prime1time wrote:Siakam's a very awkward offensive player. He can shoot 3's and he can use his length to finish at the hoop, but simply lacks the offensive polish to become an elite scorer. So the chances of him being top 5 player are slim to none. And that's not even a diss to him. You have to match expectations to talent. Fans love to set unreleaistic expectations, but unless you'll be holding that player to those expectations during the season all your post serves as is a physical manifestation of your self-delusion. Are you going to say Siakam's season is a failure if he averages 24, 7 and 4? Because even if he does that he won't be top 5. Meanwhile you got guys like LBJ who, if they put up 24, 7 and 4 people would say he's completely lost it. Siakam's nowhere close to being a top 5 player. And to post that he might be without any real evidence to back-up your claim is a textbook example of self-delusion.
You know what's funny? Earlier this season there was a thread here on the general board, don't remember the exact topic or if it was Siakam related but the subject did come up if you would rather have Siakam or Ben Simmons. Of course the overwhelming majority laughed this off and to even suggest that we compare the two is downright offensive. Everyone was on the mindset that Simmons was several tiers above Siakam. At that time Siakam was still mired in relative obscurity. Prior to this season he was a bench player that our coach Dwayne Casey made a conscious effort to run our offensive schemes around Derozan and Lowry. Didn't matter if Derozan was shooting 2 for 20 that night, come hell or high water Derozan was going to carry the offensive load and the other players were given "role cards". Valanciunas' job was to grab rebounds. As Zach Lowe pointed out they never passed it to Siakam. His job was to be an energy hustle guy.
So the season began, we got a new coach who is self described as a "mad scientist". He isn't afraid to experiment throughout the season and to give guys the platform to succeed. Then came Siakam's improvement and he started breaking out. I'm seeing him shoot the 3 ball at a 40% clip and the months passed by and he keeps getting better and better. I always thought if he can improve his jumpshot he'll be something special.
Anyways in the thread I stated my opinion, kind of hot-takey at the time that I said I would rather have Siakam and that he will end up a better player than Ben Simmons. Of course this caused a firestorm with the Philly and general board fans saying that I was DELUSIONAL, very much like how the tone of this thread has become. That I needed to put down the crack pipe. Even a few "fake raptor fans who wants to appease the general board" chimed in saying I was out of my mind.
My take on Simmons is although I think he's an elite talent, until he improves his jumpshot he's going to be a liability in the playoffs. Teams can game plan for him as we've seen over and over again.
Fast forward to the end of the season and guess what Sports Illustrated's top 100 has Siakam rated at 24 and Ben Simmons at 23. Whether you think whoever is better between the two is subjective. They're a lot closer than people want to believe. I guess I wasn't delusional after all. I've seen every single second of every game of Siakam's NBA career. I believe what I'm seeing with my own 2 eyes. He can be something special if he keeps improving at this rate.
The playoffs came and Siakam elevates his game against the best defense the league has to offer. He's proven that he can be the 2nd best player on a championship team. Simmons once again proves to be a non factor.
So what does all this has to do with this thread? A lot of what you're saying has the same tenor as the previous thread mentioned above back a year ago. Saying that I'm delusional, unrealistic. You say that he lacks the offensive polish to be an elite scorer. Sure, right now he does but what do you think he's been working on? Saying that his chances are slim to none. How do you know this? Siakam is 25, he has all the physical tools to improve and get better. Is top 5 a reach? of course but I believe he can get better and get there.
Had I made this thread last year and said that Siakam was going to be a top 25 player, I would be laughed at and ridiculed. He was a bench role player at that time. Where would you have ranked Siakam then, top 200 maybe? He was practically an unknown. It's actually understated how much he has improved that SI would rank him 24. I think to make that jump from unknown role player to top 25ish is phenomenal, maybe a bigger leap than from top 25 to top 5? I don't know.
I like Siakam, but this is laughable.
). He's going to give Siakam every opportunity to succeed and he's already told him that he's going to be the man this season. Fantasy players make sure you pick him up early. I told yall last year before the season started that Siakam is going to have a breakout year based on all the praise that Durant and all the star players gave him after they saw him workout in the preseason. I'm telling you again he's going to break out again and reach another level. 
