Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam’s recent surge on offense is giving head coach Darko Rajakovic a major decision to make for his future.
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00:00 Raptors star Pascal Siakam is really getting back into his all NBA level of play and it's
00:04 giving new head coach Dark Ray Yakovich a major decision to make because he just hasn't
00:09 been using the forward twigs max capability this season and I'm gonna explain why.
00:13 Let's get into it.
00:14 Pascal Siakam has been on a tear in the recent week of NBA basketball for the Raptors and
00:21 there's a sharp contrast and change in the way the Raptors are actually using him, which
00:25 is making a massive difference.
00:26 Now in these last three games, we've had the games against the Dallas Mavericks, the Boston
00:30 Celtics, which was a blowout that didn't really showcase much and the Wizards game, which
00:34 honestly looked like it was going to be a blowout until Pascal Siakam completely took
00:39 over, specifically the third quarter, but pretty much the entire second half to will
00:44 the Raptors back into this game when nobody else had the desire or will to even try.
00:49 He forced his team back into the game and eventually hit the game winning shot with
00:54 about seven seconds remaining to put the Raptors up to in the eventual 111 to 107 win.
01:00 The Raptors were down by 23 points in this game.
01:02 It's not the first time this season that they've had to make a 20 point comeback and sometimes
01:08 look, you're not going to be down by 20 points to the San Antonio Spurs or the Washington
01:12 Wizards.
01:13 You're going to be down by 20 plus points to a team like the Boston Celtics where your
01:17 poor start and perhaps not so good game plan.
01:20 That's too much of a hole for yourself to dig out and you end up getting completely
01:23 blown out.
01:24 Now in this game, the Raptors once again had the opportunity at halftime to make the necessary
01:29 adjustments.
01:30 That is exactly what Darko Rijakovic did and the adjustment in this one was to finally
01:34 give Pascal some possessions down low.
01:36 The Raptors in this game were once again thwarted offensively by a defensive scheme deployed
01:42 by a not so great defensive team in this case, really sitting back, really locking down the
01:48 paint and forcing the Raptors to take on three point opportunities.
01:51 Like the Boston Celtics completely leaned into this.
01:54 They played a zone defense the entire game.
01:56 They said, if you're going to win this game, you're going to have to shoot for it.
01:59 The Wizards try to do basically the same thing, but the Raptors just basically could not shoot.
02:04 The Raptors went four of 21 from three in this game.
02:06 So it became a case of, listen, the threes are not going to fall.
02:10 We have to bully our way on the inside and find the schemes that are going to get these
02:13 looks on the interior.
02:14 So in the second half, we finally started running plays for Pascal Siakam and he absolutely
02:19 devoured them up going for 39 points in this one with an amazing third quarter.
02:24 And it's for the second time in three games that we decided to make our game plan and
02:28 our scheme dedicated to Siakam.
02:30 The difference was in the Dallas Mavericks game.
02:32 The Dallas Mavericks coming into that game had only one loss in the season.
02:35 They've been incredible this season, though their defense hasn't been great.
02:38 The Raptors were picking on the fact that the Dallas Mavericks did not have a suitable
02:43 defensive matchup to play against Pascal Siakam.
02:46 So what did the Raptors do?
02:48 They force fed him.
02:49 They spammed him in the post.
02:50 They spammed him on inside passes.
02:53 And Siakam is so good that either he's going to beat his man one on one and finish at the
02:57 rim most of the time, or he's going to read the double exceptionally well, kick out to
03:02 a player who's wide open and we can start to move around the defense and generate good
03:05 looks out of that.
03:06 He's so good at passing out of double teams.
03:08 He is so good at finishing in one on one scenarios inside.
03:11 Yet Darko Rijakovic almost outright refuses to use that play.
03:16 The first half against the Wizards was an absolute abomination of basketball for the
03:20 Raptors.
03:21 They were down by 19 points at halftime, 64 to 45 at the half.
03:27 Can you guess how many post up opportunities the Raptors ran for Pascal Siakam in that
03:32 entire first half when they struggled so mightily to score?
03:35 They only had two threes at halftime.
03:38 How many times did they give Pascal Siakam a post up opportunity?
03:42 Just one.
03:43 One that I counted at least while I was watching the game and it just was so apparent that
03:48 the Wizards, who are not a great defensive team, have no suitable matchup for Siakam.
03:54 So why not lean into your all star talent?
03:57 Why not lean into your all NBA level of talent?
04:01 And we had to start leaning into Siakam this week in the Dallas game in the second half
04:04 of this game because Scottie Barnes's jump shot has kind of started to fall back down
04:09 to earth.
04:10 He's only the insanely efficient, like 66% from jump shots.
04:13 So I would also like to see Scottie Barnes have some plays drawn up for him on the inside
04:17 as well, but in particular, the star man on this team remains to be Pascal Siakam in terms
04:22 of ability, in terms of talent.
04:24 This guy completely lifted us out of a hole and got us to win against the Wizards.
04:27 Now you're going to talk about the Celtics game perhaps in a bit of a rebuttal to me.
04:31 That game was just disgusting basketball by the Raptors and the Celtics are good enough
04:36 that even if Siakam has a ball down low, it's not just going to be the case.
04:39 It's going to be the guy.
04:40 They have the matchups down there that made it incredibly difficult, not for Siakam, but
04:44 for the entire Raptors team.
04:46 Like they went zone for 48 minutes basically and the Raptors could not do anything about
04:50 it.
04:51 That's an alarming trait of this team.
04:52 We don't have floor space and we don't have three point shooters.
04:55 Even with OG Gary Trent out, I understand that against the Wizards.
04:58 This team can't space the floor.
05:00 Teams are cluing in.
05:01 They are just locking down the paint as best as possible.
05:05 So it's time for Darko Rijakovic to make this big decision about the team and for Pascal
05:09 Siakam's future.
05:10 Clearly, clearly, clearly this team is pretty good when Siakam has the ball down low.
05:17 Siakam is very good when he has the ball down low, as I mentioned for the reasons previously.
05:23 This team can be successful when you're going a little bit more isolation with the likes
05:27 of Siakam and also as well, like I said, give Scottie Barnes these opportunities and these
05:30 looks as well.
05:32 Give Pascal Siakam driving opportunities.
05:34 Start to lean into his talent.
05:36 Like even if you want Siakam traded, like you want to see Pascal Siakam be utilized
05:41 to upgrade his trade value.
05:42 And if you want the Ravens to win, well, they're winning when Siakam has the ball.
05:46 They're winning when Siakam is creating things.
05:48 They're winning when Siakam sometimes, you know, the bad word here, they're winning when
05:52 in a lot of situations, Pascal Siakam gets a little bit selfish, but Darko wants to play
05:58 this almost perfect brand of point five basketball.
06:01 My Messiah Jiri is urging that this team needs to get away from this selfish approach to
06:06 the game.
06:07 Well, like I've seen a lot of the unselfish play this year.
06:10 I want this team to be a little bit more selfish and that starts with Pascal Siakam.
06:14 I want to see him get those opportunities and those looks on the inside.
06:17 And you know what?
06:18 Somewhat sometimes Siakam forcing a shot on the inside is better than kicking out to somebody
06:25 who's not been hitting their three pointers all season.
06:27 So I don't mind that in any way whatsoever.
06:30 Siakam is good enough that he's able to make these shots.
06:32 Like we knew he'd start to come around when the opportunities came to him.
06:36 Darko is kind of understanding that, okay, if we're going to win basketball games, we
06:40 need to lean on this guy a little bit more.
06:43 So I have the understanding here of Darko's approach to this.
06:46 Like he wants to change the approach the Raptors take to games.
06:49 He wants to play this beautiful brand of perfect point five passing basketball, but the spacing
06:55 and the tools just aren't really here for the coach to execute that.
06:59 So you could have the discussion.
07:01 He wants to develop these guys.
07:03 He wants them to play the right way so that down the line, we're more accustomed to this.
07:07 Down the line, Scottie Barnes is completely entrenched in this offensive scheme that Darko
07:12 Rijakovic has created within the team.
07:13 And yes, that makes sense, but this is not a tanking team.
07:17 We're not a development team right now.
07:19 We are a team that has no first round pick really to fall back on this season.
07:23 The pick is top six protected that we sent over to the San Antonio Spurs.
07:27 We're too good for that top six protection to likely come into play.
07:30 So is the point of this season to be developmental to get these guys playing this specific way?
07:38 Like I want to play this way.
07:39 I do.
07:40 But you also have to remember this team has been put out there on the court this season
07:44 to be competitive, to win basketball games.
07:47 And it's clear that especially when the offense is struggling, the best play is simply to
07:52 give the ball to Siakam and let him cook.
07:55 And when you let him cook, it's not like he's just scoring.
07:57 He's still going to generate like seven, eight, sometimes even more assists per game, five,
08:02 six rebounds per game and go above 20 points and doing so pretty efficiently.
08:07 Now Siakam can't hit a three to save his life right now, but the inside game has been tip
08:11 top for the Raptors in this recent stretch of games and it was fully on display for the
08:15 Wizards.
08:16 So Darko needs to make a decision.
08:19 Is he putting a team out there to win basketball games or is he putting a team out there to
08:26 develop for the future?
08:28 Based on the notion we've had from the front office, based on the fact we don't have that
08:31 first round pick, this team should be out there to win.
08:34 So I credit Darko.
08:35 He wants to try and win the right way with his way of playing basketball, but there has
08:41 to be a bigger recognition of the parts on this team as well.
08:44 So that when he notices that's not going well, which he did at halftime against the Wizards,
08:49 he deviates and goes to, okay, we know Siakam is going to work, but how about we try winning
08:54 this way?
08:55 That's the balance that we're trying to get right now, but clearly this team succeeds
08:59 with Siakam having the ball in his hands.
09:01 So I want to see us lean into that a little bit more.
09:03 I'm not saying 48 straight minutes of Siakam post-ups, but when you're down by 20 points
09:09 to the Wizards at halftime and you've only run one post-up set for Siakam, I assume we
09:16 can start to sprinkle that a little bit more and add that to a consistent play into this
09:20 offense.
09:21 So, I think the Raptors figuring it out.
09:22 Darko's only 10 games into his first season as an NBA head coach.
09:25 He's going to figure it out, but this is a clear way the Raptors can start to generate
09:29 better offensive sets and therefore more wins.
09:32 It's about passing Siakam, getting him involved and even if you want him traded, hey, this
09:36 is only going to boost his stock with teams seeing him put up nights like this.
09:40 39 points against the Washington Wizards with above 60% shooting from the field.