One of the biggest disappointments about the NBA being put on pause because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic is the not knowing how far the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors were going to go. They were one of the league’s biggest surprises this season, particularly after seeing their best player depart in free agency this past summer to head home to California. One major reason for the Raptors being in position to contend for supremacy in the Eastern Conference again is because of the play of the latest guest on NBATV’s “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson.”
Via video Chat, Ernie Johnson, NBA on TNT studio host and the lead host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” interviewed Toronto Raptors starting forward Pascal Siakam, who in just four seasons went from being a G-Leaguer to being named the 2019 Kia Most Improved Player and a key player on an NBA champion, and back in February earned his first All-Star selection.
That first All-Star selection for the No. 27 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft came as a result of increasing his production from averages of 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 2018-19 to 23.6 points (leads Raptors), 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists so far this season before the league shut down play on Mar. 11 because of the pandemic.
One thing specifically that helped Siakam’s game go to the next level was becoming a more efficient three-point shooter, where he went from barely attempting shots from that distance to taking them consistently and then this season taking shots from three-point range and knocking them down at a high clip.
To put this into context, Siakam has made 115 triples so far this season, at a solid 35.9 percent clip, compared to making a combined 110 three-pointers in his first three seasons at clips of 14.3, 22.0 and 36.9 percent respectably those first three years.
How did Siakam improve his marksmanship from distance? He told Johnson that one day after his exit meeting following the Raptors getting swept in the postseason for the second straight year by the then LeBron James led Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals that he wanted to become a better shooter.
So, he got together with now Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and Siakam did all types of form shooting while also putting tape on the rim as something to focus on while Siakam attempted shots from distance. Siakam also said that he took many three-point shots from the corners of the half court in the summer of 2018.
“It was corner threes and form shooting, and we did thousands of them,” Siakam said about how he became a better three-point shooter. “I can’t really to how many.”
Siakam also said that he worked with that summer with DaRico “Rico” Hines, who is now the player development coach for the Sacramento Kings, where they shot perimeter shots every single morning starting at either 6:30 or 7 a.m. for about two hours and played pickup in the afternoon.
Like most of the league, Siakam is hoping to have a chance to get back on the court and have the season resume as most of the 30 teams in “The Association” have been able to return to their facilities, on a restricted basis in the hopes of finishing the season in some fashion.
The man dubbed “Spicy P” told Johnson that he has been working out at the Raptors’ practice facility, the OVO Athletic Centre and has been pleased in how the team has done everything necessary to keep the players and the limited number of staff who are there as safe as possible.
“I’ve been going to the gym now working out and finding ways to just stay in shape,” Siakam said.
As far as when the 2019-20 NBA season will resume, the NBA’s Board of Governors had their meeting at the start of this weekend, and while there has not been a set date of when things will resume, the idea is when there is a set date is reached, the respective teams and the support staff would convene at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL.
The number of teams that will be in Orlando also still has to be worked, with one scenario has the Top 8 teams from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference coming and the season immediately goes straight to the playoffs.
Two other competition scenarios being kicked according to NBATV include bringing 20 teams to Orlando for group/stage play or having 22 teams come to the home of Walt Disney World to have the close the regular season consisting of games to determine seeding in the Eastern and Western Conference. That would be followed by a play-in-tournament for final seeding.
The other option would be all 30 teams coming to Orlando and having the season conclude at 72 games and having a play in tourney.
That decision, which will ultimately be made by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will effect on whether teams within striking distance of the No. 8 spot and final playoff spot in the respective conferences like the Washington Wizards (24-40), who are 5.5 games behind the Orlando Magic (30-35) for the last spot in the East and the Portland Trail Blazers (29-37), New Orleans Pelicans (28-36), and the Sacramento Kings (28-36), who are each 3.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies (32-33) for the No. 8 and final playoff spot in the West have a chance to compete to continue play this season.
No matter what decision is made, the Raptors (46-18), who are currently the No. 2 Seed in East will be there and all the playoffs teams currently say they want to get back to action and play this season out to crown a champion.
The question remains though what assurances will be made to make the players comfortable enough to return to play?
“At this point right now, everybody wants to play. I mean, I think most people want to play. I don’t know if everyone want to play. But most people want to play” Siakam said. “But at the same time, everyone’s kind of like—it’s about safety. I don’t think it’s gonna be, you know, 100 percent safe. I feel like there’s always going to be risk. But you know, the lowest rates possible.”
Risk and taking a chance on yourself is nothing new for Siakam, particularly when it comes to his journey to the NBA.
Siakam’s three older brothers Boris, Christian, and James all played Division I collegiate basketball respectably with Boris doing it at Western Kentucky University, Christian at Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI) and James at Vanderbilt University. But it was Pascal who managed to go on to the NBA getting drafted as mentioned No. 27 overall by the Raptors after playing two years at New Mexico State from 2014-16.
What is so ironic about Pascal making it to the league is that he did not like basketball as much as his older siblings did.
“I ask myself that question all the time because its like I don’t know how it’s possible,” Siakam said. “They kind of put more time in earlier than I did. So, you kind of would expect them to be at a much higher level. But I don’t know. It just happened.”
“I felt like it was destiny. It was something that supposed to happen. And now matter how, you know, I fought it, it was always like this is destiny. This is what you’re going to end up doing and at some point, you know, you can’t keep fighting destiny.”
A big part of that destiny was being discovered at a local basketball camp of fellow Cameroonian and former NBA forward Luc Mbah a Moute in 2011, and returned to the camp the following year after being selected to attend the NBA’s instructional camp in conjunction with FIBA Basketball Without Borders.
It was here he met his future teammate with the Raptors in another Cameroonian Serge Ibaka, who he won a title with last season and Raptors President Masai Ujiri, who called after seeing the athletic prowess and very-high energy level Siakam played with was “memorable.”
Siakam said to Johnson about a picture he and Ibaka took at that camp, which he posted on his Instagram @pskills43 that he did not know who Ibaka was and the only reason he took a photo with him because that was what everyone else was doing, which irks Ibaka at times when Siakam brings the story up.
When asked about by Johnson about his friendship with another Cameroonian in two-time All-Star center Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Siakam said it was a “good” one that is also one of “pride” when they play each other.
“We never imagined this man,” Siakam said about him and Embiid making it to the NBA. “I don’t think we ever thought none of this would be possible. Two people from Cameroon, you know, being one of the best for their teams and being in the best league in the world. That’s something we never thought could happen. But at the same time, I’m so happy and proud, you know, that we are both are out of Cameroon and that we are where we are.”
There was certainly a lot of pride felt for Siakam in last season’s Eastern Conference Semifinals when the Raptors took down the 76ers in seven games, thanks to the four-bounce game-winning right baseline shot at the buzzer in Game 7 on May 12, 2019 by now Los Angeles Clippers forward and reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard that brought the Raptors nation in Scotiabank Arena and those watching outside in Jurassic Park to their feet.
Siakam said that when the shot was in the air and bouncing on the rim it seemed like forever, Ibaka was under the basket to go for an offensive rebound and Siakam was looking at him saying in his mind to not interfere with the ball on the rim and have offensive goaltending be called by the officials.
“It was an incredible moment, man. I will always remember that moment,” Siakam said about that game-winner by Leonard in the East Semis.
What topped that moment for Siakam and the Raptors was becoming the first team in NBA history to win a championship outside the U.S. when they beat the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors in Game 6 on 114-110 on June 13, 2019.
One of the first things that Siakam said he did once the Raptors won their first title was put the flag from his home country of Cameroon, of the colors of green, red and yellow, with a yellow star in the middle of the flag to show a sense of pride of where he came from and where he got to and how much more he is growing both as a basketball player and as a person. He especially wanted to show love and respect to his father Tchamo, who worked for a local transit company in Cameroon as well as the Mayor of Makenene. Siakam’s dad also enrolled him in St. Andrew’s Seminary in Bafia when he was 11 years old.
“I don’t think even think that when he wanted me to play in the NBA that he had NBA championships in mind,” Siakam said about what dream his dad had for him. “For him it was just like being at that stage I already did it. He never knew or talked about winning and doing all these things. He was just like ‘Man, get there.’ Like that’s the only thing.”
“And now for me to get there and then win a championship after my third year, like I mean, I was just so happy man.”
Four years ago, Pascal Siakam was an unknown. After his dad invested time in him to get his education and to use basketball as a springboard, with the example he saw from his three older brothers, Siakam used his strong work ethic along with what he learned in Basketball Without Borders to help him earn to get him into New Mexico State University and when he got drafted by the Toronto Raptors in June 2016 put in the work first in the G-League, then with the Raptors as a reserve, became a starter, an NBA champion and an All-Star to where the sky is the limit for how good he can become.
Siakam is giving back to his country of Cameroon joining Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri as a part of his initiative that he has had since the summer of 2003 called “Giants of Africa” where the continent of Africa conducts camps for boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 19 to educate and enrich their lives by providing quality facilities, gear and coaches with the goal of growing the game of basketball within the country.
Someone took the time to invest in Siakam and he wants to pay the opportunity he got forward to show the next generation that if you work hard and are diligent in what you want to be, you can achieve anything you want to in this world no matter if you start off not having as much as someone else.
“I just want to tell them to believe in themselves because that’s what I did,” Siakam said on how he got to where he is in the NBA. “I had to believe in myself. I had to work really hard every single day to get to where I am today.”
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 5/30/2020 NBATV’s “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson: David Robinson and Pascal Siakam;” https://www.espn.com/nba/standings; https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3149673/pascal-siakam; https://www.giantsofafrica.org/about/; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OVO_Athletic_Centre; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rico_Hines; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_NBA_playoffs#Conference_Semifinals; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_NBA_Finals; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Toronto_Raptors_seasons; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_Siakam.
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