Pascal Siakam was expected by many including myself to be the weak link in the Raptors rotation heading into the season. The Raptors had just lost Patrick Patterson whom the advanced stats loved.

Raptors with Patterson on the floor over the last 3 seasons: +1004
Without: -38

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 5, 2017

The biggest question mark with Siakam heading into the season was his three-point shooting. Pascal showed in Summer League and the D-League that he could stretch the floor. However, that was a limited sample size against inferior competition. Last season Siakam only attempted 7 threes as a member of the Toronto Raptors. It’s hard to fault him for only making one of them because that too is a small sample size. This season Pascal is shooting under 20% from three and has attempted over 100 threes. The crazy part about that isn’t the low shooting percentage, but that Pascal Siakam is effective despite that horrendous shooting.

Pascal Siakam’s Energy is Contagious

There was this talk that DeMarre Carroll was the second coming of Jerome Williams. That was not the case even if DeMarre wanted to be known as JYD 2.0. Siakam isn’t Jerome Williams either, but he plays with that same motor that fans grew to love about JYD. Pascal plays at the speed of a point guard at the size of a normal power forward or undersized center.

^{Pascal Siakam's Per 36 Minutes Traditional Stats}

Pascal Siakam breaks the unwritten rules of the modern NBA. If you look at his traditional stats they will probably leave you unimpressed and rightly so. They aren't even significantly better than last year. However, Siakam’s advanced stats tell a different story. Pascal is good at cutting to the basket and very good at driving to the basket in the half-court, but where he is elite is in transition. Siakam averages 1.346 points per possession in transition which is insanely good. It also feels very maintainable because there is a significant sample of 89 transition shots he has attempted on the season. Whenever there is a loose ball when the Raptors on the defense you can bet Siakam will go after it and try to go end to end.

^{Pascal Siakam's Advanced Stats}

Contract Value & Bench Success

Pascal Siakam is far exceeding the roughly $1.3M he is making this season. If Siakam were a free agent he would definitely get offered more money than that. However, he’s probably more valuable to the Raptors than any other team in the league. Being part of a bench unit that has the highest net rating in the league would not be easy to replicate elsewhere. The Raptors have built chemistry with this group and that chemistry seems to have led Pascal to become a better passer which fits perfectly in line with this new Raptors offense.

The Pascal Scale

Not everything is perfect with Siakam. You have to weigh the good with the bad. There was that game against the Heat where Wayne Ellington drove from the perimeter into the paint for a layup to win the game. Maybe Siakam didn’t expect Ellington to drive because he’s mainly a three-point specialist, but never the less it was a defensive breakdown. Also, if you noticed in Pistons game where DeRozan kept making the high degree of difficulty shots in the fourth quarter Blake Griffin was on the other end making relatively easy shots from the post. Pascal didn’t back down from Blake or anything, but he just couldn’t guard him. However, when Pascal had a help defender his defense was actually very good.

Pascal Siakam isn’t really a great shooter or one-on-one defender, but his energy leads to baskets on the offensive end and steals on the defensive end. Dwane Casey and the Raptors have developed Pascal Siakam, the former 27th pick, into a quality rotation player that stands out on your television screen or streaming device. If Pascal ever develops a three-point shot the sky is the limit for this beautiful ball of energy.