not understanding why they're doing it. How many people use this account lol

[Tha Cynic]

I just think that if you could not see that Pascal was a net positive and a one in a generation talent, then why are you even following this game? How much better can we get, if we could not recognize someone like Pascal?

Wanting one player to do well, Barnes, while dumping all your high tier talent is not exactly a winning strategy. I just don't think Barnes is that player. I don't think he has the mental make up, nor the talent to carry a team on his back.... Pascal actually had that talent, OG had top 3 in the league specific talent. Barnes is not even that well known outside of Toronto... lots of fanbois jumped on his band wagon and are scratching everyone that plays better than him. As if that is the best way to teach a young player. If he can't shine himself, getting rid of more talented players than himself is only going to make him look good in comparison to mediocrity.

Barnes wasn't ready to step up when we had OG and Pascal and Poltl healthy, what makes you guys think he will be ready in 3 years?

You're thinking way too deeply about this and really I'm kind of missing the point of this post.

It's very simple - old team wasn't going anywhere. Something had to change so they didn't continue the same path as the Chicago Bulls. The players like Siakam and OG stopped caring and stopped playing defense. A trade was made after the GM traded a for rounder and devalued their pick when a generational player was available. The GM gave this team every opportunity to win. They didn't.

Have some respect for the Raptors. The Raptors are the ones who are getting behind Scottie Barnes. The Raptors are the ones who decided OG and Siakam weren't giving a **** on defense anymore. They're the ones who decided it's time for a new era. Why would Raptors fans not cheer for Scottie Barnes regardless of whether you think he's a superstar or not? Do we only cheer superstars around here? There are only like 3 or 4 of those in the entire league.

Also, whether they had Barnes or not, Siakam and OG were gone. They're just lucky they at least have someone of that talent level to start with.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

I was open to it but skeptical that core would be championship material

It also could have been KD - who is still absolutely dominant.

[Childs]

Watch on YouTube

[WuTang_CMB]

Watch on YouTube

[ForeverTFC]

Watch on YouTube

I was wondering why they did the jersey thing all of a sudden. Makes sense now.

[Raps in 4]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

With a good coach 55 wins at the least, easy

Giannis + Dame is on pace for 52 wins this season, but you're telling me Siakam + Dame would win 55?

Hell, Siakam joined a better PG than Dame in Indy and they haven't exactly lit the world on fire.

[earth007]

have you been watching this team for the last couple of seasons? We're here to try to make the team better not see how individual players put up stats while we go nowhere

That’s what players are doing now. Putting up stats while not coming close to winning. That is literally the definition of stat padding. Two years ago we won 48 games and last year we were a .500 team. Right now we stink. lol.

You all over the place lol.

First you supported them trading for Poeltl, then you thought it was terrible. Now you're mocking rebuilding and apparently not understanding why they're doing it. How many people use this account lol

The whole family of FVV.

[TheGeneral99]

I wonder how many would prefer a current team of:
Dame + Siakam + OG + Jak

With a good coach 55 wins at the least, easy

Giannis + Dame is on pace for 52 wins this season, but you're telling me Siakam + Dame would win 55?

Hell, Siakam joined a better PG than Dame in Indy and they haven't exactly lit the world on fire.

To be fair Haliburton has missed 7 out of 16 games since Siakam was traded and also on a low minute restriction (20 minutes) even when he was playing until last week.

Moreover, it took a few games for Giannis and Dame to gel, they started 5-4. Pacers are 8-8 since the trade despite Haliburton missing a ton.

I do think Dame, Siakam and OG probably is a 50 win team...Dame would fill one of the biggest issues with our team...scoring and shooting.

But regardless it would have been a bad trade because Dame is 33.