Title: Raptors Report: Pascal Siakam’s growth as No. 1, ‘Top 8’ rotation talk and more
Date: July 22, 2020
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about Pascal Siakam’s growth as a No. 1 scoring option, plus some other notes from the last few days of the NBA bubble.
What does the Toronto Raptors’ offence look like late in a close game?
That is probably the biggest question we’ve spent the past four-plus months of the hiatus trying to answer, going through numbers and video and anecdotal evidence to measure Pascal Siakam’s progression in his first year as the team’s No. 1 option. And it’s been mostly encouraging; while Siakam has lost a bit of efficiency, he’s done so on star-level usage, with elite numbers in the clutch and a sense of improvement as the year went on.
“Well, I think he’s done outstanding,” Nick Nurse said Sunday. “I think that’s a big mantle to carry in this league, to be a guy that (has to), you know, go out there and get between 23 and 28 points every night, or whatever, as a lead scorer. I think he’s handled it great. The best part about it from my standpoint is there’s still a lot of ceiling there, I think. So that’s encouraging. I think his shooting will improve, I think his decision-making will improve, I think his — just getting the ball in the basket, period.”
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 