MILWAUKEE — It has been said many times this year, and it bears repeating: Nobody expected this season out of Pascal Siakam. Even after he wowed observers at the Drew League in Los Angeles in the summer and impressed in team workouts before training camp, Siakam becoming a reasonable All-Star and All-NBA candidate this year went beyond reasonable expectations.



It is not clear how the Raptors’ offence would have developed had Siakam simply met those expectations instead of annihilated them. Kyle Lowry would have likely been empowered more in the pick-and-roll, and there would have been more pressure on the Raptors’ role-playing shooters, who struggled for the first half of the year. It is not clear who would have excelled with a larger load and who would have been exposed because a team is a living organism, with each part of the whole affecting the other. Siakam’s growth affected Lowry, whose biggest offensive role became working the two-man game with...