What player makes the most Siakam-like jump in 2019-2020

[Marcus]

Blazer fans are hoping it's Zach Collins and/or Anfernee Simons. They'll have the opportunities but they are still really young; Siakam was 3 years older when he had his 'jump'

maybe Jaren Jackson although it's harder to improve on 14 & 5. How about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

I can't see Collins jumping. He just seems solid. Simons really could but his time will still be limited, barring major injury.

One guy I really like on Portland is Skal. I hope he gets an opportunity to show out with Nurkic out.

Still have hope for Skal but log jam on a contender is gonna be tough for him. Whiteside is holding the block till Nurk gets back and they still love Zach Collins.


Same thing with Anfernee having to wait behind Dame and CJ over there.

[Frank Dux]

Brandon Ingram will break out.

[Marcus]

Brandon Ingram will break out.

how far into the season do you give him before he takes on number option responsibilities on that team?

[Scalabrine]

Derrick Jones jr

You know, I've seen a few Heat fans mention him as a young asset or building block and it has me wondering...

What is it about him outside of his tremendous dunking ability that gets people excited? He can't shoot, his defensive numbers are good but not great (maybe better in person?), he's not a playmaker for other, I guess he's a good rebounder for his size but that's largely scheme based for a lot of players (and that's supported by his reb% taking a big jump in Miami compared to Phoenix).

What do you guys, who watch him more often, see in him that the numbers don't show? What makes you think he's ready to take the next step and be an above average starter/borderline All-Star in the league? What makes him better than guys like Torrey Craig, Pat Cannaughton, Mario Hezonja, Alfonzo McKinnie, or Royce O'Neal (capable rotation players, but not stars or even starters on most teams) ?

[Frank Dux]

Brandon Ingram will break out.

how far into the season do you give him before he takes on number option responsibilities on that team?

Maybe the second half? Jrue is the Pelicans best player but Zion will probably get first option touches, and I think he’ll fizzle out as the season progresses.

[Marcus]

Brandon Ingram will break out.

how far into the season do you give him before he takes on number option responsibilities on that team?

Maybe the second half? Jrue is the Pelicans best player but Zion will probably get first option touches, and I think he’ll fizzle out as the season progresses.

Zion at no point NEEDS to be first option this season. If i'm Nawlins i'm using him similar to AD's rookie year where he was basically energy and defense. there's enough sustainable offense there to not need to pile that level of responsibility on him. he can still be super productive catching lobs, getting put back buckets, wrecking havoc on defense and scoring in transition, dump offs, flashes, and dives, bring that monster along slowly especially considering what else is there for use.


Back to Ingram if he can still get to his spots on the floor without problem then i'm thinking give him the chance to be the guy early on (at least from the elbow in). If that looks good stretch him out a little further until he looks like a capable 3 level guy. as much as i love Jrue (and i loveeeeee me some Jrue) don't think he's an ideal first option. I know he can give you 20 a night but those ISO limitations are there for certain matchups so they need someone like Ingram to make that leap and show the consistency he was gaining before he got hurt. Hope the kid comes back healthy.

[Mauro Pedrosa]

I love Isaac but our team has the ‘too many cooks’ problem.

I don’t think Isaac and AG will reach their full potential while Vuc is on the same team

[TerryTate]

Derrick Jones jr

You know, I've seen a few Heat fans mention him as a young asset or building block and it has me wondering...

What is it about him outside of his tremendous dunking ability that gets people excited? He can't shoot, his defensive numbers are good but not great (maybe better in person?), he's not a playmaker for other, I guess he's a good rebounder for his size but that's largely scheme based for a lot of players (and that's supported by his reb% taking a big jump in Miami compared to Phoenix).

What do you guys, who watch him more often, see in him that the numbers don't show? What makes you think he's ready to take the next step and be an above average starter/borderline All-Star in the league? What makes him better than guys like Torrey Craig, Pat Cannaughton, Mario Hezonja, Alfonzo McKinnie, or Royce O'Neal (capable rotation players, but not stars or even starters on most teams) ?

They need to root for somebody.... One of the heats homers said he's more impactful than FVV a few weeks ago.
Connaughton is my dark horse. With Brogdon gone, he's going to be soaking up those SG mins for the bucks.

[Illmatic12]

Might be this guy here. His potential is through the roof.

Read on Twitter

Big fan of this dude.. they say you can’t teach size/athleticism but you also can’t teach motor! Every team should be looking for bigs like this who play with a passion.

Bam Adebayo, Thomas Bryant, Marvin Bagley are three dynamic bigs I watched last season who are just itching to break out . You can see it already, their teams just need to give them the opportunity.

[Marcus]

Derrick Jones jr

You know, I've seen a few Heat fans mention him as a young asset or building block and it has me wondering...

What is it about him outside of his tremendous dunking ability that gets people excited? He can't shoot, his defensive numbers are good but not great (maybe better in person?), he's not a playmaker for other, I guess he's a good rebounder for his size but that's largely scheme based for a lot of players (and that's supported by his reb% taking a big jump in Miami compared to Phoenix).

What do you guys, who watch him more often, see in him that the numbers don't show? What makes you think he's ready to take the next step and be an above average starter/borderline All-Star in the league? What makes him better than guys like Torrey Craig, Pat Cannaughton, Mario Hezonja, Alfonzo McKinnie, or Royce O'Neal (capable rotation players, but not stars or even starters on most teams) ?

They need to root for somebody.... One of the heats homers said he's more impactful than FVV a few weeks ago.
Connaughton is my dark horse. With Brogdon gone, he's going to be soaking up those SG mins for the bucks.

what impact do you see Connaughton having that puts him into this conversation? I always thought he was primarily a shooter, is there more to his game that Brogdon leaving opens up? Also do you have him beating Wes Matthews out for those minutes?

[Marcus]

Might be this guy here. His potential is through the roof.

Read on Twitter

Big fan of this dude.. they say you can’t teach size/athleticism but you also can’t teach motor! Every team should be looking for bigs like this who play with a passion.

Bam Adebayo, Thomas Bryant, Marvin Bagley are three dynamic bigs I watched last season who are just itching to break out . You can see it already, their teams just need to give them the opportunity.

Bam Bam got that door kicked wide TF open with Whiteside leaving. I personally think Jimmy is gonna love him as well.

[KqWIN]

Hoping it's Aaron Gordon, loved him out of the draft. Been a little disappointed in his developmental path. I thought he would be what Siakam is today, instead it seems like he's keen on trying to be a scorer.

[Marcus]

I love Isaac but our team has the ‘too many cooks’ problem.

I don’t think Isaac and AG will reach their full potential while Vuc is on the same team

Been meaning to visit yall's board to see what the thoughts are on Okeke considering what you have in AG and Isaac.

[miamiheat319]

Might be this guy here. His potential is through the roof.

Read on Twitter

Man I hope so. Imo he has pre-injury Amar’e athleticism. If he could reach that level of play too, that’d be amazing.

[Mauro Pedrosa]

I love Isaac but our team has the ‘too many cooks’ problem.

I don’t think Isaac and AG will reach their full potential while Vuc is on the same team

Been meaning to visit yall's board to see what the thoughts are on Okeke considering what you have in AG and Isaac.

It’s a cluster f. Even giving Vuc a max after drafting Bamba is a head scratcher

[pootbrah]

Zach Collins

[gpoon]

The thing about Siakam was that for those who followed his NBA journey from the start, this wasn't entirely out of the blue. He shredded the D-League playing exactly the way he did last year, it's just that he never had his shot until last season. But even then the season before he showed shades of it being an integral part of those Raptors bench squads that routinely ranked as amongst the best 5 man lineups in the league.

Basically he made tangible improvements to his game, but a lot of his jump was from gaining a lot of confidence in himself and getting a ton of trust from his coaches. A lot of the stuff he showed off already existed.

Next season I'm going with my man Derrick White. He's known mainly for his defense, but not a lot of people realize how skilled overall he is. In the G-League he looked like Bradley Beal. While that was against G-League level players, he showed throughout last year he was capable of pulling off those kinds of performances, and actually managed to do so in the playoffs.

Boiling his MIP season down to just having more confidence is selling him short. You don't improve in every aspect of your game just by believing in yourself a little more. The spot up jumper and the isolation scoring were not in his arsenal at all in previous seasons.

Same goes for Derrick White. If he takes the next step with his game, it'll be because he added more range to his jumper, developed a tighter handle etc.. not mainly because he was "more confident". That confidence and the trust from coaches comes from putting the time in to develop the skills necessary to succeed in your role.

I'll give you the spot up jumper, but the ISO scoring was always there. He was taking guys off the dribble and posting people up his rookie year with the 905. And I vehemently disagree on your take, I think you're marginalizing how important self confidence is on a professional level. Being a Raptors fan you should know with Fred VanVleet.

Very different game the G league vs NBA, a lot of G league MVPs cant even get a role in the NBA so comparing what he did there is sorta irrelevant. Pascal in his second year was no where near as polished. He had the athleticism and speed to take guys off the dribble and post but he didnt have the ability to finish. His shot was not good at all from anywhere on the court in his sophomore year, but he developed a very respectable shot last year.

[TerryTate]

You know, I've seen a few Heat fans mention him as a young asset or building block and it has me wondering...

What is it about him outside of his tremendous dunking ability that gets people excited? He can't shoot, his defensive numbers are good but not great (maybe better in person?), he's not a playmaker for other, I guess he's a good rebounder for his size but that's largely scheme based for a lot of players (and that's supported by his reb% taking a big jump in Miami compared to Phoenix).

What do you guys, who watch him more often, see in him that the numbers don't show? What makes you think he's ready to take the next step and be an above average starter/borderline All-Star in the league? What makes him better than guys like Torrey Craig, Pat Cannaughton, Mario Hezonja, Alfonzo McKinnie, or Royce O'Neal (capable rotation players, but not stars or even starters on most teams) ?

They need to root for somebody.... One of the heats homers said he's more impactful than FVV a few weeks ago.
Connaughton is my dark horse. With Brogdon gone, he's going to be soaking up those SG mins for the bucks.

what impact do you see Connaughton having that puts him into this conversation? I always thought he was primarily a shooter, is there more to his game that Brogdon leaving opens up? Also do you have him beating Wes Matthews out for those minutes?

Really? I think most people think of him as a dunker, because of his insane hops for a guy his size. His off-on numbers seemed really good for someone with level of minutes.

[Kobe>Jordan>God]

Markannen and Sabonis

[Marcus]

They need to root for somebody.... One of the heats homers said he's more impactful than FVV a few weeks ago.
Connaughton is my dark horse. With Brogdon gone, he's going to be soaking up those SG mins for the bucks.

what impact do you see Connaughton having that puts him into this conversation? I always thought he was primarily a shooter, is there more to his game that Brogdon leaving opens up? Also do you have him beating Wes Matthews out for those minutes?

Really? I think most people think of him as a dunker, because of his insane hops for a guy his size. His off-on numbers seemed really good for someone with level of minutes.

If i recall correctly his combine vert was put under some scrutiny because he nerfed the standing reach part a bit so the disparity between the two made the vert stand out more or something along those lines. I remember it being a discussion on the draft board.

Either way he's primarily a shooter on that team so i didn't know if there was something you saw from Pat in terms of playmaking, shot creation, or defending that stood out to you to make you think he'd make the kind of leap in question here. I know that system is 5 out and most if not all of that team eats off of the gravity of Giannis. Outside of Bledsoe and Middleton who else is really given space to create? Even Brogdon was closeout attacks and straight line drives. Does Pat have some sauce to his game we haven't been privy to yet?