RAPTORS BLOG: The Siakam era sure is feeling like the Chris Bosh era right about now

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I noted on Twitter after Sunday’s second straight Raptors loss at Orlando that this group is starting to give off a familiar feeling. An All-NBA power forward doing just about everything for a marginally more than mediocre group with a roster that hasn’t been built optimally? Gee, sounds a bit like the latter stages of the Chris Bosh era, no? 

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You can quibble with the comparison, but Pascal Siakam right now is basically a better Bosh (for all his critics, Bosh was a fantastic player, but it’s hard to argue he was ever better than Siakam has been this season, and that’s not meant as a slight to Bosh at all). 

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Bosh had quality guards in Jose Calderon, T.J. Ford and Anthony Parker around him, but they could never find a viable small forward and were constantly trying to unlock Andrea Bargnani and also figure out where his best spot was.

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Now Bosh never had a teammate in Toronto with as much potential as Scottie Barnes and Fred VanVleet and O.G. Anunoby are arguably better than any of the second-best players of the Bosh time in Toronto, but that also leads to the question of why is this group underachieving so much?

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They’ve been fine at home, but one of the NBA’s worst road squads. They’ve done poorly against over-.500 teams regardless of where they’ve played and they are amongst the very worst shooting squads in the entire league. A league that nowadays is all about shooting.

Toronto’s tied for 27th in three-point accuracy, missing more than two-thirds of all attempts. Only five teams make fewer threes per game. Only three teams shoot worse overall from the field (Toronto is also fourth-worst on two-point attempts). Toronto is second-last in effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage. 

Long two-point attempts have been a particular problem, in addition to the three-point issue. Toronto’s hit just 32.2% of shots from 20-24 feet. Only Atlanta has shot worse on those attempts. 

Toronto’s points per possession off isolation attempts are just 0.78, third from the bottom. And that’s even with Siakam playing great. 

The team is third-last in field goal percentage off drives, second-last in assists off drives.

You get the picture.

A bunch of tough games loom on the horizon and though O.G. Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa should be back soon, you need guards too and with Fred VanVleet struggling, no team is getting less from its backcourt.

THREE STARS:

1 Paolo Banchero

2 Mo Bamba

3 Gary Trent Jr.

H.M.: Franz Wagner, Cole Anthony, Chris Boucher