Earlier this year, I wrote an article breaking down Pascal Siakam’s game. At that point in the season, Spicy-P was viewed by many to be the frontrunner for the Most Improved Player award. Now, with only a month left in the season, it appears as if Pascal has found another level in his game. And, in my slightly-biased mind, he’s running away with the award.
How much has Pascal Siakam improved from last season?
Pascal Siakam has more than doubled his scoring numbers from last season, all while becoming even more efficient. He’s averaging 16.4 PPG on a 54.1% clip, compared to last year’s 7.3 PPG and 50.8 FG%. Although he isn’t leading the league in efficiency categories like he was earlier this season, Siakam is still top-20 in FG%, 2PT FG%, and Effective FG%, all while being the second-leading scorer for the Raptors.
P-Skills’ three-ball has drastically improved this season as well. This year he’s making 0.9 threes a game, compared to last year’s 0.5, but his efficiency from outside the arc has jumped by over 13%. Siakam’s bread and butter this year has been corner threes, and he’s making 41.3% of the shots he launches from that area (compared to just 25.7% last year). Although he still isn’t taking a lot of shots from three-point-land, Pascal has been much more reliable outside for the Raptors than in the previous year.
There are two things that are responsible for Pascal Siakam’s improvement. First, his Mamba-like work ethic. Second, the firing of Dwane Casey. Don’t get me wrong, Casey was a good coach, and he played a large part in who Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are today. Casey loved to start the frontcourt combination of Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka, both of whom are natural centers.
What new head coach Nick Nurse has done is play Serge as a C (starting him or JV/Marc Gasol depending on matchups), thus opening up a spot for Pascal to start. The Cameroonian has made the most of this opportunity.
Pascal has started all but one game this season and is playing 31.9 MPG (up 11.2 minutes from last year). His usage has increased substantially. Last year, Siakam had a usage percentage of 15.7%, whereas this year he has a USG% of 20.1. He’s averaging 58.7 offensive touches a game (37.7 last year), which is second in Toronto (ahead of Kawhi Leonard). It’s expected that Pascal’s numbers would jump with his increase in minutes, but his ability to improve his efficiency with a higher workload is what’s truly impressive.
With his increase in minutes, Pascal Siakam has been able to create more opportunities for himself. He’s averaging 2.2 post-ups a game, compared to 0.3 last year. He’s also averaging 7.5 drives a game, which is responsible for his spike in charity-stripe trips. Siakam attempts almost three more free throws a game than last season, yet he’s still managed to improve his FT% from 62.1% to 77.7%. He’s also dropped 43 “And-1s” this season, 23 more than last year.
Spicy-P’s impact on the court has sky-rocketed and not just in terms of scoring. The PF averages 42.3 passes a game, up 12.6 from last season. He’s also averaging a full assist more than 2017-18.
On the other end of the floor, Siakam is showing every night he’s an elite defender. He leads the league in Contested 3-PT Shots with 4.9, an improvement of 2.2 from last year. On the boards, Pascal’s grabbing almost 7 rebounds a night, compared to 4.5 RPG from last year.
Pascal Siakam’s improvement this year is obvious, but what’s truly been impressive is efficiency with increased minutes. He’s played a huge part in Toronto’s success this year, but are his numbers good enough to win MIP?
Twitter: @colbystoesz
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