How Pascal Siakam & Myles Turner switched roles against switches

On the potential deeper meaning of not playing Siakam as deep 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

After only two minutes had elapsed in the third quarter of what became a 119-104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, the Pacers did something they haven't done all season. At the time, they were up by 21 points, marking their biggest lead in a game since they took down the Boston Celtics in overtime at the end of October. It wasn't the score, though, nor the motions, that stood out as unique. Rather, it was who was doing what, along with which players were standing where.

As you might recall, a big summer project here at Basketball, She Wrote was to track the location of every post entry pass to Pascal Siakam by comparison to his time with the Raptors to determine how exactly he adapted to the offense without the offense so much adapting to him. Tellingly, what that endeavor revealed was that the Pacers were delivering 25.9 percent of their entries to him from the top of the key, which not only dwarfed the rate he received from that location with the Raptors, at just 2.5 percent, but also significantly topped the rest of the league, as the other 29 teams only combined for a mark of 15.7 percent.

Without rehashing the entire project (go read it!), a big part of the reason why was this action, in which Siakam would set a vertical chase screen, staying on the low side and using his hands without any grabbing or elbow-to-wrist extension to gently shift the weight of the on-ball defender into switching before opening his hips to create a pocket for the pass.

Of course, another major contributing factor is the presence of Turner. Because he is a capable shooter, the opposing team's center typically defends him outside the free throw line. In addition to opening the window for the pass, that means the player rotating on the back-side to help would oftentimes be a smaller guard or wing, who would occasionally also be stressed with the inclusion of an impromptu flare screen.

Just as a reminder, according to Second Spectrum, among the 90 primary players who recorded at least 50 actions of any play-type, a post-up from Pascal Siakam was the most efficient action in all of the NBA during the playoffs, scoring 1.285 points per chance. Needless to say, while certainly not the sole determinant, the location of those passes and how they were optimized by who was standing where and doing what definitely played at least a small part in his overall effectiveness.

All of which is to point out why this possession was so noteworthy from the win over the Pelicans. For the majority of the game, Siakam was guarded by Yves Missi, who has switched on less than 10 percent of the screens he defended this season. Trey Murphy, meanwhile, was most often opposite from Turner. As such, look at who is setting the chase screen.

It's Turner -- not Siakam. And yet, the action developed just the same as with Siakam, only the player who opened their hips and sealed against the switch was Turner.

Granted, Turner didn't actually receive the pass from Siakam, as Nembhard had the better angle from wing, but he did in fact receive an entry pass against a switch with Siakam not only on the floor but above the break. For frame of reference, Turner has set a total of 15 empty strong-side corner screens for Tyrese Haliburton in which the defense has switched this season. Among them, that possession is the only time in which Siakam has been spaced stationary at the top of the key. Plus, he wasn't just spaced at the top of the key. Like with Turner last season, the opposing team's center is also spaced with him, which means the only player available to help would, again, be a smaller guard or wing.

It's possible that some of the proximity there from Missi can be explained by wanting to protect against a potential hand-off, but Jrue Holiday certainly didn't have that same response when he was "guarding" McConnell above-the-break while hopping in and out of the paint in the same role during the playoffs.

To date, with the tweak he made to his shot during the offseason, Siakam has already made more above-the-break threes through 27 games (30) than he connected on in 41 games with the Pacers last season (24). As that possession against the Pelicans goes to show, there has started to be a response from the defense, including at times when he isn't shooting. For example, watch how this driving lane opens up for Haliburton to attack going left. When Siakam cuts to the top of the key after setting the screen, Deandre Ayton notably goes with him.

That isn't universal by any means, but he's also drawing a lower rate of short closeouts (19.4 percent) than last season with the Pacers, when including the playoffs (24.1 percent).

If all of those markers continue to hold steady or trend upwards, then the Pacers may have yet another way to counter against cross-matches, with Siakam providing an interchangeable means to occupy the opposing big outside the paint, whether for Turner or, perhaps more meaningfully in the long-term, whomever ends up starting at center in the future with Turner in a contract year. That could very well still be Turner, who certainly complements Siakam in the reverse; but if nothing else, just as was the case in that possession against the Pelicans, it at least appears as though the Pacers might have options.