Out from under Lowry’s shadow

Siakam looks to lead the team the only way he knows how

Fred VanVleet called it “nuance” in a wonderful media day soliloquy when he was discussing the organism that is an NBA team and who might be “The Man” and who might cast a long shadow, often unknown to those who merely watch it from afar.

The context was a conversation about Pascal Siakam, as intriguing and important a cog as exists on the Raptors roster today. It touched on what Siakam’s place is in the hierarchy and what he might have been getting at when he suggested last summer he never got truly comfortable in the position he found himself in last season.

“I think my interpretation of what he was saying was that ‘listen, I got paid the max and when I got paid the max, all the fans expected me to become this, this and this,’ and with that came a lot of responsibility,” VanVleet said. “But in (the) way was the greatest guy to ever do that for this franchise and it wasn’t a clear-cut distinction. Kyle didn’t just bow out gracefully, he wouldn’t be Kyle Lowry if he did and … he’s not going to just back up and let somebody else do it.

“I think for P, I think sometimes he was dealing with the expectations on him versus what’s actually in the game.”

That dominating Lowry personality, that interesting personality, that all pervasive personality, is now in Miami. Siakam remains, free of any looming presence and, hopefully, feeling a bit more comfortable.

Exacerbating that Lowry-Siakam dynamic — and it wasn’t a team-killing relationship but rather one that bubbled beneath the surface — is the fact Siakam is not the dominant, “I’m the guy” kind of player normally associated with the highest paid player on a team.

He is very much a team guy, always has been, always will be. That’s his personality and in some ways his blessing: He wants nothing more than for the team to succeed and if that’s because someone else does, fine.

“What’s a No. 1 option?” he asked, rhetorically, last weekend. “I think it’s something that’s been passed around like, ‘Oh, you can’t be a No. 1 option on a championship team?’ How many people are No. 1 options (according to that definition)? Who wins every year? How many teams have won in the last seven years? One player? And now people team up and you see three all-stars. We’ve got to get out of that narrative.”

Make no mistake: Siakam has to be a better and more consistent player this season than he’s been in the last year and a half if this version of the Raptors is going to be as good as it expects to be. He struggled at times last season — a bout of COVID, an uncharacteristically bad team and a full month without a win — and is now coming off shoulder surgery and is not likely to play for at least a couple of weeks.

He doesn’t, though, have to eclipse everyone else like Lowry did at times, like Kawhi Leonard did in his one magical season with the Raptors. If he’s a very good player on a team with several very good players on it, that’s going to be good enough.

He’s a key player, sure. He doesn’t have to be the player.

“I’m super happy for OG (Anunoby), I want him to be the best player that he can be,” Siakam said. “If you see me out there, I try to help him, try to give him whatever little knowledge I have that could help him to the best level he can get to.

“I don’t think it matters. Whoever can make the play makes the play. The more players you can have, the better it is for the team.”

The manner in which Siakam’s influence will be most felt will be hidden from fans and the media and handled in the confines of team. Only he, VanVleet and Anunoby remain as stalwarts of a great run for the franchise. Siakam’s voice within the team will have to be louder and likely will since it will never be eclipsed by Lowry or even Norm Powell.

It will take him out of his comfort zone a bit, he’s aware of that and has spoken to confidants and sports psychologists about the best manner in which he can grow.

“(It’s) just continuing to learn and just know that it’s going to take me being uncomfortable,” he said. “I’m a person that likes to be comfortable and some of the things I have to do is not comfortable for me because it’s not my nature.”

But, again, it’s being a voice, not the voice.

“It’s Fred, it’s me, OG, it’s (coach Nick Nurse),” Siakam said. “We are the voices and pick our spots and make sure the message is clear, whatever the message is we have from Nick or the organization, how we want to play as a team, just continue to convey it to the team.

“For me, I just feel like sometimes, I don’t want to bother them. Not bother them but everyone has their route and how they got here … I think I just want to sometimes encourage,” he added. “I don’t want to all the time be ‘you’re doing this wrong or this right.’ Just encourage, have a lot of positivity around, something I learned from losing a lot of games.”