Does the Pascal Siakam-Scottie Barnes duo still work?

Imman Adan is joined by Brandon John of the NBA Hangout podcast to discuss if Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam are still complementary pieces for each other. Watch the full episode on our Yahoo Sports Canada YouTube channel or listen on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

IMMAN ADAN: And there's a lot of conversations to be had about, well, how does that fit alongside a guy like Pascal Siakam? Because Siakam has struggled to start the year, right? Last year, Siakam could very well have been All-NBA. If it wasn't for some injuries there that sort of took him out, I think he should have been All-NBA.

And so you have Siakam having an All-NBA season, and then Scottie Barnes struggling for most of the year-- and then this year, Scottie Barnes is coming out, and we're seeing the worst start to Siakam's career as a starter, at the very least, right? So finding the balance is going to be something for Darko Rajakovic to do and something that we'll probably be talking about quite a bit here, because I'm not-- I don't believe that it has to be one or the other.

I wonder what your thoughts are on something like that. Do you think that the Raptors, as someone from an outside perspective, do you think that the Raptors have to pick one? Or can you have both? I think just to add one more thing in here-- a lot of people point to the fact that you can't have two guys that operate on the same areas of the court. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo do it quite well. You can't have two guys who have--

BRANDON JOHN: Even Booker and KD.

IMMAN ADAN: Booker and KD. So yeah, what are your thoughts on Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes pairing here in Toronto long term?

BRANDON JOHN: I think it's a balance. I think it's a balance that both players kind of have to go through. Like, I'm not a stranger with the Heat, so, yeah, I see the Jimmy and Bam kind of thing there-- like, players occupying the same space. But even on, like, a bigger level when LeBron and Wade were together, like, originally when they first started, they both occupied the same space. And it was kind of, like, a my turn, your turn type thing.

But it takes a while for players to figure out where their spots are, how to play off ball off each other. Like, this is the first year that we're seeing Scottie really have the keys to the offense and really get to run it fully. So Pascal's going to have to take some time to figure out what his spots are when Scottie is doing that stuff.

I think Scottie has a better grasp of what he's doing when he's off ball, because he's had to do it for the first couple of years. But now it's kind of like Pascal's trying to learn that game. Because to be honest, like, I know some people are kind of, like, jumping the gun-- or maybe not jumping the gun and want to, like, move one of the guys or, like, move Pascal to [INAUDIBLE] things. Which, personally, like, if I'm building a team, I like to keep all the talent I can and try to figure out ways to win until you absolutely know that you can't.

Like, I think you try to make those guys work together. And you try to figure out different ways, different-- even stagger minutes. Figure out, like you said, like, it'll be a trick for Darko to do-- but I think it's early. We're seven games in. It hasn't looked the best together right now, but I think that's something they can work on.

They are probably-- they are, of course, aware of that. And I'm sure they want to work to make that better for the team as well. So I could see-- I could see that being something that they work on throughout the season and improving. And if not, then you know you have your outs.

IMMAN ADAN: And I completely agree with that. I think that, like, you can have your outs. I think you retain as much talent and you try to get it to work. I'm also, like, I just think Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes are both too talented to not have it work.

BRANDON JOHN: Yeah, to figure it out. Yeah.

IMMAN ADAN: Like, they're talented--

BRANDON JOHN: Talented players figure it out.

IMMAN ADAN: Talented players figure it out. Pascal has taken lead roles and Pascal has taken backseat roles before, right? Like, we saw him be the second to Kawhi Leonard. You can have guys play in different roles. And I think Siakam is-- I don't see a reason why it can't work. But I understand that, like, because of the start, we get a little impatient.

And here's the thing-- in two weeks, we might be talking about Siakam as being the best player, and he's resurging, and it's all his All-NBA case. But right now, it's Scottie. Scottie is looking like that guy.

And so it's interesting to see how Siakam can fit in, because when Jakob sits, Scottie can play your nominal five, right? And also having Scottie with the ball in his hands-- he's kind of doing everything for this team. He is the nucleus of this team. And now, it's important for everybody else to fit around him.

And that's going to include a guy like Pascal Siakam as well. And it's really-- it's on Darko Rajakovic to make this work. But I did want to take a look at Scottie's pull up numbers, because as we're talking about him as a superstar-- granted, again, seven games into the season.

I cannot couch any of what I'm saying enough. But I think one of the biggest reasons for me for that optimism is you mentioned how versatile his scoring has been. And one of the main things when we're talking about being a superstar and taking that leap is your pull-up shooting. Can you do that? When Siakam had his all NBA season, his pull-up numbers were elite.

And in years where it's taken a dip, last year wasn't that great, he's had his moments where he's not an All-NBA guy. So the difference in your pull-up shooting can catapult you from being just a regular all-star to an All-NBA guy. And with Scottie Barnes, looking at his numbers here, granted, tiny sample size-- we're talking about 29 field goal attempts from two and 10 from three, OK?

So tiny sample size here, but he's shooting nearly 60% on pull-up twos. Nearly 60%.

BRANDON JOHN: That's a high, high mark.

IMMAN ADAN: That's a very high mark. And he's 4 for 10 on pull-up threes-- so 40% on pull-up threes. This is someone who has the confidence of a star and is taking them and making them.

We know that Scottie can bully guys underneath. We know that anyone guarding Scottie is going to be smaller than Scottie. And we know if he can force his way down-- if he can get downhill, if he can get to the rim, it should be a basket for Scottie, right?