Toronto Raptors: Kawhi Leonard often has periods of tunnel vision where he is only focused on playing isolation basketball which limits Pascal Siakam’s ability to display his on-ball skills
There are moments in life when external factors can have a profound impact on a person’s ability to display career growth. This is the story of Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam who is currently being praised for the improvement and work ethic he has shown.
His teammate Fred VanVleet alluded to this when he spoke to James Herbert of CBS Sports:
"“As a teammate and as a brother, it’s just fun to see his role expand,” VanVleet said. “I mean obviously he’s gotten better, don’t get me wrong, but the stuff he’s doing now, he could do two years ago. You’re only as good as your role, and I think that they’ve put him in a position to where he can showcase all of his skills.”"
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However, one can argue that the presence of Kawhi Leonard will limit the growth of Pascal. Kawhi often has periods of tunnel vision where he is only focused on playing isolation basketball.
One example of this was in a home game versus the Indiana Pacers last month when Danny Green dribbled the basketball up to the 3-point line.
Once this happened, he immediately passed the ball to Kawhi who was standing on the left wing. Leonard proceeded to dribble the ball to the other side of the court before he asked Pascal to set a screen.
Kawhi called for the screen because he wanted to create a defensive switch where Thad Young would be responsible for guarding him. His strategy would end up working as Bojan Bogdanovic, and Young switched their defensive assignments for that possession.
After the switch occurred, Pascal Siakam jogged over to the left corner to watch Kawhi hit a mid-range jumper on Thaddeus Young.
These type of possessions have limited the number of times Siakam can touch the ball per game as he is currently averaging 52.1 touches. The limited touches has contributed to him averaging 14.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
Even though Siakam has spent the majority of this season in an off the ball role, we have seen glimpses of what he can do with the ball in his hands when Kawhi doesn’t play due to rest/injury. For instance, midway through the first quarter of a road game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Fred VanVleet passed the ball to Siakam who was standing at the top of the key.
Once this happened, Siakam decided he was going to blow by his defender in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and attack the basket. However, midway through his drive to the basket, Marcin Gortat chose to leave his defensive assignment in Serge Ibaka to provide help defense on Pascal.
Gortat’s decision allowed Pascal Siakam to get an easy assist as he passed the ball to Ibaka for the mid-range jumper.
In nine games without Kawhi Leonard, Pascal is touching the basketball 61.6 times per game (48+65+85+49+53+61+51+54+89 /9). This is an increase of 9.5 touches from the rest of the season when he shares the court with Kawhi Leonard. The increased touches helped him average 16.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and three assists.
Therefore, the best thing for Pascal Siakam’s career would be for Kawhi Leonard to leave after the season as it would open the door for him to spend more time as a point forward. For example, Nick Nurse could feature some aspects of the LeBron James offense where he dribbles the ball to the 3-point line and analyzes the entire defense.
If one of the defenders is sagging off a shooter, he can pass the basketball to the shooter for an open 3-pointer.
On the other hand, if everyone stays home, he can study everything about his defender to determine the next course of action. If the defender decides to sag off of him, Pascal will take the open jumper. But, if the defender plays him tight, he can attempt to drive towards the basket for a score, to draw a foul or attract a double team.
Distance is not the only aspect of the defense that Pascal can analyze as he would also pay attention to the size of his defender. If he has a smaller defender, Pascal can back him down into the post to score or throw a cross-court pass to a teammate behind the arc.
Unfortunately, if Kawhi chose to re-sign with the team, Pascal would continue to be in an off the ball role due to Leonard’s habit of playing isolation basketball.