How Siakam's post-up proficiency contributes to Raptors' offensive success

When the season started — and especially with the way it started — the idea that the Toronto Raptors would be running a high-functioning NBA offence through Pascal Siakam seemed distant. 

That head coach Darko Rajakovic would be utilizing Siakam in the post more than at any time in his career would have seemed ludicrous. With a new coaching staff preaching ball movement, spacing, cutting and a seeming focus on having third-year wing Scottie Barnes as the fulcrum? 

No one would have taken that bet. 

But here we are. It’s not even December yet and sure, the Raptors' date with the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night will be just their 18^th game of an 82-game season, but trends are trends, and they must be analyzed. 

First of all, it’s undeniable: Siakam is getting the ball more in the post than at any time in his career. So far this season he’s using post-ups on nearly 17 per cent of his possessions which may not sound like a lot, but significantly more than in previous years. Last year Siakam posted up with just 10.3 per cent of his possessions. The season before as he was earning all-NBA honours for the second time, it was just 8.3 per cent. It’s nearly five per cent more than his previous career high — 12.2 per cent of used possessions in 2019-20. 

Now a cynic could point out that if you’re on track to shoot 22.1 per cent from the three-point line — his worst mark since becoming a full-time starter in 2018-19 — you would be wise to consider different options, and there might be something to that. 

But a better assessment could be the more obvious one: Siakam is posting up more — and the Raptors are happy to have it — because he’s getting better at it. 

According to NBA.com, Siakam is shooting 60.9 per cent on his post-up attempts. The next best mark for his career was in 2018-19 when he shot 55.2 per cent on half the volume and — with Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry and Danny Green on the floor — not as the subject to double teams. In the four seasons since his best mark is 51.1 per cent which he put up last season, again on significantly lower volume. The Raptors are averaging 1.172 points per play on Siakam post-ups, second to only Celtics star Jayson Tatum among players who get at least three post-up touches per game. 

Siakam wasn’t surprised when I showed him some of the numbers as the Raptors were wrapping up practice at the head office of the National Basketball Players Association in midtown Manhattan. They were just confirmation of what he sensed anyway. 

“It does feel that way, I would say. The way we’re playing, it’s just trying to take advantage of cuts and mismatches and stuff,” he said. 

But what makes Siakam’s ventures to the rim that begin with his back to the basket so advantageous for him and the Raptors is that they’re not the product of play calls or a stagnant offence with him at the centre of it, waving for the ball and everyone standing still and watching when he gets it. 

Instead, a good number of them are initiated as Siakam is facing the basket on the wing and dribbling into the move or when he cuts recognizes an advantage and turns it into a post-up situation. 

“I can handle the ball and I can play from the perimeter, and I can play from the post, which makes it special,” he says. “I’m trying to find any way I can have an advantage on the defence.”

For Rajakovic it’s turned into a perhaps unexpected bonus. Early in the season, Siakam struggled and the Raptors' offence struggled along with him. Siakam was on pace to average just 15.4 points on 41 per cent shooting. In the 11 games since, he’s averaging 21.8 points on 51.4 per cent shooting and Toronto’s offence has moved firmly into league-average territory with spikes in assist numbers and half-court efficiency. 

“It’s a natural progression of our team. We’re not forcing any post-ups, we’re not calling plays to post up. But if there’s a mismatch in transition or him recognizing that he can get it down there, we’ll take it,” said Rajakovic. 

Where it’s really starting to pay dividends for the Raptors is in using Siakam’s post-up opportunities as the catalyst for further ball movement. Rather than having Siakam manoeuvre with his back to the basket as the end of the play, it’s often the beginning. The eighth-year forward is averaging 5.6 assists per 36 minutes, which would match his career high from his all-star season a year ago, and a good chunk of those playmaking opportunities have been generated from his post work. 

“If he’s seeing two defenders, he’s doing a good job of moving the ball and finding the open man,” says Rajakovic. “A lot of time it’s going to be a lay-up or an open three. He’s doing a really good job in those situations, but we’re not forcing anything. We want to be more of a free-flowing team and creating really good spacing and creating good opportunities for each other.” 

Toronto is averaging 1.239 points per-play when Siakam passes out of the post which is the best number in the league for players with at least 50 post-ups and second among players with 25 or more, per Synergy Sports. 

“I don’t really even see the first defender,” Siakam says. “Obviously I want to beat my man, but I have to think about the defence coming, and some teams help, and some teams don’t or at times they help and at others they don’t in different parts of the game, so it’s kind of reading that and making the right play, most of the time. But most important is having everyone move too so I can make a read.”

But it all starts because Siakam is damn hard to guard when he’s got some room and a defender who knows he can either out quick, overwhelm with size, or both. No one bends their defence to stop guys who can’t score. 

“He does a good job seeking out matchups that he likes and then he’s very relentless in attacking them, said Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl. “[Siakam] got very good footwork in the post where you can’t really give him any angles, or he’ll spin off you and he can finish either way. People think that he always spins to his right, but he spins a lot to his left too and he’s got quick finishes there and he can fade out of it too so he’s very versatile and tough to guard for these other wings.”

Siakam had a relatively tough go against the Cavaliers who were able to have one of Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley — their pair of mobile seven-footers — lurking whenever he had the ball. That Siakam ended up taking four threes tells the tale. 

But few teams can provide those kinds of problems and the Raptors matchup against the Nets should be a return to normal service. 

“They switch a lot, probably, they have a lot of guards,” said Siakam. "We have to punish them in the paint.”

Siakam doing just that at rates higher than at any point in his career has helped turn the Raptors' offence around and perhaps their season.