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On Pascal Siakam's changing star chart
🕑 Added 2025-01-31 03:53:49 +0000 UTCAnd the shooting progression that underscores his third All-Star selection
By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper
The adjustment was understandable enough. After Myles Turner tied his career high for made threes in a game on January 16, going 8-of-11 from deep with Detroit big man Jalen Duren repeatedly losing track of him on the perimeter as his primary assignment, the Pistons decided to make a change. Two weeks later, when the two teams met again on Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Duren was no longer guarding Turner. From the opening tip, he was defending Pascal Siakam.
More than likely, that swap had as much or more to do with Siakam as Turner. After all, it wasn't just Turner who lit up the Pistons in the prior match-up. In addition to Turner's 28 points on 56 percent shooting, Siakam gave buckets to five different Pistons, including Ron Hollins, Ausar Thompson, Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Tobias Harris -- most of whom he had a size advantage against. As a result, Detroit attempted to fill two needs with one deed. By putting Duren on Siakam, the 21-year-old center wouldn't have to get out to three to contest as much and there would be more muscle opposite from Indiana's lanky post behemoth inside the arc.
Or, at least so they likely thought.
In reality, this isn't last season's version of Pascal Siakam (and last season's version of Pascal Siakam already had plenty of tricks for evading opposing centers.) Just ask Kristaps Porzingis and Brook Lopez, among several others. Remember, there was a very definite reason why the Bucks stopped having Lopez guard Siakam by Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs last season. Even if Siakam only made two threes above the break in that series, he was a wizard at maintaining a live dribble.
If Lopez sagged off from him, he would effectively transform into a bumper car, shifting into reverse to give himself a longer runway before attacking at full speed.
Now, he doesn't have to play bash-ball quite as often to rid himself of those cross-matches, both in the sense of his mode of attack as well as the actual match-up.
Just look at the reaction here from Duren when Siakam pops out to the three-point line. Rather than hanging back and daring him to shoot, Duren actually bites on his pump-fake, opening the door for the star forward to slither to the basket.
That change-up from building up a head of steam, in the prior clip, to cascading into a pump-and-go, isn't just a product of the change in principle from defenders, either. With the tweak he made to his shooting mechanics over the summer, Siakam is hitting on a career-best 40 percent of his above-the-break three-point attempts -- up from 35 percent after being traded to the Pacers last season and a massive surge from the 31 percent he shot during the entirety of his tenure with the Raptors.
Like Duren, opposing defenses have responded to the change. According to Second Spectrum, defenders stopped short on 40.7 percent of the closeouts he drew above the break over the eight seasons he spent in Toronto. This season, that number has dropped, in accordance with his improved marksmanship, to just 27.8 percent.
Turns out, all of those workouts he filmed from his home gym in Orlando over the summer weren't just for show. He put in the work to show out. That said, he is also continuing the trend of players on the roster who have shown shooting progression after being traded to the Pacers, which suggests that some environmental factors are likely also in play.
Checkout these overall splits from deep for each of those non-Haliburton players:
Siakam: 32.7% with Toronto, 40.7% with Indiana
Toppin: 32.5% with New York, 38.5% with Indiana
Nesmith: 27.0% with Boston, 39.6% with Indiana
Bryant: 35.5% with four prior teams, 43.9% with Indiana
For Siakam, who is asked to do more heavy lifting than the other names listed, his three-level scoring doesn't just lessen the burdens of others; it also lessens his own. Last season during the playoffs, when cross-matched against a five, he made hard look easy. Now, he also gets to mix in some ease as a reprieve to the hard. In essence, just as there were still plenty of buckets to reap in the interior against defenders of all sizes in the second game versus Detroit, he also got to step out in order to two-step his way to the basket against Duren. It's like he's still carrying a metal lunch pail, but it's suddenly lined with the softest velvet.
In the fourth quarter, when he dusted Duren in a lopsided footrace to the rim out of slot-to-slot flip from T.J. McConnell, Detroit's starting center looked to match up with Turner on the next defensive possession, perhaps searching for a reprieve of his own from the hard. When the two of them linked up again with under three minutes to play, Siakam called for a screen from Nesmith to bring Beasley to the ball at the top of the key. The Pistons didn't switch on the inverted screening action, which meant that Duren was left to fend for himself in the unfamiliar position of defending at the point of attack as a big. When he ducked under, Siakam dribbled off the pick to his left and pulled up for three.
Whether he actually intended to bank in the shot can of course be left up for debate, but on a night when Siakam started the game being defended by a center, who struggled to get out to contest Turner in the prior game, he finished the game with the center having to contest him -- even to the point of defending like a guard.
It was a fitting conclusion to a 37-point masterclass that served as a prelude to his third All-Star selection and first with the Pacers, marking a change in his star chart as a result of the shooting progression that has enhanced his stardom.
Comments
Norma
Awesome
Lifenthusiast
“It's like he's still carrying a lunch box and pail, but it's suddenly lined with the softest velvet.” *Somewhere, Kevin Pritchard smiles coyly * Just need a hard hat…
