Raptors forward Pascal Siakam can become a free agent after the 2023/24 season, but that hasn’t seemed to impact his approach to the season, Josh Lewenberg of TSN writes. Siakam has been a professional during training camp, Lewenberg says, smiling and joking with teammates and getting in extra reps with the coaching staff.
Siakam’s name came up in trade talks this summer, cementing his uncertain future with the franchise, and team president Masai Ujiri confirmed that the two sides hadn’t discussed an extension.
“We do believe in Pascal,” Ujiri said. “[But] we believe that a lot of our players didn’t play the right way last year and we want to see them play the right way. I said that we were selfish; I’m not running away from that. We were selfish and we did not play the right way. So, let us see it when we play the right way.”
It seemed as though Siakam pushed back in a subsequent comment, Lewenberg writes.
“I’ll speak for me, personally, I’ve never been a selfish player in my life,” Siakam said. “I’ve always played the game the right way and that’s from the first time I started playing basketball. I’ve always been a team player.”
The Raptors finished last season 41-41, ending as the No. 9 seed and losing to the Bulls in the play-in tournament. Despite last season’s disappointment and unsettled contract business, Siakam is ready for the upcoming season under new coach Darko Rajakovic, according to Lewenberg.
“At the end of the day, I think what makes me special is I’m a hooper,” Siakam said. “When people work out in the summer and they do one-on-one workouts, I want to play basketball because I want to be able to understand the game, play off of guys and not just do drills and be a robot. That’s my strength as a player. So I’m definitely not worried about that. I know that my abilities on a basketball court will always prevail in any situation I’m put in.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Nets are counting on Dennis Smith Jr. being a different player than the last time he was in New York with the Knicks, Dan Martin of the New York Post writes. Smith was sent to the G League during his stint with the Knicks and averaged 5.5 points per game in the year after he was sent there. Now, Smith is one of the more impressive defensive guards in the league and both Martin and Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily note his importance to Brooklyn and explore his evolution. “The biggest thing for me was just checking the ego,” Smith said. “I checked the ego and just learned how to shift my mental into being able to fit whatever role I needed to play and finding a way to stay in it. It’s paying off for me, I’m in a really good spot now.“
- Nets play-maker Ben Simmons has had an eventful past two years since being named an All-Star for three years in a row in Philadelphia. Since being traded to Brooklyn at the deadline in ’21/22, Simmons has appeared in just 42 games, all coming last season, averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists in those contests. Plenty of eyes are on Simmons this year and, as explored in a separate story by Martin, coach Jacque Vaughn said the early results for the 6’10” guard are encouraging. “I think what we’ve seen is his ability to push the basketball and do it over and over again; play with an extreme amount of pace; get to the rim [and] play with force,” Vaughn said. “All the things we were asking and I was searching for last year.“
- While Jrue Holiday is a major addition for the Celtics, Steve Bulpett of Heavy Sports argues that the loss of Robert Williams is bigger than it seems. Williams’ injury history makes it easier to have moved on from him, Bulpett writes, but he’s a fantastic rim protector and lob threat and Boston’s rotation of bigs doesn’t have an easy replacement on the roster.
If the Raptors look run of the mill, they will need to trade Siakam and OG. They do seem like a team that would resign them both to a near max in FA despite needing to change.
Robert Williams has almost zero offensive game after 5 years. Defense will be misses yeah….the rare times he was actually healthy.
Celtics were a totally different & better team anytime TimeLord was in there, both on offense & defense. Gave Celts a huge lob threat when he played. No other player has done that for the Celtics that I can ever think of. And who else could be quick enough & jump high enough to tip three point shoots? Remember Tatum wanted him on the court. You can’t just look at stats. Celtics have to hope Kristaps can provide something to make up for TimeLord’s loss. Go Celtics!
I don’t disagree with you. I think it would been a bigger loss if Williams was healthy and on the court more. I DO worry about the C’s bench as is stands right now.
Well, we will soon see how well our 4 stars & our new bench works! I’m hoping Stevens is as good as recognizing talent as I believe he is. It’s going to be an amazing year in the NBA as there is so much new young talent, relocated established stars & thus great teams on paper. We just have to hope our young coach & his new staff can put together a team which gels & outplays the other 29. Go Celtics!
Robert Williams is not a bench player. He is a C stuck in a PFs body.