{"id":31354,"date":"2020-06-14T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-06-14T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=31354"},"modified":"2020-06-11T12:20:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T16:20:37","slug":"last-word-on-pro-basketballs-top-30-players-pascal-siakam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2020\/06\/14\/last-word-on-pro-basketballs-top-30-players-pascal-siakam\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Word on Pro Basketball’s Top 30 Players: Pascal Siakam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although ranking the top 30 NBA players in today\u2019s game is an incredibly difficult task, The Last Word on Pro Basketball staff has taken it on. Toronto Raptors<\/a> forward Pascal Siakam<\/a><\/strong> made the cut.<\/p>\n

Top 30 NBA Players<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Number 17 – Pascal Siakam<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of three international players in the rankings so far, Siakam was born in Cameroon. All three of his older brothers received basketball offers from NCAA Division One colleges, but Siakam originally wanted to become a Catholic priest. His basketball talent was actually discovered by Luc Mbah a Moute<\/a><\/strong> at a camp in Cameroon. Siakam then went on to star at the Basketball Without Borders camp. Fast forward a couple of years, and he decided to attend New Mexico State University after playing prep school basketball in Texas.<\/p>\n

He quickly became a star in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Siakam earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors in 2014-15. In his sophomore campaign, he earned WAC Player of the Year honors. Siakam declared for the 2016 NBA Draft, where he was selected 27th overall by Toronto.<\/p>\n

Strengths<\/b><\/h3>\n

Siakam is both a high energy and extremely athletic player. His size, standing at 6’9″ with a 7’3″ wingspan, only adds to this.<\/p>\n

His game is both a mix of a traditional power forward and one of the newer generations. He’s a strong rebounder who can score in bunches inside. More than that, though, Siakam can shoot from distance and distribute.<\/p>\n

This season his shooting splits sit at 46-36-80. He’s not an elite three-point shooter yet, but defenders cannot leave him open. Furthermore, he’s great at the free-throw line, which helps greatly for a forward who can play inside as well.<\/p>\n

Averaging nearly four assists per game for a power forward is already impressive. Even more so, he already plays with two great distributors in\u00a0Kyle Lowry<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Fred VanVleet<\/a><\/strong>. Siakam has the ability to take the ball down the floor on his own and find open teammates.<\/p>\n

Lastly, his work ethic cannot be questioned. Siakam continues to show massive improvements each and every season. The best is yet to come.<\/p>\n

Weaknesses<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Siakam is by no means the Raptors’ best rim protector or shot blocker. They haven’t exactly needed this, however, as Serge Ibaka<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Marc Gasol<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>handle the duties. With this being said, Ibaka and Gasol are free agents this coming offseason. If the Raptors fail to retain both or either, Siakam will need most likely need to increase his role in rim protection.<\/p>\n

This season he’s also played slightly worse versus playoff-caliber teams. Not so much to make a difference now, but perhaps down the line. He is now the Raptors’ number one option. They have strong depth across the board, but Lowry is aging, and VanVleet will also hit free agency this summer alongside the aforementioned names. These struggles are likely just slight growing pains, as Siakam was second-fiddle alongside Lowry to Kawhi Leonard<\/a><\/strong> last season.<\/p>\n

Pascal Siakam Career Accolades<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Major accolades in the pros have poured in for Siakam the last couple of seasons. In 2018-19 he became an NBA Champion (with a major role on the team), won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, and was a one-time Eastern Conference Player of the Week.<\/p>\n

This season, Siakam has been the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week on two occasions and secured his first All-Star appearance.<\/p>\n

He recently turned 26 and is now a primary leader on the Raptors. With the team likely to see some changes this offseason, Siakam may very well make his way up lists like these.<\/p>\n

Last Word on Pro Basketball Ballots<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We believe in full transparency in the top 30 NBA player rankings so we are going to disclose the ballots of our player rankings and where each contributor had each player ranked.<\/p>\n

Tyler Marling<\/a> \u2013 Site Manager \u2013 12
\nChase Gage<\/a> \u2013 Managing Editor \u2013 16
\nDavid Knight<\/a> \u2013 Marketing Manager \u2013 19
\nZach Kircher<\/a> \u2013 Associate Editor \u2013 24
\nMatthew Waldman<\/a> \u2013 Associate Editor \u2013 18
\nDavid Ward<\/a> \u2013 Author \u2013 15
\nAvinash Chauhan<\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 16
\nAdam Zigner<\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 11
\nAlbert Dadson<\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 20
\nDylan Guest<\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 18
\nRaheem Bashir<\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 24
\nNathan Levine<\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 14
\nBill Huan<\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 19<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>